
£i^M^^ 






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To the throng of eager question- 
ing brothers and sisters in the art of 
bee culture, in our own and other 
countries, this work is especially 
dedicated. The Authors. 



THE 

A B C and X Y Z 



OF 



BEE CULTURE 



A C3^clopedia of Ever3^thing Pertaining 
to the Care of the Honeybee; Bees, 
Hives, Honey, Implements, Honey 
Plants, etc. Facts Gleaned from the 
Experience of Thousands of Beekeepers 
and Verified in the Authors' Apiary. 



By A. I.'and E. R. Root 

186th Thousand 



MEDINA, OHIO 

THE A. I, ROOT COMPANY 

1920 



Copyright 1920 by The A. I. Root Company 



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JUL 



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CLA570532 



1877 Preface 



In preparing this work I have been much indebted to the books of Langstrotli, Moses. 
Quinby, Prof. A. J. Cook, King, and some others, as well as to all of the bee journals; but, 
more than to all these, have I been indebted to the thousands of friends scattered far and 
wide who have so kindly furnished the fullest particulars in regard to all the improve- 
ments as they have come up in our beloved branch of rural industry. Those who ques- 
tioned me so much a few years ago are now repaying by giving me such long kind letters 
in answer to any inquiry I may happen to make that I often feel ashamed to think what 
meager answers I have been obliged to give them under similar circumstances. A great 
part of this ABC book is really the work of the people; and the task that devolves on 
me is to collect, condense, verif}^, and utilize what has been scattered thru thousands of 
letters for years past. My own apiary has been greatly devoted to testing carefully each 
new device, invention, or process as it came up. The task has been a very pleasant one, 
and if the perusal of the following pages affords you as much pleasure I shall feel amply 
repaid. 

November, 1877. A. I. Root. 



Preface to the 1920 Edition 

Over forty years have elapsed since the original edition of this work, then consisting 
of 200 pages, was placed before the public. Since that time great changes have taken 
place in the beekeepers' world. The keeping of bees was hardly known then as a busi- 
ness; but now it has grown to enormous proportions. Thousands of colonies are today 
handled by single individuals and by syndicates, and honey is shipped by the carload and 
almost by the shipload to various parts of the world. The w^onderful and almost startling 
strides in commercial beekeeping have brought about new methods of management as well 
as new appliances. While the fundamental methods of keeping bees are the same, the 
details have been materially modified. 

The remarkable growth of the industry has called for numerous editions of this work. 
Failing health and cares of a rapidly growing business made it impossible for the original 
author, A. I. Root, to make the revisions necessitated by the newer conditions. That task, 
since the second edition, has devolved principally on his oldest son, the author and reviser, 
who has been ably assisted by his brother, H. H. Root, Miss lona Fowls, and John H. 
Lovell. 

Little did A. I. Root dream in 1879 that his work would continue to grow, not only 
in the size of the book itself, but in the size of the editions, until a grand total of 186,000 
copies have come off the press. The original work consisted of 212 pages, while the 
present volume contains 856. Altho it was originally intended as a work for the beginner 
only, it has continued to develop in size and maturity until it is now the X Y Z as well as 
the A B C of bee culture — admittedly the largest work from the standpoint of actual 
matter that has ever been issued on bees in any language. While it is more than ever a 
work for beginners, it is likewise more than ever a w^ork for the advanced beMvceper. For 
the former class it contains more articles than it ever has had before; and for the latter 



PREFACE 

class almost every known method that has proved successful in the hands of our best 
producers has been incorporated. 

In 1885 the author and reviser, owing to the ill health of his father, gradually 
assumed the editorial work on Gleanings in Bee Culture, and at the same time the revision 
of the A B C of Bee Culture, then a modest work of only 250 pages. Since that time he 
has prepared most of the matter on the practical management of bees for the last thirteen 
editions. In order that he might be the better fitted to do this work he traveled extensively 
over the United States, with camera and note book, visiting some of the best beekeepers 
in the United States and Canada. This, together with voluminous correspondence in 
connection with bee culture, has enabled him to present, as he hopes, in this volume the 
verj^ latest practices to be found in this country. 

It has been thought advisable to call in the help of others. Foremost among them 
has been Dr. C. C. Miller, the veteran comb-honey producer, now in his 90th year — a man 
who bridges the past and present, and one who is well known in Europe. He rendered 
important and valuable aid in the preparation of the articles on comb-honey production 
and swarming, with which he is so intimately familiar. 

The author spent the winter of 1918-1919 in California with headquarters in Los 
Angeles, where the major portion of the matter for this edition was prepared and sent on 
to Medina. The work of welding the new and the old matter devolved on the author's 
assistant. Miss lona Fowls. That the work was well done will be shown by the pages that 
follow. In this connection it should be stated that the peculiar conditions of California 
and other semi-tropical climates have been incorporated in various portions of the work. 
This will be noted particularly in the articles on Wintering Outdoors. 

In the line of the scientific and technical, the author acknowledges his indebtedness to 
Dr. E. F. Phillips, Apicultural Expert in the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C. 
He is a trained entomologist — one who likewise has traveled extensively over the United 
States. He is also author of the book " Beekeeping," published by the McMillan Co., 
New York. G. F. Demuth, his assistant in the Bureau, one who is a practical comb-honey 
producer as well as an expert on the subject of swarming, has rendered helpful advice in 
both subjects. 

A younger brother, H. H. Root, who has done special work in the matter of extracting 
honey in a large w^ay, and has conducted a long series of experiments in wax-rendering, 
has written the articles on Buildings, Extracting, and Wax. Besides this he has read 
much of the proof. 

John W. Love, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, besides writing the articles on Alfalfa 
and Sw^eet Clover, for which he was eminently fitted, also offered many suggestions that 
were adopted. 

The technical articles on Honey, Glucose, Invert Sugar, Sugar and Honey Analysis, 
were prepared by A. Hugh Bryan, formerly of the Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, 
D. C. While in the Bureau he specialized on the subject of honey; so it is safe to say 
that what Mr. Bryan has written is technically correct. 

Articles on bee botany required some one who was not only a botanist, entomologist, 
and naturalist but one who was also a beekeeper. That rare combination was found in 
John H. Lovell of Waldoboro, Maine, who prepared nearly all the articles on honey 
plants. He was assisted in his work by Prof. Edwin G. Baldwin, of DeLand University, 
Florida. 

In the matter of laws relating to bees and beekeepers' rights, it seemed necessary 
to have one who was not only a beekeeper but a lawyer. Leslie Burr, who has kept bees 
in several States of the Union, who is now a practicing attorney in Honolulu, wrote the 
article entitled " Laws Relating to Bees." 

The article on the Anatomy of the Honeybee was written by R. E. Snodgrass, 
formerly of the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C, reference to whom is made 
later in this preface. 

Last, but by no means least, the writer acknowledges his indebtedness to his father, 
A. T. Root, with whom he was associated in his early experimental work from the late 



PREFACE 

60's up to 1885, when ill health compelled the senior Mr. Root to take up other matters. 
It was A. I. Root who conceived the idea of an A B C book for the beginner, on the plan 
of an encyclopedia that could be frequently revised. To that end he had it set up 
originally in standing type. It was he who looked far enough ahead to see that bee- 
keeping was a rapidly advancing industry, and that any book on the subject would soon 
be out of date unless it were frequently revised. That his vision was not an idle one is 
attested by the fact that some seventeen editions, consisting of 186,000 copies in all, have 
come from the press. The matter for the book is now set up on a modern linotype, a 
part of this edition having been reset. 

While A. I. Root's name does not appear in any individual article, yet much of his 
original matter is scattered thruout the work. Some of it will never be stricken out, 
because it was fundamentally right for all time. His Preface and Introduction of 1877, 
for example, will always be retained. 

Taking it all in all, it will be seen that this work is the product of many minds. 
While the reviser has written probably four-fifths of the matter, >'et he feels that it is 
only right that he should acknowledge his indebtedness to all of those who have so kindly 
assisted him during the fort}- years that have made the ABC and X Y Z of Bee Culture 
what it is and has been. 

This and the previous edition differ also from their predecessors in that they have more 
elementary articles on bees and beekeeping than ever before. The A B C of Beekeeping, 
for example, at the very beginning of the work, assumes that the reader has had practi- 
cally no knowledge of bees ; and it proceeds, therefore, to give him a general scope of the 
fundamentals of the industry before he plunges into the general articles. All thru the 
work there are articles for beginners, such as Beginning with Bees, Backlot Beekeepers, 
Farmer Beekeepers, Transferring, and almost every article starts out with a definition 
of the subject in hand, so that the novice may more readily understand that which follows. 

Each article is a complete monograph, or a little text-book in itself, on the subject of 
which it treats. While there are numerous cross-references from one article to another, an 
effort was made to get almost everything pertaining to any one subject under that sub- 
ject's particular head. The numerous cross-references in the articles themselves, together 
with a very complete index, will enable the intelligent reader to develop each subject 
thoroly if he will carry the work into the beeyard and test out every teaching. By so 
doing he will soon have a thoro knowledge of the business. 

The discriminating reader may discover in the treatment of the various articles what 
to him is a repetition of what is said elsewhere under another head. Where this occurs 
it is for a purpose. The restatement of a certain proposition, from a different angle, 
necessarily clears up a subject that might otherwise be misunderstood. For example it 
will be found that the treatment of Windbreaks under Apiaries and under Wintering 
Outdoors, while similar, are enough different to require a special restatement under each 
heading. Again in so complex a subject as the management of bees a reiteration of the 
same subject in a different form, as well as from a different angle, helps to make plain to 
the beginner a matter that he should not and must not misunderstand, if he would succeed. 
How to Open Up a Hive of Bees is considered under head of A B C of Beekeeping, 
Anger of Bees, Manipulation of Colonies, Robbing, and Stings. Under the general head 
of Swarming there will be found the sub-head. The Cause of Swarming and likewise the 
sub-head, Prevention of Swarming. There is some material under both that is similar. 
Knowing the cause one would naturall}^ apply the remedy, but in explaining the remedy 
it is important that many details in connection with the cause be stated. 

The author has traveled all over the United States, given hundreds of lectures on 
beekeeping, and he finds that many important subjects are misunderstood for the simple 
reason that they have not been amplified enough. It requires line upon line and more 
or less of repetition in a different form and from a different viewpoint. For this reason 
it has seemed best to repeat some propositions from different angles, especially when 
they are important. The author therefore makes no apology for the repetitions that 
occur, and even then he is convinced that many of his readers will make some mistakes. 



PREFACE 

In order that the reader may be able to trace authorship, the following has been 
prepared, emphasizing the statement that this book is the result of the work of many 
minds. 

ARTICLES WRITTEN' BY E. R. ROOT. 

Foreword ; A B C of Beekeeping ; Apiary ; Artificial Fertilization ; Backlot Beekeeping ; Barrels ; Bee- 
spaces ; Bees and Fruit-growing ; Bees and Poultry ; Bees and Truck Gardening ; Bees as a Nuisance ; Bees 
Attacking Fruit ; Bees on Shares ; Beginning with Bees ; Bleaching Comb Honey ; Bottling Honey ; Box 
Hives ; Breeding ; Comb Honey ; Comb Honey, to Produce ; Combs ; Contraction ; Diseases of Bees ; Dividing ; 
Drifting; Drones: Dysentery; Enemies of Bees; Entrances to Hives; Farmer Beekeepers: Feeding: and 
Feeders ; Feeding Back ; Feeding Outdoors ; Flight of Bees ; Foul Brood ; Gloves for Handling Bees ; Grading 
Comb Honey ; Granulated Honey ; Hermaphrodite Bees ; Hive-making ; Hives ; Honey and its Colors ; 
Honeydew ; Honey Exhibits ; Honey-peddling ; Hjbrids ; Increase ; Inspectors ; Introducing ; Inventions 
Keiating to Bee Culture; Italianizing; Laying Workers; I^ocality ; Manipulation of Colonies; Marketing 
Honey; Migratory Beekeeping; Moth Miller; Moving Bees; Nucleus; Overstocking; Playspells of Younj 
Bees; Poisonous Honey; Profits in Bees; Propolis: Queen-rearing; Queens: Races of Bees; Rats; 
Record-keeping of Hives; Reversing; Robbing; Sage; Scale Hive; Shipping Bees; Shipping Cases for 
Comb Honey; Skep ; Spacing Frames; Specialty in Bees; Specific Gravity of Honey; Spreading Brood; 
Spring Dwindling; Spring Management; Statistics Concerning the Bee and Honey Business; Stings; 
S'A'arming; Temperature: Transferring: Uniting Bees; \'eils; Ventilation; A'inegar; "Wintering; Win- 
tering Outdoors ; Wintering in Cellars ; Wintering in the Southern States. 

Articles written by H. H. Root. — Buildings; Extracted Honey; Extracting; Wax. 

Articles written conjointly by E. R. Root and A. I. Root. — Absconding Swarms ; After-swarming ; Age of 
Bees ; Ants ; Anger of Bees ; Artificial Heat ; Artificial Pasturage ; Bee-hunting ; Brood-rearing ; Candy for 
Bees ; Italians ; Robbing, 

Articles written conjointly by E. R. Root and H. H. Root. — Extracting, Smoke and Smokers; Comb Honey, 
Appliances for ; Honeycomb ; Honey as a Food. 

Articles written conjointly by E. R. Root and Dr. C. C. Miller. — Langstroth ; Out-apiaries. 

Articles written by J. W. Love. — Alfalfa ; Sweet Clover. 

Articles written conjointly by E. R. Root and Arthur C. Miller. — Observatory Hives. 

Articles written conjointly by E. R. Root and J. H. Lovell. — Buckwheat ; Clover ; Dzierzon Theory ; Fruit 
Blossoms ; Pollen ; Pollination of Flowers ; Tupelo. 

Articles written conjointly by E. R. Root and W. K. Morrison. — Ants. 

Articles written by H. H. Root. — Buildings ; Extracted Hcney ; Extracting Honey ; Wax. 

Articles written by L. C. Root. — Quinby. 

Articles written by J. H. Lovell. — Bumblebees ; Campanilla ; Canada Thistles ; Carpet Grass ; Catclaw^ ; 
Catnip ; Cotton ; Cucumber ; Dandelion ; Figwort ; Gallberry ; Goldenrod ; Heartsease ; Holly ; Honey 
Plants ; Hoarhound ; Horsemint ; Huajilla ; Locust ; Logwood ; Marigold ; Mesquite ; Milkweed ; Mustard ; 
Poplar Tree ; Raspberry ; Solitary Bees ; Sourwood ; Spanish Needles , Sumac ; Sunflowei ; Willow. 

Articles written by Prof. E. G. Baldwin, DeLand University, Florida. — Magnolia ; Mangrove ; Orange ; 
Palmetto ; Partridge Pea ; Pennyroyal ; Phacelia ; Titi ; Wild Cherry. 

Articles written by A. Hugh Bryan, form.erly of Bureau of Chem.istry, Washington, D. C. — Cane Sugar : 
Glucose; Honey, Analysis of ; Honey; Invert Sugar ; Labels for Honey ; Sugar. 

Anatomy of the Bee, by R. E. Snodgrass, Bureau of Entomology, Washington. 

Bee Behavior, by A. C. Miller. 

Beekeeping for Women, by Mrs. J. H. Comstock. 

Development of Bees, by James A. Nelson, Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C. 

Dzierzon, British Bee Journal. 

Eye, Compound : ♦Parthenogenesis: by Dr. E. F. Phillips, Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C. 

Laws Relating to Bees, by Leslie Burr. 

July 1, 1<:2(). E. R. Root. 



Introduction to the First Edition 

BY A. I. ROOT. 

About the year 18C5, during" the month of August, a swarm of bees passed overhead 
where we were at work, and my fellow-workman, in answer to some of my inquiries 
respecting their habits, asked what I would give for them. I, not dreaming he could by 
any means call them down, offered him a dollar, and he started after them. To my 
astonishment, he, in a short time, returned with them, hived in a rough box he had hastily 
picked up, and, at that moment, I commenced learning my A B C in bee culture. Before 
night I had questioned not only the bees but every one I knew, who could tell me anything 
about these strange new acquaintances of mine. Our books and papers were overhauled 
that evening; but the little that I found only puzzled me the more, and kindled anew the 
desire to explore and follow out this new hobby of mine; for, dear reader, I have been 
all my life much given to hobbies and new projects. 

Farmers who had kept bees assured me that they once paid, Avhen the country was 
new, but of late years they were no profit, and everybody was abandoning the business. 
I had some headstrong views in the matter, and in a few days I visited Cleveland, 
ostensibly on other business, but I had really little interest in anything until I could visit 
the bookstores and look over the books on bees. I found but two, and I very quickly 
chose Langstroth. May God reward and forever bless Mr. Langstroth for the kind and 
pleasant way in which he unfolds to his readers the truths and wonders of creation to be 
found inside the beehive. 

What a gold mine that book seemed to me as I looked it over on my journey home ! 
Never was romance so enticing — no, not even Robinson Crusoe; and, best of all, right at 
my own home I could live out and verify all the wonderful things told therein. Late as it 
was, I yet made an observatory hive and raised queens from worker eggs before winter, 
and wound up by purchasing a queen of Mr. Langstroth for $20.00. I should, in fact, 
have wound up the whole business, queen and all, most effectually, had it not been for 
some timely advice toward Christmas, from a plain practical farmer near by. With his 
assistance, and by the purchase of some more bees, I brought all safely thru the winter. 
Thru Mr. Langstroth I learned of Mr. Wagner, who shortly afterward was induced to 
recommence the publication of the American Bee Journal, and thru this I gave accounts 
monthly of my blunders and occasional successes. 

In 1867, news came .across the ocean from Germany, of the honey-extractor; and by 
the aid of a simple homemade machine I took 1,000 lbs. of honey from 20 stocks, and 
increased them to 35. This made quite a sensation, and numbers embarked in the new 
business ; but when I lost all but 11 of the 35 the next winter, many said : " There ! I 
told you how it would turn out." 

I said nothing, but went to work quietly and increased the 11 to 48 during the one 
season, not using the extractor at all. The 48 were wintered entirely without loss, and I 
think it was mainly because I took care and pains with each individual colony. From the 
48 I secured 6,162 lbs. of extracted honey, and sold almost the entire crop for 25 cents 
per lb. This capped the climax, and inquiries in regard to the new industry began to 
come in from all sides. Beginners were eager to know what hives to adopt, and where to 
get honej'-extractors. As the hives in use seemed very poorly adapted to the use of the 
extractor, and as the machines offered for sale were heavy and poorly adapted to the 
purpose, besides being " patented," there really seemed to be no other Avay before me than 
to manufacture these implements. Unless I did this I should be compelled to undertake 
a correspondence that would occupy a great part of my time without affordinsr any 



INTRODUCTION 

compensation of any account. The fullest directions I knew how to give for making plain 
simple hives, etc., were from time to time published in the American Bee Journal; but 
the demand for further particulars was such that a circular was printed, and, shortly 
after a second edition; then another, and another. These were intended to answer the 
greater part of the queries; and from the cheering words received in regard to them it 
seemed that the idea was a happy one. 

Until 1873 all these circulars were sent out gratuituously ; but at that time it was 
deemed best to issue a quarterly at 25 cents per year, for the purpose of answering these 
inquiries. The very first number was received with such favor that it was immediately 
changed to a monthly at 75 cents. The name of it was Gleanings in Bee Culture, and it 
was gradually enlarged until, in 1876, the price was changed to $1.00. During all this 
time it has served the purpose excellently of answering questions as they came up, both 
old and new; and even if some new subscriber should ask in regard to something that had 
been discussed at length but a short time before, it is an easy matter to refer him to it or 
send him the number containing the subject in question. 

When Gleanings was about commencing its fifth year, inquirers began to dislike 
being referred to something that was published half a dozen years before. Besides, the 
decisions that were then arrived at perhaps needed to be considerably modified to meet 
present wants. Now you can see whence the necessity for this ABC book, its office, and 
the place we propose to have it fill. 

December, 1878. A. I. Root. 




A. I. ROOT 



Foreword 

It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that this is an encyclopaedia on 
bees. It should not therefore be read consecutively, but taken up subject by 
subject in the order indicated later. A preliminary statement should first be 
made in order that the beginner, at least, may be able to form at the very outset 
some idea of the scope and character of the industry which he is to study. 

Bees have been kept from time almost immemorial. References to bees and 
"honey in the honeycomb" appear all thru ancient history. Honey, aside from 
the sugar in fruit, was the only sweet then known, and hence was always highly 
prized. Bees were kept in caves, earthen jars, old logs, straw baskets or skeps. 
When man contrived the art of making boards out of trees he constructed rude 
boxes which were called gums or hives. The skeps were made of braided straw, 
and these are still used to a considerable extent in Europe among the peasant 
classes who cannot afford modern equipments, and who lack, even more, the 
mental capacity to put into effect modern methods. See "Skeps." 

The keeping of bees in the old days was but little more than an avocation 
or sideline in connection with some other business or profession. While the 
great majority of the beekeepers of today are probably amateurs or back-lotters, 
those who keep a few bees for pleasure and profit, there are now thousands 
upon thousands who make beekeeping a vocation; that is, their sole means of 
livelihood. Their colonies are numbered by the hundreds and even thousands, 
and their annual production of honey is measured by the ton and carload. 
While there were a few, both in Europe and America, who had as many as two 
or three hundred colonies, and produced honey by the ton, beekeeping as a 
specialty and as an exclusive business was scarcely known until after the advent 
of the movable-frame hive of Langstroth and the honey-extractor of Hruschka. 
See "Hives' and "Extractors." These inventions revolutionized the industry 
to such an extent that it is now possible for the beekeeper so to manipulate his 
colonies that he can produce tons where he could produce only pounds before. 

The time was when Moses Quinby, in the 50 's, and that was before the 
invention of the movable-frame hive by Langstroth, sent a canalboat-load of 
honey to the city of New York. This was more than the metropolis had ever 
seen before — so much honey, indeed, that it "broke down the market," and the 
honey went begging for a customer. Now, in these latter days that same market 
is able to dispose of hundreds and hundreds of carloads of honey that have been 
shipped in from all over the United States, but mainly from the irrigated 
regions of the West. 

In addition to the specialist class of beekeepers there are many hundreds 
of thousands who keep a few bees in the back yard in cities and towns. There 
is also another large class, the farmer beekeepers, who keep a few bees on the 
farm, not only for the purpose of pollinating their fruit trees, the clovers and 
buckwheat, but to supply the family table with honey, the purest and best sw^eet 
in the world. 

A conservative estimate w^ould place the total number of persons who keep 
bees, either as a vocation or as an avocation, anywhere from 750,000 to 
1 



2 FOREWORD 

1,000,000 in the United States alone. If we estimate that the average beekeeper 
owns ten colonies, we shall have 10,000,000 hives of bees. 

On a very conservative estimate, based on United States statistics and on 
the records of sales of the largest bee-supply factories in the United States, there 
is at least $20,000,000 worth of honey produced annually in the United States, 
and something like $2,000,000 worth of beeswax. The business of keeping bees 
has grown to be so enormous that there are several large bee-supply manufac- 
turers who send out carloads of hives and honey-boxes all over the United 
States and to foreign countries. 

Modern appliances and modern methods have now made it possible for 
specialists, backlotters, and farmers, to handle bees with few or no stings; to 
take the honey away without destroying the hives, combs, or bees — indeed, they 
all alike find both pleasure and profit in the study and in the haudling of these 
wonderful little insects, that, in the language of the day, "work for nothing and 
board themselves. ' ' While this is not literally true, of course, the little creatures 
will toil day in and day out and allow their owner to take the product of their 
toil before their very eyes, and rob them day after day, without so much as 
offering a single sting, that is, provided, of course, their owner knows how. 
It is the province of this work to show "how" all these things can be done and 
are being done by many thousands scattered all over the United States. 

The modern movable frame, as already mentioned, has made it possible for 
the owner of bees to go clear thru his hives, remove the combs, and inspect every 
portion of the hives and the bees. After learning their condition he can put the 
combs back, close the hive up, and, if he follows directions, he will probably 
receive no stings. 

The use of the bee-smoker and bee-veil to protect the face, and sometimes 
gloves for the hands of the more timid, has made it also possible for the owner 
to play with bees as he might with kittens ; to rob them of their honey whenever 
he sees fit ; to invade their homes : to take away their queen ; to take everything 
they have, if he is so minded, without a protest and without a sting. 

In this connection it would be unfair to imply that the modern beekeeper 
never receives any stings. He certainly does; but when he knows the modem 
methods that* are taught in this work or any other standard book on bees, the 
bugaboo of stings fades away. 

As a matter of. fact the beekeeper receives comparatively few stingvS, and 
.what he does receive leave no after-effect in swelling, because his system soon 
becomes immune to the poison, and, beyond the sharp prick of pain which lasts 
for a full minute, there is no local fever or swelling. 

The modern bee-smoker (see "Smokers") will cjuiet bees, and, when neces- 
sary, and that is not often, drive them down thru the combs in utter confusion. 
In fact, smoke so diverts their attention from the thought of defense and offense 
that they become passive and tractable. AVhile the smoker may be used as a 
means of control, it also in the hands of an ifrnorant or careless person may be 
used as an instrument of torture. If instructions are followed there will be no 
need of causing any pain, much less of killing any bees by its use. See "Stings" 
and "Smokers." 

Honey is being used as a food as it never was before. See "Honey," 
"Honey as a Food," "Extracted Honey," and "Comb Honey." Honey is now 
found in our best hotels and restaurants, on dining-cars of the great trunk line 
railroads, and in all of our leading groceries. It is now being put up attractively 
in comb and liquid form. Traveling men are out buying and selling it as a 
regular commodity. Sometimes they will contract for ten or even twenty car- 
loads at a time. It is then repacked, put up in small packages, and sold to the 
consuming trade, either direct or at the large wholesale or retail groceries. See 
"Bottling Honey." 



,i;^ 



FOREWORD 3 

Some of the darker and stronger-flavored honeys are being used by the 
large baking concerns in making their cakes and cookies. As high as one 
hundred carloads have been bought at a time for the purpose. Honey is an 
invert sugar, and as such it keeps the cakes, cookies, and jumbles soft and moist 
for months at a time. The cakes that contain the most honey are known as 
"honey jumbles," some of which have kept for a period of twelve years, and 
were found to be still as good, almost, as the day they were made. See "Honey 
as a Food." 

The question might be raised at this point whether there are not too many 
beekeepers already or whether the ten million colonies are not using all the 
honey or nectar there is in the flowers. The fact is, more nectar goes to waste 
than is gathered. It has been estimated that from 50 to 80 per cent of it is 
lost simply because there are no bees in the vicinity to gather it. It is at 
least conservative says Dr. Phillips, Apicultural Expert of the Department of 
Agriculture, in his book, "Beekeeping," to say that ten times as much honey 
could be produced in localities where there are now no bees or an insufficient 
number, as is now produced. In other words, the resources of this country 
could furnish $200,000,000 worth of honey. If that much were produced next 
year the market would certainly be glutted. But experience shows that the 
increase in the number of beekeepers keeps at about an even pace wath the 
increase in the number of honey consumers, so that by the time the bees produce 
$200,000,000 worth of honey there will be a market for eveiy pound. 

The farmers of this country are just beginning to discover the value of 
sweet clover as a forage plant for cattle and hogs (see "Sweet Clover"). In 
many localities it is nearly if not quite the equal of alfalfa. Unlike it, it will 
grow on poor land, and restores poor soil as almost nothing else will do. The 
farm papers all over the country are already proclaiming the virtues of sweet 
clover. The experiment stations extol it everywhere. So far from being a 
"noxious weed," it is one of the most valuable legumes ever known. Now, 
sweet clover is a honey-plant — one of the best in this country. AAHien the acre- 
aige of this plant is increased, as it is sure to be in the near future, it will be 
possible to produce not only $200,000,000 worth of honey, but even $500,000,000 
worth. No beekeeper need be alarmed, however, as it may be centuries perhaps 
before that amount will be secured. We simply mention the resources for honey 
so that the reader will see there is plenty of room for him in every town and on 
every farm. 

But there is another big factor that will make an enormous increase in the 
amount of nectar. W^e made the statement that about $20,000,000 worth of 
honey is produced in the United States alone. If that were all the bees do in 
this country it would be a fine record. From an economic standpoint they do 
far more than this. There is no other agency in the world that does such 
perfect work in pollination— that is, bringing the pollen of one blossom to that 
of another— as the honeybees. There are countless thousands of them at a time 
of the^ year when comparatively few other insects are present. They therefore 
make it possible to produce more and better fruit. See "Fruit Blossoms " also 
"Pollination." 

^ If a limb of an ordinary apple tree, the blossoms of which are sterile to 
their own pollen, be covered with mosquito netting, before the tree comes to 
bloom, effectually excluding all insects, including bees, it will be found that not 
much over two or three per cent of the fruit so covered will mature. The blossoms 
will drop as soon as they come into bloom, while those on the uncovered portions 
of the tree will remain and develop the usual amount of fruit. 

Experiments show that bees are about the only insects that will make an 
enormous increase in the amount of fruit. The largest fruit-growers find that 



4 FOREWORD 

they cannot get their full quota of fruit unless they have bees in their orchards, 
aud the growers of bees are now having calls for them as they never did before. 

Briefly we have given a general survey of the industry, and now it will be 
proper to refer the reader to the series of subjects which he should take up. Each 
will be found in its appropriate alphabetical order; and when these have been 
read, the reader can then take up the other subjects as he chooses. But we may 
suggest that, if he can possibly secure a colony of bees, he should do so in order 
that he may study them intelligently and apply the teachings of this book as he 
goes along. The following course of reading is suggested : 

A B C of Beekeeping ; Beginning with Bees ; Anger of Bees ; Manipulation 
of Colonies; Apiary; Smoke and Smokers ; Stings; Hives; Transferring; Rob- 
bing; Feeding; Backlot Beekeeping; Swarming; Comb Honey; Extracting; 
Spring Management ; Uniting ; Wintering. The other subjects ma.y be taken 
up in any order that may seem best. 



A B C Of BEEKEEPING. — In this 
preliminary article we shall assume that 
the reader knows nothing about bees or 
beekeeping except that '• bees sting, and 
are ready to sting anywhere at any time 
any one who approaches within a hundred 
yards of their hive." By reading this ar- 
ticle and the one on Stings it will be seen 
that nothing could be further from the 
truth. 

At the outset it is important that we take 
a general birds-eye view of the whole in- 
dustry; and to do that we shall make a 
brief summ.ary of the entire contents of this 
work. The reader, having a comprehen- 
sive view of tlie business, the ways and 
means and wherefores, will then be able to 
take up specifically a course of reading as 
suggested at the close of the Foreword. 

There are two different kinds of bees — 
solitaiy bees (see Solitary Bees) and so- 
cial bees, those that live in colonies or 
communities. There are many species of 
both kinds; but for the purpose of this 
work we shall concern ourselves with the 
social bees and mainly the species known 
as Ajns mellifica, or " honey-makers." This 
name comes from three Latin words — apis, 
meaning bee: mel, honey; and fareo, I make. 
Putting the words together we have Apis 
mellifica. Some scientists desigTiate them as 
Apis mellifera, or " honey-bearers," from 
Apis, a bee, and fero, 1 bear or carry. But 
the great majority accept the former name, 
and we accept it because it is moi-e accurate. 

There are three classes of individuals in 
each colony— namely, the queen bee or true 
female, the drones, and the worker, or 
neuter bees as some call them, but inore 
correctly undeveloped females. Each work- 
er bee is functionally the same as the queen 
bee except that her tongTie, mouth parts, 
pollen-gathering bristles on the legs, and 
the sting are more fully developed than the 
same organs in the only true female, loiown 
as the " queen." See Pollen. 

A colony of bees may contain anywhere 
from 25,000 to 75,000 individuals, and in 



rare cases as high as 100,000, all the daugh- 
ters of one queen bee. But the average 
good colony for producing honey will run 
anywhere from 50,000 to 75,000 workers. 
During the winter this number will be 
reduced, possibly a half ; for Nature appar- 
ently goes on the assumption that it is wise 
not to produce a lot of unnecessary con- 
sumers for winter. 

The duties of the worker bees are quite 
varied. Primarily their business is to gath- 
er nectar or sucrose; and by some chemi- 
cal process, which no one seems to under- 
stand fully, change it into invert sugar or 
honey. Since they gather nectar and make 
it over into honey, it is scientifically ac- 
curate to say that bees " make honey." 

Bees also gather pollen from the flowers, 
and store it in combs the same as they 
store noney. The pollen and honey are 
used for making a milky-white nitrogenous 
food to feed the larvae of baby bees. This 
food is very much lilce thin condensed 
milk. As the larvae develop, this same food 
or " pap " is made richer and stronger. 
See Development of Bees. 

Bees also gather a kind of glue for mak- 
ing up what is called bee glue, or ])ropolis. 
This is used to seal up all cracks that might 
let cold air into the hive. The word " pro- 
polis " is dei-ived from two Greek words — 
pro, meaning in front, and polis, a city. In 
ancient times, especially with some strains 
of Ajns mellifica, the bees used this sub- 
stance in front of the hive to contract the 
entrance in order to keep out other insects 
and rodents, hence the name, in front of 
the city, or propolis. 

Worker bees naturally fall into two divi- 
sions — young bees for taking care of young 
brood, building comb, protecting the en 
trance against robbers, and in other ways 
performing the inside work of the hive. 
The older bees, or " fielders," are those that 
gather the nectar, pollen, and bee glue. 
When there are few or no young bees the 
older ones can and do assume the duties of 
nurse bees. See Brood. 



6 



A B C OF BEEKEEPING 



The fully developed, or true female, is 
what is called the " queen." As already 
stated, she functionally is much the same 
as the workers with this difference: Her 
mouth parts, pollen-gathering apparatus, as 
well as her sting, are atrophied or aborted, 
while her ovaries are highly developed. 
She is capable of laying as many as 5,000 
eggs in a day, but usually 3,000 is the limit. 
During the height of the season she will 
not average, probably, over 1,500 eggs a 
day. At the close of the active season she 
lets up on her egg-laying, sometimes stop- 
ping altogether. This seems to be a wise 
provision in nature to prevent the rearing 
of a lot of useless consumers that would 
simply use up all the stores before winter 
comes on. Along in the fall, if there should 
be a fall flow, egg-laying will start again, 
and a lot of young bees will be reared to 
make up a colony that will go into winter 
quarters. The bees that gather the crop 
during an active honey season very seldom 
if ever live to go into winter quarters. The 
fruit of their toil goes to their successors. 

Only one queen bee, under normal condi- 
tions, is allowed in the hive at a time. The 
worker bees, apparently, are willing to tol- 
erate one or more queens ; but evidently the 
queens themselves are jealous of each other, 
and, when they meet, a mortal combat fol- 
lows, during which one of them receives a 
fatal sting. The reigning queen bee, then, 
is often the survival of the fittest. Some- 
times mother and daughter will get along 
very nicely together and perhaps even win- 
ter together, but usually along toward fall 
the mother disappears. Whether the 
daughter helps to make away with her, 
whether she dies of old age, or whether the 
bees take a hand in the matter, is not known. 

Two strange queens, therefore, cannot, 
as a rule, live together in a hive. (See In- 
troducing.) The moment they meet they 
clinch each other in mortal combat, and 
the one that is successful enough to sting 
her antagonist comes out the victor. As 
soon as the vanquished receives her wound 
she quivers a moment and dies. This is 
about the only time a queen uses her sting, 
for she rarely stings a human being, altho 
she may at times sting a worker. 

The average queen bee will remain the 
mother of a colony for from two to three 
years. She may live to be as old as five or 



six years, but these cases are very rare. 
Usually a queen over two years old is not 
worth much, and some believe that a queen 
over a year should be replaced by younger 
blood. See Age of Bees. 

The other individuals in the hive are 
male bees or drones. Their mouth parts 
and pollen-gathering apparatus are all very 
much aborted, and they have no sting. They 
are completely at the mercy of their sisters, 
and their only function is to mate the 
queen bee. This act takes place in the air, 
for apparently Nature has designed to pre- 
vent in-breeding. After the main honey 
flow is over, the drones are rudely pushed 
out at the entrance by their sisters, where 
they soon starve to death. See Drones. 

The average young queen, when she sal- 
lies forth in the air on her wedding trip, 
may or may not find her consort from the 
same hive, but the probabilities are she will 
find one from some other hive. As soon as 
the act of copulation has taken place the 
two whirl around in the air until they 
drop, when the queen tears herself loose, 
carrying with her the drone organs, after 
which the drone dies. Soon after she en- 
ters her hive the drone organs are removed 
by the worker bees, but the spermatic fluid 
is retained in the spermatheea, where a 
supply sufficient to last the rest of her life 
is held. The queen is from that time on 
able to lay fertilized eggs that will produce 
worker bees, and infertile eggs that pro- 
duce only drones. See Bees and Dzierzon 
Theory. 

The same egg that produces a worker bee, 
strangely enough, will also produce a queen 
bee. The question of whether an egg shall 
be developed into a queen or an ordinary 
worker depends entirely on conditions. If 
the bees desire to raise a queen, or several 
of them, they will build one or more large 
cells, and feed the baby grubs a special 
food. (See Queens and Queen-Rearing.) 
In 16 days a perfect queen will emerge; 
while in the case of the worker, fed on a 
coarse food in small cells, 21 days elapse. 
Such, in brief, is a statement concerning 
the inmates of the hive and their duties. 

Before proceeding any further it will be 
proper for us to say something about the 
hive. In doing this we shall start with the 
old box hive of our forefathers, "working 
up to the modern hive which has made it 



ABC OF BEEKEEPING 



possible for us to handle bees with such 
infinite pleasure and profit. 

THE OLD WAY OF KEEPING BEES. 

The old primitive box hive of our grand- 
fathers, consisting- of a rude box (hence the 
name), was 12 or 15 inches square, and 
from two to three feet deep. Thru the 
center were secured two cross-cleats at right 



when building their combs in such a hive, 
fastened them to the sides and ends over 
and around the cross-cleats before mention- 
ed. The combs, when so built, would, of 
course, permit of no examination nor han- 
dling, as do the modern hives; and when it 
was desired to take the honey, the bees of 
the heaviest hives in the fall were brim- 
stoned, while those of the lightest were al- 




Moflern Hive with Hoffman frames 
be a queen excluder. (Deep extracting siiper 

angles to each other, to help support the 
combs. See Box Hives. This box hive 
standing on a board or slab usually had a 
notch at the bottom in front, to provide an 
entrance and exit for the bees. The bees, 



for production of extracted honey. Between sviper and hive body should 
ler identical with hive body may be substituted for shallow extracting super.) 

lowed to live over until the next season, to 
provide for swarms to replace those brim- 
stoned. The honey taken from box hives 
was mixed with beebread and brood, and 
was of inferior quality. The combs were 



8 



A B C OF BEEKEEPING 



cut out of the hive and dumped into buck- 
ets to be used as necessity required. 

The modem hive has long since elimin- 
ated these crude and cruel methods, and in 
their stead there is accessibility to every 
part; and, so far from destroying the little 
servants, one can take their honey without a 
sting if directions are followed. Every 
comb is now built in movable frames that 
permit of easy examination. (See Frames.) 
One can open the hive and remove the 
frames, playing with the bees by the hour 
if he knows how. There is no more al- 
luring pastime for the business or profes- 
sional man or the housewife than the keep- 
ing of bees. They all say it's just fun, and 
it's "fun" that makes money. (See 
Backlot Beekeeping.) 

the modern hive for the production of 
comb and extracted honey. 

Tlie modern hive, or exterior housing, in 
its simplest form consists of a floor or 
bottom-board; a hive body (box without 
cover or bottom) to hold the frames or 
racks to contain the combs; supers (shal- 
low box rims) to hold section-holders foi- 
the sections or extracting-frames for ex- 
tracted honey ; a thin wooden lid, or " super 
cover," and over the whole a " telescope 
cover," as shown, to shield the hive from 
the weather. In addition there is an en- 
trance-contracting cleat that can be re- 
moved so that a wide or narrow entrance 
may be used, depending on the season. In 
the best-regulated apiaries, hive-stands are 
used for holding the hives. These protect 
the bottom and hive proper from unneces- 
sary exposure to the ground and rot, and 




liive stand. 



at the same time provide an easy grade or 
alighting-board for the convenience of 
heavily laden bees as they come in from 
the field. AVhen a bee is filled with honey 



it very often drops down a foot or two 
from the hive. It is, therefore, very im- 
portant to have an easy runway into tlie 
hive proper, and hence the hive-stand pro- 
vided with an alighting-board, as shown. 

Each of the hive parts here enumerated 
is separable. One part can be piled on top 
of another in such a way as to accommo- 
date the largest colonies and the largest 
yields of honey that may be sec;ired. The 
modern hive, therefore, is capable of all 
degrees of expansion, to accommodate any 
colony or any honey crop. Some large colo- 
nies will store enough honey to make a hive 
four and even five stories high. 

BROOD-FRAMES. 

]\Iovable frames to hold the combs are 
called " brood-frames." The tops of these 
have projections resting upon rabbets cut 
in the upper ends of the hive. (See illus- 
trations page 9.) The end bars of the 
frames have, near the top, projecting 
ends just wide enough so that the combs 
will be spaced the correct distance apart. 
Such self-spacing frames for holding the 
combs are called " Hoffman brood-frames," 
and any one of them can be removed and 
replaced. A set of frames of the same pat- 
tern, but shallower, is sometimes used. Any 
hive containing a set of frames in which 
there is brood (unhatched bees) is called a 
brood-chamber. A hive containing a set of 
frames used for the storage of surplus 
honey is called a " super." Brood-cham- 
bers are generally deep, but the supers 
may be either deep or shallow. The honey 
may be removed by cutting the combs from 
the frames in the supers and storing them 
in tin cans, or it may be " extracted " from 
the frames of combs by meajis of a honey- 
extractor. The honey so taken is called 
extracted honey. See Extracting. 

Every comb has a series of honey cells on 
each side, which, when filled with honey, are 
capped over with a thin film of wax. This 
capping is sliced off with a sharp-biaded 
knife made for the purpose, called an " un- 
capping-knife." The combs, with the cap- 
pings removed, are then placed in the bas- 
kets or wire pockets, of a centrifugal hon- 
ey-extractor. These baskets, fastened in 
multiples of two or more in a reel, are 
geared to run at a relatively high rate of 
speed inside of a metal can. The honey is 



A B C OF BEEKEEPING 



9 



thrown out by centrifugal force from the 
side of the comb next to the can. The ma- 
chine is stopped; the combs are reversed, 
when the reel is started revolving, throw- 
ing the honey out from the other side 
also. When emptied the combs are put 
back into the hive and refilled w^ith honey, 
after which they are again extracted as 
before. This process may be repeated one 
or more times during the season, or as long 
as the honey flow lasts. 

Extracted honey can be produced for 
less money than that in the comb, because 
the empty combs can be used over and over 
again, year after year. As the bees con- 
sume anywhere from 5 to 10 pounds of 
honey to make a pound of wax, the ex- 
tracted lioney, or honey separated from 
the comb, saves making comb each time. 



As a matter of fact, before the great war 
the market price for extracted was but a lit- 
tle more than half that of comb honey. 

SECTIONS AND SEPARATORS AS USED IN COMB- 
HONEY PRODUCTION. 

The production of honey in the comb 
requires a different set of fixtures. Comb 
honey is produced in little square boxes 
technically called " sections." These are 
usually either 4 x 5 x 1% inches wide, or 
4l^ square by 1% wide. These sections, 
four in number, are placed in a sort of 
frame called a " section-holder." Between 
each two rows of sections, when placed on the 
hive, is a wooden separator consisting of a 
thin piece of veneer wood a little narrower 
than the section is deep. Sometimes a se- 
ries of thin slats, fastened together by 




Mn.lern Hivo with Hoffman frames for tlie production of comb honey. (Any style of comb honey super 



10 



A P, C OF BEEKEEPING 



eross-cleatS; are used iu place of separators. 
Technically these are called fences. The 
function of the separator or fence is to 
separate the rows of sections from each 




other. Without them the bees would build 
the comb in these sections too fat or too 
lean. So far as possible it is hig-hly im- 
portant, from the marketing point of view, 
to have each comb in each section approxi- 
mately the same weight — something be- 
tween 12 and 14 ounces. While the sec- 




Fence. 

tions, including the wood, will hold an even 
pound when filled entirely full, it is very 
seldom that the producer of comb honey 
can get his bees to make his sections run 
uniformly one pound in weight. The aver- 
age market permits and expects that comb- 
honey sections' "vvill run slightly less than 
one pound. See Comb Honey. 

COMB FOUNDATION. 

In order to start the bees building their 
combs centrally in the sections or brood- 
frames, a product known as " comb founda- 
tion " (quite generally abbreviated " fdn.") 
is used. This consists of a thin sheet or 
sheets of pure beeswax embossed or favos- 
ed, so that the surface shall be an exact 
duplicate of the midrib or center of the 
honeycomb with the cells sliced off. In 
other words, comb foundation is a dupli- 
cate of the foundation of the natural comb, 
and hence the name. The artificial prod- 
uct has more wax in the initial cells than 
the natural product. This surplus is used 
by the bees in building out their combs. 

In modern apiculture foundation is al- 
most an indispensable article. It is used 
either in narrow strips called " foundation 
starters," or in full sheets. The latter are 
preferable, because the bees will build more 
nearly perfect combs — combs that are flat 



as a board and a duplicate of the article 
built wholly by the bees. Without comb 
foundation the bees will show a tendency 
to build their own product in all kinds of 
fantastic shapes, crosswise of the section 







Brood Frames with inch foundation starters. 

honey-boxes or the brood-frames. Practi- 
cally all the combs in modern apiculture 
today are built on comb foundation. This 
is filled with honey by the bees, and cap- 
ped over, and in all respects is equal and 
even superior to that made by the bees 
without the use of starters. See Comb 
Foundation. 

tools for handling bees. 

The tools required by a beekeeper for 
opening his hives and doing other necessary 
work in the production of honey are not 
elaborate. The total outlay need not ex- 
ceed $3.00. First and foremost, there must 
be a bee-smoker — a device consisting of a 
stove and bellows for blowing smoke from 
some slow-burning fuel on the bees. With- 
out smoke, many manipulations would be 
very difficult; and the novice, at least, 
would be inclined to give up the business 
after his first experience in trying to han- 
dle a colony of bees, especially if weather 
conditions were unfavorable. But with 
smoke, and an instrument for applying it, 
one can, if he knows how, perform all pos- 
sible manipulations with bees when weather 
conditions are right. In fact, a large num- 
ber of beekeepers, except during a time 
when the weather is bad, do not use a veil, 
gloves, nor any special protection except 



A R C OF BEEKEEPING 



11 



the smoker, as an intelligent use of the 
latter will often put the bees on their good 
behavior, to such an extent that the use of 



^^ 




other protectors is rendered useless. Per- 
haps a majority of honey-producers work 
with a veil on the hat, but not drawn down 
except when an angry bee seems disposed 
to show fight. 

The other tool, if it may be so regarded, 
is designed for face protection. This may 
be in the form of a wire-cloth cylinder with 




suitable cape to protect the neck and shoul- 
ders, or it may be made of some sort of 
netting, preferably black, so as to obscure 
the vision as little as possible. The higher- 
priced veils of silk Brussels netting offer 
practically no obstruction to the eyes, and 
at the same time give the wearer a sense of 
security that he cannot otherwise have. 

Some beekeepers, wishing to get thru 
with as large an amount of work as possi- 
ble, and knowing that rapid manipulation 
has a tendency, in spite of smoke, to make 
bees sting, wear both bee-veil and gloves; 
and a few of the careless bunglers go so far 
as to wear cowhide boots in addition, tuck- 
ing the trousers into the boots. Good bee- 
keepers do not approve of such bungling. 



O 



m_ 



^ 



slam-bang methods, that only irritate the 
bees. One will accomplish as much or more 
in a day, provided he works cautiously and 
deliberately, using his brains to save mak- 



ing a multiplicity of quick moves. A few 
slow movements carefully planned will ac- 
complish much with bees. 

Almost the only other tool required is a 
strong screw^driver, a knife with a good stiff 
blade, or, better still, a specially construct- 
ed hive-tool made of spring steel with a 
broad blade for the purpose of a pry or 
scraper. A tool of some sort is indispensa- 
ble for separating the frames and the parts 



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of a hive, because the bees make use of 
what is known as bee glue, cementing the 
frames together. In warm or hot weather 
this bee glue does not cause as much trouble 
in handling the hives as during cold weath- 
er, when it is stiff and hard. Ordinarily 
bees should not be handled at such times. 




One more tool is sometimes used, and 
that is a swarming-box or a swarm-basket 
— a device invented by the late A. E. Man- 
um. A wire basket is mounted on the end 
of a long pole so that a majority of the 
swarms can be reached and captured from 
the ground. If the wings of the queens 
are clipped, as explained under Queens 
and Swarming^ no such appliance is need- 
ed except in instances when a second 
swarm comes off with a virgin queen. 



12 



A B C OF BEEKEEPING 



MANIPULATING A COLONY OF BEES. 

Having considered the inmates of a 
hive, the hive itself, and the several parts 
and the tool-3 for manipulating the same, 
it is now in order to take up the manipula- 
tion of the hive, or the handling of a colo- 
ny of bees. 

The average beginner at this point may 
feel that be has a job on his hands. He 
may got stung, when his face will be dis- 
figured so that he will not be presentable 
to company. While it is not denied that he 
may get stung, the one who tries for the 
first time to handle bees should protect his 
hands with gloves and his face with a veil, 
not because they are essential, but because 
it will take away that feeling of fear that 
might cause him to make a false move and 
thus incite the bees to sting. 

If he will follow the directions that are 
now given, he should not receive a single 
sting even in his clothing. First of all, it 
is important that the beginner select a 
warm day, between ten and three o'clock. 
After having lighted his smoker (see 
Smokers), he should put on his veil and 
gloves and approach his hive. He should 
be sure that the smoker delivers a good 
smoke. The best fuel is old rags or greasy 
waste, which can be had for the asking at 
almost any machine shop. The smoke of 
this is not pungent, but is a bluish white 
and quite opaque. This can be easily ig- 
nited with a match. Work the bellows 
until a good volume of smoke is secured. 
Care should be taken not to work the 
smoker bellows too hard, as otherwise the 
fuel will burst into flame. 

With the smoker just right, blow a light 
puff of smoke into the entrance. Too 
much smoke will start the bees on a stam- 
pede, especially if they are blacks or hy- 
brids. "Wliile bees will not sting in this 
condition, it renders subsequent manipula- 
tion exceedingly difficult. 

The next movement is to take the screw- 
driver or hive-tool and pry the cover up 
about a sixteenth of an inch — not wider, 
because the bees would escape. Thru the 
gap so made between the cover and the 
hive itself two puffs of smoke should be 
blown. Next, the cover should be gently 
lifted, the movement being followed with 
perhaps two or three light puffs of smoke. 
It is just as important not to use too much 
smoke as not enough. 



One may now proceed to lift out individ- 
ual frames. If they are stuck together on 
account of the bee glue, a little smoke may 
be required to follow each operation in 
separating the frames; but usually the 
smoker can be set down alongside the hive, 
and frame after frame be lifted out with- 
out receiving a single sting. 

Care should be taken not to pinch any 
bees. The fingers should always be placed 
at some point where there are no bees. If 
they are very numerous, they should be 
gently brushed over to one side by pushing 
tlie fingers down between them, being care- 
ful not to pinch them in doing it. 

After one has opened a hive a few times 
he will be able to discard the gloves, and 
later he can dispense with the veil at 
times, because he will find that an intelli- 
gent use of the smoker will do more to 
eliminate stings than any other one thing. 
After one has acquired a sense of freedom 
and knows the bees will not sting, he can 
work over them for hours at a time, getting 
more real joy out of his pets than from 
anything else on the place. See Manipu- 
lation OF Colonies. 

Before the reader proceeds further he 
should read very carefully the following 
subjects, found in their alphabetical order; 
viz.. Beginning with Bees, Manipula- 
tion OF CoLONiES_, Brood and Brood-rear- 
ing, Anger of Bees, Stings, Smoke and 
Smokers, Apiary, Backlot Beekeeping, 
Farmer Beekeeping, Hives, Transferring, 
Robbing, Uniting, and Wintering. This 
order is suggested because the arrangement 
is progressive, and enables the beginner to 
proceed from one subject to another. After 
he has read the subjects already indicated 
he may take up Queen-rearing, Comb and 
Extracted Honey, or any other subject in 
which he may be interested. 

ABNORMALITIES IN BEES. — S e e 
Hermaphrodite Bees; also " Drones with 
Heads of Different Colors," under Drones. 

ABSCONDING SWARMS.— No part of 
animated creation exhibits a greater love of 
home than do the honeybees. No matter 
how humble or uninviting the surroundings 
they seem very much attached to their 
home; and, as they parade in front of their 
doorway after a hard day's work, they 
])lainly indicate that they have a keen idea 
of the rights of ownership and exhibit a 



ABSCONDING SWARMS 



18 



willingness to give their lives freely, if need 
be, in defense of their hard-earned stores. 
It is difficult to understand how they can 
ever be willing to abandon it altogether, 
and with such sudden impulse and 
common consent. No matter if they 
have never seen or heard of such a 
thing as a hollow tree, and have for in- 
numerable bee generations been domesti- 
cated in hives made by human hands, none 
the less they have that instinctive longing 
that prompts them to seek the forest or 
rocks in mountainous country as soon as 
they get loose from the chains of civilized 
uian. 

It is very unusual for a swarm to go to 
the woods without clustering; the bees usu- 
ally hang from 15 minutes to an hour, 
and many times several hours; in fact, we 
have known them to hang over night, and 
sometimes stay and build comb: but usu- 
ally it is better to take care of them 
inside of 15 or 20 minutes to make sure 
of them. Long before swanning time, 
hives should all be in readiness, and they 
should also be located near where the new 
colony is to stand. If one is going to have 
a model apiary, he should not think of 
waiting until the bees swarm before he lays 
it out, but take time by the forelock, and 
with careful deliberation decide wb.ere even- 
hive shall be before it is stocked with bees, 
if he would keep ahead and prevent his 
bees from taking " French leave." 

But they sometimes leave, even after they 
have been carefully hived in modern hives 
on frames of foundation. If the swarming 
mania gets under way in a beej'ard, a 
swarm is more apt to come out the second 
time, even when hived in a new location in 
a different hive, than where there is only a 
very little swarming. It was once thought 
that giving a frame of unsealed brood to 
these second-time absconders would hold 
them. While this, no doubt, acts as a re- 
strainer, yet when a s\Ya.rm leaves its new 
quarters it should be recaptured, hived 
back into the hive, and then cai-ried down 
cellar, where it should be kept several days 
until it gets over its mania. The bees may 
then be set out on their permanent sum- 
mer stands. 

How is one to avoid losing the occasion- 
al swarm that goes off without clustering at 
all? or the quite frequent cases of coming- 



out unobserved, or when no one is at home 1 
There is a veiy certain and safe remedy for 
all cases of first swarming, in having the 
wings of the queen clipped, or using an 
Alley trap so she cannot fly. See Queexs, 
subhead " How to Clip the Queen's 
Wings." Wing-clipping is in very general 
use, and answers excellently for all first 
swarms; but, alas! the after-swarms are 
the very ones that are most apt to abscond, 
and the wings of theb' queens cannot be 
clipped, nor should such queens be restrain- 
ed by an Alley trap, because they have not 
yet taken their wedding flight. What shall 
be done? In the first place, second or af- 
ter-swarms should not be allowed. If the 
l^arent hive, after it has cast its first swanu, 
is treated as recommended under the head 
of After-swarming_, there will be no fur- 
ther swarming from that colony for that 
season. The Heddon method, given at the 
close of After-swarmixg, is recommended 
for the prevention of after-swarms. 

Clipping the wings of the queen (or put- 
ting on drone-traps — see Drones) will 
prevent losing first swarms by absconding; 
but it does not always prevent losing the 
queen. She goes out with the bees as usu- 
al, and, after hopping about in front of 
the hive, sometimes gets ready to go back 
at about the same time that the bees do, 
after having discovered she is not in the 
crowd. Even if she goes some little dis- 
tance from the hive, the loud hum they 
make as they return will guide her home 
many times; but imless the apiarist is at 
hand to look after affairs, many queens will 
be lost, and the bees will rear a lot of young 
queens and go into after-swarming in good 
earnest, making even the first swarm an 
" after-swarm." A friend, who knows little 
of bee culture, once told us our bees weie 
sw^arming, and if we did not ring the bells, 
they would certainly go to the woods. As 
we quietly picked up the queen in passing 
the hive, we told him if they started to 
go away we would call them back. Sure 
enough they did start for the woods, and 
had gone so far that we really began to be 
frightened ourselves, wlien, away in the 
distance, we saw them suddenly wheel 
about, and then return to the hive at our 
very feet. While he gave us the credit of 
having some supernatural power over bees, 
we felt extremely glad w^e had taken pre- 



14 



ABSCONDING SWARMS 



cautions to clip all our queens' wings but 
a few days before. After this we felt a lit- 
tle proud of our control over these way- 
ward insects, until a fine swarm of Italians 
started oflf under similar circumstances, and, 
despite our very complacent, positive re- 
marks, to the effect that they would soon 
come home, they went off and stayed " off." 
Ill a humble and wiser frame of mind, we 
investigated, and found they had joined 
with a very small third swarm of black bees 
that had just come from one of the neigh- 
bor's hives. We tried to " explain," but 
it required a five-dollar bill to make matters 
so clear that we could carry back our rous- 
ing swarm of yellow bees, and sort out the 
black unfertile queen, that they might be 
made to accept their own. 

ABSCONDING FOR WANT OF FOOD. 

Aside from normal swarming perhaps 
bees oftener desert their hives because 
they are short of stores than from any 
other cause; and many times, in the spring, 
they seemed to desert because they were 
nearly out. This generally happens about 
the first spring day that is sufficiently 
warm and sunny. They issue from the hive, 
and alight in a tree very much like a nor- 
mal swarm during the swarming season. 
The remedy, or, rather, preventive, is so 
plain that it need not be discussed. After 
they have swarmed out, and are put back 
into the hive, give a heavy comb of sealed 
stores; if that cannot be obtained, feed 
them a little at a time, until they have plen- 
ty, and be sure that they have brood in the 
combs. If necessary, give them a comb of 
unsealed larvae from some other hive, and 
then feed them until they have a great 
abundance of food. One should be asham- 
ed of having bees abscond for want of food. 

ABSCONDING NUCLEUS. 

A very small nucleus — if it contains no 
more than 200 bees — is liable to swarm out. 
Queen-breeders, in attempting to mate 
queens in baby nuclei containing only one 
or two section boxes, had considerable trou- 
ble in keeping the bees in the hive, espe- 
cially when the young queen went out to 
mate. Accordingly it was found necessary 
to make the baby hives much larger, with 
frames 5% x 8 inches, and two nuclei to a 
hive. See Queen-rearing. 



With these there will be much less trou- 
ble from swarming, provided that they 
have some brood and honey and are not 
too strong, and provided also the queen 
is taken out as soon as she is laying. 

ABSCONDING FOR MORE SATISFACTORY 
QUARTERS. 

There is still another kind of absconding 
that seems to be for no other reason than 
that the bees are displeased with their hive, 
or its surroundings, and, at times, it seems 
rather difficult to assign any good reason 
for their having suddenly deserted. We 
have known a colony to swarm and desert 
their hive because it was too cold and 
open, and we have known them to desert 
because the combs were soiled and filthy 
from dysentery in the spring. We have 
known them to swarm because their en- 
trance was too large, and, if we are not 
mistaken, because it was too small. 

We have also known them to swarm be- 
cause they were so " pestered " with a 
neighboring ant hill — see Ants — that they 
evidently thought patience ceased to be a 
virtue. 

ABSCONDING IN THE SPRING. 

They often swarm in the spring where 
no other cause can be assigned than that 
they are weak and discouraged, and in such 
cases they usually try to make their way in- 
to other colonies. While it may not always 
be possible to assign a reason for such be- 
havior Avith medium or fair colonies, one 
may rest assured that good, strong colo- 
nies, with ample supplies of sealed stores, 
seldom, if ever, go into any such foolish- 
ness. 

It seems to occur just at a time when 
their owner can ill afford to' lose a single 
bee, and, worse still, only when his stocks 
are, generally, rather weak, so that he dis- 
likes to lose any of them. In this case 
they do not, as a general thing, seem to care 
particularly for going to the woods, but 
rather take a fancy to pushing their way 
into some of the adjoining hives, and, at 
times, a whole apiary will seem so crazy 
with the idea as to become utterly demoral- 
ized. 

A neighbor, who made a hobby of small 
liives — less than half the usual size — one 
fine April day had as many as 40 colonies 



ADULTERATION OF HONEY 



15 



leave their hives and cluster together in all 
sorts of promiscuous combinations. To say 
that their owner was perplexed, would be 
stating the matter very mildly. 

Similar cases, tho perhaps not as bad, 
have been reported from time to time, ever 
since novices commenced to learn the sci- 
ence of bee culture; and altho cases of 
swarming in the spring were known once 
in a great while before the recent improve- 
ments, they are nothing like the mania that 
has seemed to possess entire apiaries — - 
small ones — ^ince the time of artificial 
swarming and honey-extractors. We would 
b^ no means discourage these improve- 
ments, but only warn beginners against 
experimenting before they have had suf- 
ficient experience. We would not com- 
mence dividing our bees until they are 
abundantly strong. They should go into 
winter quarters with an abundance of seal- 
ed honey in tough old combs as far as may 
be; and should have hives with walls thick 
and warm, of some ])orous material, such 
as leaves or planer shavings, and there 
should also be a good thickness of the same 
above ; then there will be little cause to fear 
trouble from bees absconding in the spring. 

ACTIVITIES OF BEES.— See Bee Be- 
havior. 

ADULTERATION OF HONEY. — The 

adulteration of this product dates back 
many years, but the methods of detecting 
the same are of comparatively recent date. 
Accum, in his " Treatise on Adulterations 
of Food and Culinary Provisions" (one of 
the earliest works devoted to food adultera- 
tion) published in London in 1820, does not 
cover the subject of honey. Hassall in his 
" Adulteration Detected," published about 
1855, mentions honey. His examinations 
were made with the microscope, and he was 
able from the pollen to tell the kinds of 
flowers visited by the bees. He also noted 
crystals of sucrocp intermingled with those 
of dextrose when a honey was evaporated 
to a crystalization point. In his later 
editions he gives methods for detection 
of sucrose and also commercial glucose. 
The two works cited above were written in 
England. Hoskins in his book " Wliat to 
Eat," possibly the first book on food adul- 
teration written by an American, and pub- 
lished in Boston about 1861, states that 
"Factitious and adulterated honey is very 



common in our markets. The substances 
used are generally ordinary sugar, made 
into a syrup with water, and flavored with 
different articles. This preparation is usu- 
ally mixed with genuine honey, and so 
extensive is this practice that very little 
' Strained Honey ' can be found which is 
pure. The only really injurious adultera- 
tion as regards health which I have found 
in such honey is alum." He noted " Glu- 
cose and starch sugar among the adulter- 
ants of honey," but never verified their 
presence. Later work has brought forth 
the same statement as above; viz., " If one 
wants pure honey, he should purchase it in 
the comb." This statement was possibly true 
up to the passage of the National Pure- 
food Law, which went into effect January 
1, 1907. Yet just previous to this time 
extracted honey was not as much adulterat- 
ed as formerly, due in part to the many 
state food laws, and also, in greater part, 
to the fact that chemical methods had ad- 
vanced to a point where adulterations with 
glucose, sugar syrup, etc., were easily rec- 
ognized. Part 6. Bulletin 13, of the Divi- 
sion of Chemistry, U. S. Department of 
Agriculture ( a report of investigations 
made under direction of Dr. H. W. Wiley 
about 1890), contains some 75 pages de- 
voted to honey. In this are given numerous 
analyses of honey. The adulterants noted 
were glucose, cane sugar, and invert sugar. 
The number of samples containing glucose 
was very large. See Glucose, Cane Sugar^ 
Invert Sugar for descriptions of the sub- 
stances; also Analysis of Honey for meth- 
ods of their detection. 

Examining the first 4,000 Notices of 
Judgment given pursuant to Section 4 of 
the Food and Drug Act, published from 
the office of the Secretary, United States 
Department of Agriculture, which repre- 
sents the whole published information on 
prosecutions under this act up to October 
21, 1915, one finds 12 notices referring to 
honey. 

In one. No. 1,123, the product was labeled 
as containing 8 ounces of honey, but exam- 
ination showed tliat the containers were 
short some 4.86 per cent. In another, No. 
352, the label stated the contents as " one 
pint," but examination showed much less to 
be present. Both cases resulted in favor of 
the Government. 



16 



ADULTERATION OF HONEY 



In one, No. 269, the product was labeled 
" Compound Pure Comb and Strained Hon- 
ey and Cora Syrup." Analysis revealed 
that the product was largely composed of 
corn syrup (commercial glucose) with 
some comb honey and strained honey. The 
case was lost by the Government in that 
it Avas held that " it was impossible to say 
what portion of the label as printed would 
signify greater percentage of the product." 
In opposition to this, some state laws re- 
quire that the substances composing a com- 
pound should be stated on the label in the 
order in which they predominate in the 
finished product. 

In the other cases, the adulteration was 
with invert sugar (see Invert Sugar). 
Nos. 18, 19, 20, and 21 refer to shipments 
in barrels where the only mark was a 
capital H enclosed in a square, but this 
product had been consigned as a pure 
strained honey. Examination showed it to 
contain invert sugar and some glucose. Tlie 
case was not fought in court, tlie claimant 
failing to answer a decree of seizure, and 
condenmation was rendered by the con it. 

In the other cases, Nos. 3401, 2, 3, 4, and 
6, evidence was introduced on each side, 
with the result that the jury returned a 
verdict in favor of the United States. This 
being an important case, it is well to give it 
with some detail. The trial came off in 
Philadelphia on November 20—25, 1913. 
The product was placed on the niarket in 
36- and 60-pound cans labeled " Excelsior 
Choice Pure Strained Honey." 

The manufacturer claimed that the mix- 
ture in the cans consisted of Cuban and 
buckwheat honey, and that he boiled and 
strained this. It was koshered for the 
purpose of selling to the Jewish trade. On 
direct testimony the manufacturer stated 
that the skimming was the koshering. but 
on being recalled to the stand he stated that 
the boiling and the straining — in fact, the 
whole process, was the koshering. The 
judge in his charge to the jury says on this 
point : " He boils this article that is here 
in question (the cans of honey), and 
whether it was for the purpose of kosher- 
ing it or not is not very clear in his state- 
ment, because honey is cleaned by strain- 
ing it, and it is heated to a certain point, 
but he says he boils and skims the top off 
and then strains it, and then he calls it 
koshered honey." The chemist for the 



manufacturer gave an analysis similar to 
the Government chemists', but not as full 
as theirs. The Government chemists show- 
ed that no Cuban nor any buckwheat honey 
ever contained less than .07 per cent ash. 
(The chemist for the manufacturer also 
claimed this.) The sample in question con- 
tained only .028 per cent ash, hence there 
could be only 40 parts of these honeys in 
every 100 parts of the mixture, and the 
other 60 was commercial invert sugar which 
had no ash. They also showed that the 
honey in question responded to all tlie 
color tests indicative of commercial invert 
sugar (the manufacturer's chemists claimed 
that these color tests were produced by the 
boiling of the pure honey, a point not held 
by the government chemists). The govern- 
ment chemists also showed that the sample 
under question contained 0.08 per cent tar- 
taric acid, an acid not hitherto found in 
pure honey, and the acid that is used in 
making commercial invert sugar (see In- 
vert Sugar). It was also shown that 
Cuban honey at 41/2 cts. a pound and 
buckwheat honey at 71/2 cts. a pound used 
in the mixture in the proportion of 80 
parts Cuban to 20 parts buckwheat would 
cost $5.10 a hundred pounds, while with 
sugar at 6^4 cts. a pound 100 parts of in- 
vert sugar would cost $4.55 a hundred 
pounds. Hence a possible motive for the 
use of the invert sugar. 

In the course of his charge to the jury 
tlie judge says: 

" Every man, woman, and child in the 
United States when hungry needs food, and 
when sick needs drugs, but the individual 
citizen is unable to see to it that the food 
purchased or the drugs he must purchase 
are pure, and the Government has taken on 
itself the work of performing that for the 
whole people. So that this is a contest for 
pure food, for the protection of the indi- 
vidual citizen who has not the facilities or 
the information to protect himself, and it 
is a very beneficial and commendatory act, 
because we all know that impure foods are 
manufactured and sold, and it is against 
the manufacturer and vendor of these im- 
pure foods and the manufacturer and ven- 
dor of these impure drugs that this act is 
aimed, and it has no terrors for tlie man 
who manufactures or sells a pure article 
and brands it what it is. Notwithstanding 
the attempt to throw a very great deal of 



AFTER-SWARMING 



17 



doubt and uncertainty over the work of 
the experts in this case, chemistry has been 
brought to such a high point of efficiency 
that it can be told with certainty, or, at 
any rate, with that degree of certainty 
which should authorize us to act, what is 
contained in almost any substance you put 
into the possession of the expert chemist. 
They can tell whether or not honey is pure, 
or whether it has some substance mixed in 
it, and it may be that they cannot tell it 
with the same degree of certainty that you 
can work a geometrical demonstration, but 
they can say, with a degree of certainty 
that should authorize us to act, in the 
examination of questions which come before 
courts as to whether foods or drugs of a 
specific kind are pure or adulterated or 

misbranded Now you will notice, 

gentlemen of the jury, that an article is 
adulterated if any substance has been sub- 
stituted wholly or in part for the article 
It is not the dictionary definition of adul- 
teration. You must take the statutory def- 
inition. It makes no difference what the 
article is, if any substance has been substi- 
tuted wholly or in part it is an adulteration. 
There is no question as to whether it is 
deleterious or injurious to health; it may 
or may not be; the substitution may be as 
beneficial or more beneficial than the orig- 
inal article. What the law aims at is to 
guarantee to the consumer that when he 
desires to purchase a certain article, and 
goes to a manufacturer or vendor for that 
article, and states what he wants, he shall 

know that he gets what he pays for 

The evidence upon which you will have 
to rely to ascertain whether it was pure or 
adulterated, and, if adulterated, misbrand- 
ed, is the evidence adduced upon the stand 
by the experts for the Government, and 
by the experts and the defendant for the 
defendant." 

The jury retired and returned a verdict 
in favor of the United States Government. 
On May 13, 1915, final judgment of con- 
demnation and forfeiture was entered, the 
court finding the product adulterated and 
misbranded, and it was ordered that the 
product should be sold by the United States 
Marshal, and the owners should pay all 
costs of the proceedings. 

The winning of this case by the Govern- 
ment has stopped much of the adulteration 
of honey with commercial invert sugar. 



Furthermore, since the passage and general 
enforcement of federal and state pure-food 
laws, honey adulteration, instead of being 
common, is becoming exceedingly rare, 

AFTER-SWARMING.— All swarms that 
come out after the first season, or are led 
out by a virgin queen, or a plurality of 
them are generally termed after-swarms; 
and all swarms after the first are accom- 
panied by such queens. There may be 
from one all the way up to a half-dozen 
swarms, depending on the yield of honey, 
amount of brood or larvae, and the wea- 
ther ; but w^hatever the number, they are ail 
led off by queens reared from one lot of 
queen-cells, and the number of bees ac- 
companying them is, of necessity, less each 
time. The last ones frequently contain no 
more than a pint of bees, and, if hived in 
the old way, would be of little use under 
almost any circumstances; yet when sup- 
plied with combs already built and filled 
with honey, such as ever}^ enlightened api- 
arist should always keep in store, they may 
develop into the very best of colonies, for 
the}^ have young and vigorous queens. 

It has been said that when a colony has 
decided to send out no more swarms, all 
the young queens in the hive are sent out, 
or, it may be, allowed to go out with the 
last one. Whether this is true or not is 
uncertain; but during the swarming sea- 
son, some novice writes about the wonder- 
ful fact of his having found three or four, 
or it may be half a dozen queens in one 
swarm. On one occasion, a friend, who 
weighed something over 200, ascended to 
the top of an apple tree during a hot July 
day to hive a small third swarm. He soon 
came down, in breathless haste, to inform 
us that the swarm was all queens; and, in 
proof of it. he brought two or three in his 
closed-up hands. 

Years ago after-swarming was considered 
a sort of necessary evil that had to be tol- 
erated because it could not be obviated; 
but in no well-regulated apiary should it be 
ulJowed. Many consider it good practice 
to permit one swarm — the first one. After 
that all others are restrained. Cutting out 
all the queen-cells but one may have the 
effect of preventing a second swarm; but 
the practice is objectionable — chiefly be- 
cause one cannot be sure that he destroys 
all but one. If there are two cells not the 
same age the occupant of one of them, 



18 



AGE OF BEES 



wlien she batches, is likely to bring out an 
after-swarm; indeed, as long as tbere are 
young queens to batcb, tbere are likely to 
be after-swarms up to tbe number of tbree 
or four. 

But many practical boney-producers con- 
sider cell-cutting for tbe prevention of 
tbese little swarms as waste of time, altbo 
they may and do cut out cells to prevent 
prime or first swarms. There are some who 
deem it advisable to prevent swarming. Tbe 
plan usually adopted to prevent after- 
swarms is about as follows : 

The wings of all laying queens in tbe api- 
ary should be clipped, or entrance guards 
should be placed over tbe entrances of all 
colonies having laying queens. As soon as 
tbe first swarm comes forth, and while tbe 
bees are in tbe air, the queen, if clipped, is 
found in front of the entrance of the old 
hive. She is caged, and tbe old hive is 
lifted off tbe old stand, and an empty one 
containing frames of foundation or empty 
combs is put in its place. A perforated 
zinc honey-board is then put on top, and 
finally the supers, taken from tbe old 
hive. Tbe queen in her cage is placed in 
front of the entrance, and the old hive is 
next carried to an entirely new location. 
In tbe mean time tbe swarm returns to find 
tbe queen at the old stand; and when the 
bees are well started to running into tbe 
entrance she is released, and allowed to go 
in with them. Most of the old or flying- 
bees that happen to be left in the old colo- 
ny, now on tbe new location, will go back to 
tlie old stand to strengthen further the 
swarm. This will so depopulate the parent 
colony that tbere will hardly be bees enough 
left to cause any after-swarraing, and tbe 
surplus of young queens will have to fight 
it out among themselves — the " survival of 
the fittest " being of course, the only one 
left. She will be mated in the regular way, 
and tbe few bees with her will not, of 
course, follow her. In a short time com- 
paratively the old parent colony will be 
strong enough for winter. 

HEDDON^S METHOD. 

The first swarm is allowed to come forth ; 
and Avbile it is in tbe air tbe parent colony 
is removed from its stand and })laced a few 
inches to one side, with its entrance point- 
ing at right angles to its former position. 
For instance, if the old hive faced the east, 



it will now look toward tbe north. Another 
hive is placed on the old stand, filled with 
frames of wired foundation. The swarm is 
put in the hive on the old stand, and at the 
end of two days the parent hive is turned 
around so that its entrance points in tbe 
same direction as tbe hive that now has the 
swarm. Just as soon as young queens of 
tbe parent colony are about to hatch, it is 
carried to a new location during the mid- 
dle of the day or when the bees are flying 
thickest. Tbe result is, tbese flying bees 
will go back to the hive having the swarm. 
This, like tbe other method described, so 
depletes the parent hive that any attempt 
at after-swarming is effectually forestalled. 

A variation from this plan is somewhat 
easier and just as good. The swarm is hived 
on tbe old stand, and the old hive is set 
close beside it, both facing the same way. 
A week later, when most of tbe bees are out, 
tbe old hive is removed to a new stand. 
That 'leaves tbe old colony just as much 
depleted as the longer way; and tbe deple- 
tion coming more suddenly will more thoro- 
ly discourage all thought of further swarm- 
ing. 

AGE OF BEES.— It may be rather diffi- 
cult to decide how long a worker bee would 
live if kept from wearing itself out by tbe 
active labors of tbe field; six months cer- 
tainly, and perhaps a year; but the average 
life during the summer time is not over 
tbree months, and perhaps during the 
height of tbe clover bloom not over six or 
eight weeks. The matter is easily deter- 
mined by introducing Italian queens to 
hives of black bees at different periods of 
the year. If done in May or June there 
will be all Italians in tbe fall; and if a 
record is kept when the last black bees hatch 
out, and the time when no, black bees are 
to be found in the colony, a pretty accurate 
idea of the age of the blacks may be se- 
cured. The Italians will perhaps hold out 
under the same circumstances a half longer. 
If the Italian queen be introduced in Sep- 
tember in the Northern States, black bees w411 
be found in tbe hive until tbe month of May 
following — they may disappear a little ear- 
lier, or may be found a little later, depend- 
ing largely upon the time they commence 
to rear brood. Tbe bees will live consider- 
ably longer if no brood is reared, as has 
been several times demonstrated in the case 
of strong queenless colonies. It has been 



ALFALFA' 



19 



said that black bees will live longer in the 
spring than Italians — probably because the 
latter are more inclined to push out into 
the fields when the weather is too cool for 
them to do so with safety; they seldom do 
this, however, unless a large amount of 
brood is on hand, and they ar^e suffering for 
pollen or water. 

During the summer months, the life of 
the w^orker bee is cut short by the wearing- 
out of its Avings, and, at the close of a 
warm day, hundreds of these heavily laden, 
ragged-winged veterans will be found mak- 
ing their way into the hives slowly and 
painfully, as compared with the nimble and 
perfect-winged young bees. If the gTOund 
around the apiary be examined at night- 
fall, numbers of these old bees may be 
seen hopping about, evidently recognizing 
their own inability to be of any further use 
to the community. The author has repeat- 
edly picked them up and placed them in 
the entrance, but they usually seem bent only 
on crawling and hopping off out of the way 
where they can die without hindering the 
teeming rising generation. During the 
height of a honey flow workers probably 
do not live more than six weeks, 

AGE OF DRO^'ES. 

It is somewhat difficult to decide upon 
the age of drones, because the poor fellows 
are so often hustled out of the way for the 
simple reason that they are no longer wanT- 
ed (See Drones) ; but it may be assumed to 
be something less than the age of a work- 
er. If kept constantly in a queenless hive, 
they might live for three or four months. 
Occasionally some live over winter, from 
September to April. 

AGE OF THE QUEEN. 

As the queen seldom if ever leaves the hive 
except at mating and at swarming time one 
would naturally expect her to live to a 
good, old age, and this she does, despite 
her arduous egg-laying duties. Some queens 
die, seemingly of old age, the second sea- 
son, but generally they live thru the sec- 
ond or third, and they have been known to 
lay very well even during the fourth year. 
They are seldom profitable after the sec- 
ond or third year, and the Italians will 
sometimes have a young queen " helping " 
mother before the beekeeper recognizes the 



old queen as a failing one. Some good 
beekeepers think it profitable +o requeen 
yearly. 

ALFALFA. {Medicago sativa L.). — Al- 
falfa belong to the pulse family, or Legu- 
minosae, which includes more than 5,000 
species. Many of the species are very 
abundant, and valuable for fodder or edi- 
ble seeds or dyes, as white and yellow sweet 
clover, the true clovers, sainfoin, and the 
vetches, peas, beans, and lentils, and indigo. 
The cassias and acacias are also placed in 
this family by Gray, Alfalfa is a peren- 
nial, herbaceous plant with trifoliate 
leaves; violet-purple, irregular flowers in 
short racemes; and spirally twisted pods, 
each containing several kidney-shaped 
seeds. A most important character of al- 
falfa is the taproot, which may extend 
downward to a depth of 15 feet, enabling 




Alfalfa lilossoiii. 



ihe plant to obtain food materials and 
water inaccessible to other field crops. The 
genus Medicago contains more than 100 spe- 
cies and varieties, natives of the Caucasus 



20 



ALFALFA 



and western Siberia, the Mediterranean re- 
gion and northern Africa. One species {M. 
arborea) is a shrub growing in the vicinity 
of the Mediterranean Sea 10 feet tall and 
producing a hard dark wood resembling 
ebony. The foliage furnishes excellent 
forage for cattle and sheep. In California 
it is cultivated as an ornamental shrub for 
its bright yellow flowers. 

HISTORY. 

The common alfalfa is probably of 
Asiatic origin, as it lias been found grow- 
ing wild in Afghanistan, Pei'sia, and the 
region south of the Caucasus. In China it 
has been under cultivation from a very 
early date. The plant was brought into 
Greece at the time of the Persian war, 470 
B. C, from Media whence the scientific 
name Medicago. In Italy it has been culti- 
vated from about^ the first century, and is 
well desciibed by Virgil and Pliny. Dur- 
ing the Middle Ages it received the vernacu- 
lar name of lucerne fiom the Valley of Lu- 
zerne in Piedmont, northern Italy. It was 
long populaily known under this name in 
Europe outside of Spain, and in eastern 
North America. 

This species was also very early intro- 
duced in northern Afiica, where it was 
called alfalfa, a word of Arabic origin 
signifying " the best fodder." During the 
^loorish invasion it was carried into Spain, 
and later was brought by the Spaniards to 
Mexico and South America; and finally, in 
1854, Avas carried from Chile to California. 
>It is first heard of in England about 1650. 
Under the name of lucerne the early colo- 
nists introduced it into eastern North 
iNm.erica, where it still grows spontaneously 
in fields and waste places; but the first 
attempts to cultivate it proved unsuccessful. 
Other common names are Spanish trefoil, 
Burgundy, Brazilian, and Chilian clover. It 
is also known as purple medic from the 
color of the flowers and the Latin word 
medica (Media) ; and snail clover from its 
tvjisted pods. 

Other and more hardy strains have been 
discovered in Siberia and northern Europe, 
and brought to this country by Hansen and 
other agricultural explorers. They found 
alfalfa growing under cultivation and also 
growing wild in the extreme northern parts 
of Siberia. From these high latitudes we 



get a type of plant called the Hardy or 
Northern Alfalfa, as distinguished from 
the Southern or Non-hardy Alfalfa. 

The culture of the plant has become 
established in every State in the Union and 
every province in Canada. Its claim to the 
attention of beekeepers lies in its extreme 
importance as a honey plant in the West. 
To discuss alfalfa from the standpoint of 
the beekeeper, this article will first con- 
sider the nature of alfalfa honey; second, 
alfalfa as bee pasturage; and, finally, con- 
ditions and methods of its culture. 

ALFALFA HONEY. 

Most alfalfa honey has a pleasant slight- 
ly minty taste. The best alfalfa honey, 
thick, rich, and delicious, has proved a 
favorite with the public where the honey 
can be eaten before granulation commences. 
Altho difficult to handle on that account, 
dealers hesitate to discard so well-flavored 
an article. Tt runs 12 to 13 pounds to the 
gallon while other honeys seldom exceed 12 
pounds, its thickness making it difficult to 
extract. 

■ A marked characteristic of alfalfa honey 
is its tendency to granulate, especially 
that from certain localities. In examining 
a given lot of alfalfa honey it is impossi- 
ble to say when granulation will be likely to 
set in. If kept in a warm room some alfal- 
fa honey will continue liquid for an en- 
tire season; but, on the other hand, it may 
be solid in a very few weeks. When granu- 
lated it is fine and creamy ; hence it is often 
retailed in the solid form in cartons. See 
Granulated Honey. 

As with other honeys, low temperatures, 
and especially variable temperature, have 
the same effect in hasteni^ig granulation, 
and higher and uniform temperatures in 
retarding. In tests conducted by the Bu- 
reau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C, al- 
falfa samples shown to be purer than the 
others (that is, freer from other honeys) 
granulated solid. The statement has been 
made that pure alfalfa honey will scarcely 
granulate at all, and that when it solidifies 
early it is mixed with honey from wild 
flowers. In view, however, of the uniform 
granulation of samples of known purity 
tested by the government, this statement 
is apparently not generally true. Moreover, 
t jts made by the Bureau with other honeys 



ALFALFA 



21 



show that impure samples, those with a 
high percentage of dextrose and undeter- 
mined matter, do not candy readily. A 
hard white lard-like solid seems to be the 
ultimate state of even the best of alfalfa 
honey. 

The color of alfalfa honey varies from 
so-called " water-white " to light amber, 
according to the humidity, the season, and 
the character of the soil. In localities of 
little rainfall or Avhere the soil is sandy the 
color is white. In alluvial soils where the 
water is close to the surface the honey is 
amber and even darker after extracting. 
To the percentage of water in the honey 
itself is largely due directly the shade of 
color, as shown in the government tests 
alluded to above. Parts of California and 
Arizona produce a darker alfalfa honey. 
Alfalfa honey from Inyo County, Calif., 
east of the Sierra Nevadas, and from coun- 
try around Reno, Nev., both very dry re- 
gions, is water-white. Imperial County. 
Calif., and Yuma County, Ariz., yield a 
darker honey. Usually honey from the 
second and third crops of alfalfa is lighter 
in color than that from the first crop, the 
reason, of course, being the greater amount 
of water present in the plants at the open- 
ing of the season. 

The content of nitrogen, protein, dex- 
trine, and undetermined matter in alfalfa 
honey is low. Conversely, the sucrose con- 
tent is higher than in most other honeys. 
Ste Honey. 

BEE PASTURAGE. 

The striking and beautiful appearance 
displayed by the great fields of alfalfa in 
the West, when in bloom, can hardly be 
realized by one who has not seen them. 
The lilac-purple flowers present a mass of 
color which is measured, not by the acre 
but by the square mile. Such a landscape 
of purple coloring can be found nowhere 
else in the world. One may ride for miles 
and miles thru fields of alfalfa stretching 
away on either side as far as the eye can 
reach. While alfalfa is cultivated in every 
State in this country, the largest acreage 
is found in California, Utah, Idaho, Colo- 
rado, Kansas, and Nebraska. Large areas 
are also devoted to its culture in Nevada, 
Oregon, Montana, Arizona, and New Mex- 
ico. 



Alfalfa is the most important honey 
plant west of the Mississippi River; but 
it yields nectar freely only in certain sec- 
tions. It is very reliable as a source of 
honey in the San Joaquin, Imperial, and 
Sacramento Valleys in California; in 
northern and central Utah ; in Colorado, es- 
pecially in the north-central portion, and 
in the south-central part of Arizona, and 
of less value in Idaho and Nevada. The 
largest surplus of honey is obtained from 
alfalfa in arid and semiarid districts 
where irrigation is practiced. Conditions 
which favor a large seed crop will also 
produce a large yield of honey. But irri- 
gation alone does not ensure a bountiful 
flow of nectar; for in Nebraska, from 
North Platte to Kearney, there are great 
fields of alfalfa which are dependent on ir- 
rigation, but which are the source of but 
very little honey. Unless there are also 
proper soil and climatic conditions it is 
valueless as a honey plant. It is in the 
valleys and on the slopes both east and 
west of the great continental divide that al- 
falfa is most dependable. Usually at a 
greater distance than 100 miles from the 
mountains the crop is uncertain. 

The largest surplus of alfalfa honey is 
obtained during very warm seasons. With 
ample moisture in the soil, a succession of 
hot days with little wind will cause an as- 
tonishing flow of nectar. Fields which are 
allowed to go to seed will yield nectar 
abundantly for weeks. In a given acreage 
there is no plant, unless it is basswood, 
tupelo, or logwood, that will support so 
many colonies. In several localities in 
Colorado within a radius of five miles 
there are from 2,000 to 7,000 colonies of 
bees — a larger number, probably, than can 
be found elsewhere in an equal area in the 
world. So many beekeepers, indeed, have 
rushed to the great alfalfa-growing regions 
that often the apiaries are located very 
closely, or from half a mile to a mile apart, 
so that frequently it is not profitable for 
a yard to contain more than 100 or 150 colo- 
nies. Other localities will support from 
200 to 300 colonies in a single apiary. In 
Colorado most of the honey is obtained 
from the first and second crops. Honey 
from the third crop is stored not once in 
10 years, owing to the cold nights. But oc- 
casionally there is warmer weather during 



22 



ALFALFA 



the last of August, and much additional 
honey is then brought in by the bees. 

The supply of nectar is also affected by 
altitude. In the San Luis Valley, Colo., at 
an altitude of 7,000 to 8,000 feet alfalfa 
grows well, but bee culture receives little 
attention. In the upper Arkansas Valley 
around Salida, Col., there are also large 
fields of alfalfa, but the apiaries are 
small; and the same is true of the lower 
end of the valley from Pueblo to the Kan- 
sas line. The high altitude affects the 
temperature, which in turn checks the flow 
of nectar. The nights are often cold and 
frosty, and in the higher valleys the days 
are never as warm as on the lower lands. 

In parts of Colorado alfalfa does not 
secrete nectar as abundantly as formerly. 
In the Fort Morgan district the bees do 
not store the surplus honey they did 15 
years ago, and most of the colonies have 
been sold or are for sale. The lower part 
of the Arkansas Valley in Colorado has 
also become less suitable for bee culture. 
This lessened honey production is due to 
the more general cultivation of other crops, 
to the increase of insect pests, and to the 
exhaustion of the soil preventing- alfalfa 
from making the luxuriant growth of for- 
mer times. 

In California, according to Richter, al- 
falfa yields nectar in most of the valleys, 
but is of no value along the coast. In dry 
seasons, when drouth causes the sages to 
wither on the Coast Range, alfalfa becomes 
the chief dependence of the beekeeper. In 
the Sa:n Joaquin Valley the second and 
third crops of alfalfa are the source of 
most of the honey, while the first and last 
crops secrete little nectar. Honey from al- 
falfa growing on well-drained sandy soils 
is water-white, while that from heavier 
soils is more or less amber-colored. 

A few years ago many alfalfa ranges 
were largely used for grazing, and made 
valuable apiary sites; but these have dis- 
appeared as general farming and fruit- 
growing have developed. Where alfalfa is 
cut for hay (the usual purpose of its 
growth) the beekeeper can secure only a 
part, and often only a very small part, of 
the nectar. There has been much diversity 
of opinion as to the best time for cutting 
alfalfa; but the general practice is to cut 
in early bloom, or when the new basal 
shoots which produce the succeeding crop 



are just starting, while a few advocate 
waiting until the plants are in full bloom. 
Where alfalfa is cut at the beginning of 
bloom it is of but little value to the bee- 
keeper; and it is, therefore, desirable to 
locate in sections where seed is raised. 
Such fields yield nectar in great abundance 
for several weeks. Other causes injurious 
to the honey flow from alfalfa are freezing 
weather in late spring, too much water, 
the alfalfa butterfly, a multitude of thrips 
(more than 40 of these little insects are 
sometimes found in a single flower), and 
other insect pests. 

While alfalfa is extensively grown in 
Oklahoma and Kansas, comparatively little 
honey is obtained from this source in these 
States. Heavy yields of alfalfa honey in 
Kansas are obtained chiefly on lands in the 
river bottoms and in the western part of 
the State. On higher land nectar is gained 
only after refreshing showers. In the 
country immediately surrounding Topeka it 
is only occasionally that bees work on the 
bloom. An old resident of that State 
says that a neighbor of his has fields of 
alfalfa 18 years old, but that he has never 
seen a bee on the bloom nor a pound of 
alfalfa honey produced in the eastern part 
of Kansas, altho he has lived there 35 
years. 

In Nebraska alfalfa is likewise of varia- 
ble value as a honey plant. A beekeeper 
eight miles north of the south State line 
says that within one and a half miles of 
his apiary there are over 350 acres of al- 
falfa grown without irrigation, and that it 
is the main source of honey in that section. 
The surplus is obtained chiefly from the 
second crop of bloom, which opens in July. 
Sufficient rain in May will cause a vigorous 
gTOwth of the plant, and ensure a bounti- 
ful supply of nectar; but excessive rain 
during the period of bloom is injurious. 
But there are large areas of irrigated alfal- 
fa along the North Platte River which re- 
ceive but little attention from bees; and in 
general thruout the State it is of uncertain 
value as a honey plant. 

East of the Mississippi River alfalfa 
rarely secretes nectar, altho the acreage is 
very large and has rapidly increased dur- 
ing the last dozen years. But in Pennsyl- 
vania ; Camillus, N. Y., and Peru, Ind., bees 
have been reported as gathering nectar 
from alfalfa bloom. At Peru it was esti- 



ALFALFA 



23 




THE CELEBRATED ALFALFA PLANT AND ROOT. 

The plant represented in this plate grew in rich, loose soil, with a heavv clav subsoil and an ahimdanl 
snpply of water, the water level ranging from 4 to 8 feet from the surface at different seasons of the voar. 
Ihe dianieter at the top was 18 inches, and the number of stems 360. The plate shows how these crowns 
gather soil around them, for the length of the underground stems is seen to be several inches, and this represents 
the accumulation of nearlv this much material about it. 



30, 



7^}l ^^r?^^r.°^ ^^^ largest plants that I have yet found. The specimen, as photographed, was dug Ar)ri 
1896.— Dr. Ileadden, in Bulletin A'o. 35 '-Alfalfa.'' . f b i . o i 



mated that there were about 10 bees to a 
square rod. But, in general, alfalfa is a 
good honey plant only in arid and seniiarid 



regions where the ground can be irj-igated. 
The secretion of nectar seems peculiarly 
sensitive to atmospheric changes. 



24 



ALFALFA 



THE CULTIVATION OF ALFALFA. 

When the conditions for its growth are 
favorable, alfalfa is a sturdy plant, and, 
unlike its near relative, sweet clover, v^^hieh 
is a biennial, it is a perennial. Some fields 
have been reported half a century old. 
While it draws on the fertility of the soil 
it keeps the ground well supplied with 
nitrogen for the use of later crops. Its 
ability to survive dry periods, which would 
kill other plants except sweet clover, adapts 
it to arid and semiarid regions. Nothing- 
is superior to it as a forage crop. Not only 
is the food value high, but crop after crop 
can be taken off in a single season. 

While alfalfa is better adapted to all 
parts of the United States than was gen- 
erally imagined, the varieties thrive best 
where there is plenty of hot sunshine and 
deep, rich soils, and they make their richest 
growth in the hottest weather. To the 
entire range of elevation in this country, it 
seems to be equally adapted. One can find 
a Southern variety flourishing in the Im- 
perial Valley, 100 feet below sea level, and 
in the San Luis Valley, 7,500 feet above. In 
Colorado, the Grimm, the Baltic, and the 
Hardy Turkestan grow in altitudes higher 
than 8,000 feet. While alfalfa has been 
most extensively planted in the West, par- 
ticularly in the regions opened to cultiva- 
tion by irrigation projects, its culture has 
been found highly profitable of late years 
in the older soils of the East, in places 
where its habits are understood. It does 
almost equally well in the hilly and gravelly 
land of New England, and the clay and 
loam of the corn belt. 

Most pronounced advantages of its culti- 
vation have been observed in alkaline soils 
in the West. Here the long taproot, pierc- 
ing layers of subsoil to a depth of 10 to 
20 feet, leaves millions of openings for air 
and moisture and brings up stores of plant 
food to enrich the soil; the roots them- 
selves when they decay furnish a heavy 
store of nitrogen. Naturally rich in pot- 
ash, lime, and phosphate, the soils lack the 
nitrogen and organic matter, both of which 
are liberally supplied by the growth of al- 
falfa. The same is also true of sweet 
clover. See Sweet Clover. 

WELL-DRAINED^ WELL-LIMED, FERTILE SOIL. 

On the other hand, wide as tlie lange of 
alfalfa seems to be, there are some distinct 



conditions which much be met before its 
cultivation can be successful. It demands 
well-drained land, a sweet fertile soil, the 
right kind of bacteria in the soil, and 
freedom from weeds. To get a successful 
stand, a firm, fine seed bed is necessary. 
After this it demands little attention. In 
general any soil that grows corn or red 
clover successfully will grow alfalfa. 

Wet and soggy land, land where the 
ground water stands within three or four 
feet of the surface, or where water stands 
half a day at a time, are not suitable. In 
springy, seepy soil in the northern parts of 
the country, the alternate freezing and 
thawing heaves out the plant and complete- 
ly destroys the stand. In this respect a 
sandy loam is a little better than a clay 
loam. Properly drained soil is again neces- 
sary on account of the great depth to which 
the taproot plunges. The roots must get 
nitrogen from the air, but they cannot do 
this if surrounded by water. The plant 
cannot take nitrogen in any other way than 
thru the roots; in fact, alfalfa needs more 
thoro drainage than any other crop. Not 
only must the soil be well drained, but a 
second and equally important essential is 
that it be free from acidity and even ha^ve 
an alkaline reaction. Alfalfa does not do 
well on an acid soil. In the East especial- 
ly, where very few soils are not acid, it is 
necessary to sweeten very heavily with lime. 
Alfalfa requires more lime than any other 
forage crop. It demands not only a neutral 
soil but one with an excess of lime for its 
own use. 

Before sowing alfalfa one should be sure 
of the state of the soil in this respect. One 
good way is to wrap a moist piece of earth 
in blue litmus paper; if the'paper shows a 
tendency to redden, the soil is doubtless 
badly in need of lime. This may be applied 
in two ways: either the ground unburned 
limestone (carbonate of lime), two to four 
tons to the acre ; or burned lime, one or two 
tons. See Clover. Since the lime stays 
where it is put, thoroly harrow it in. Often 
it is well to apply the lime the year before 
putting in alfalfa, say with corn or pota- 
toes. 

Alfalfa will thrive only in soils which are 
rich in lime. An acid soil is destructive to 
the bacteria. Humus can not be formed 
from decaying organic matter vvithout lime. 



ALFALFA 



25 



ft prevents the loss of the nitrogen in the 
soil thru the leaching of rains ; in fact, car- 
bonate of lime seems to be the foundation 
of fertility itself. 

Except in the wonderfully rich land of 
the West, one's treatment of the soil can 
not stop here. While alfalfa has been much 
praised as a restorer of fertility, it is never- 
theless true that it makes heavy drafts 
upon the phosphate and potash in the soil. 
As with lime, when these are. not present 
they must be supplied. Unlike sweet clover, 
it requii-es a fertile soil to start with. On 
worn-out fields, phosphorus should be sup- 
plied; 400 to 600 pounds of steamed bone 
meal to the acre or natural rock phosphate 
mixed with manure has been recommended. 
Plenty of well-rotted stable manure should 
be given, or, lacking that, cow peas, crim- 
son clover, and soy beans can be planted 
for green manure. When potash may be 
lacking in the soil, wood ashes or commer- 
cial potash may be applied. Summing up, 
it is more important, as the late J. E. Wing 
pointed out in his book on alfalfa, to fill 
the soil with plant food than to get the 
seed bed right. 

SOIL INOCULATION. 

A third essential for successful alfalfa 
cultivation is that the right kind of bacteria 
be present in the soil. Only in compara- 
tively recent years has this been understood. 
Minute vegetable organisms inhabit the 
small pale nodules which can be seen with 
the naked eye about the roots of the plant: 
their function is to gather nitrogen from 
the air and convert it into a form in which 
it can be assimilated by the plant. If the 
soil is wet' or acid, they will not thrive. 
Where they are not present in the soil al- 
ready, they have to be put there. This pro- 
cess, known as inoculation, is universally 
demanded where alfalfa and sweet clover 
have not been grown before. 

One of the two or three satisfactory 
methods of inoculation is the soil-transfer. 
Soil should be gathered from a field in 
which alfalfa has been grown before or 
from about the roots of sweet clover (the 
sweet clover and alfalfa bacteria are iden- 
tical), then> pulverized and screened thoro- 
ly, mixed with the alfalfa seed, and sown 
300 to 400 pounds to the acre. Since the 
sun's rays are fatal to these germs, the 
mixing should be done in the shade and the 



sowing in the evening or on a cloudy day. 
If the earth is broadcasted it should be 
han-owed in immediately. A smaller quan- 
tity of earth is required by wetting the 
seed with water in which enough glue has 
been dissolved to make the water sticky; 
the seed should be mixed with fine earth 
from another field. 

The Department of Agriculture, Wasli- 
ington, D. C, sends out pure cultures of 
the bacteria in tubes, making inoculation 
convenient where soil is not readily obtain- 
ed. Simply follow directions. 

In the humid regions of the country, 
weeds are very troublesome, in many local- 
ities being the worst enemy of alfalfa. If 
the soil is fertile, has been well limed, and 




Method of stacking alfalfa hay. 

has been placed in proper condition before 
the alfalfa is sown, little need be feared 
from weeds. After alfalfa once gets a 
start it can kill out most of the weeds 
naturally. A clean field can usually be se- 
cured by preceding alfalfa with some clean 
cultivation crop. By seeding in the late 
summer the alfalfa plants by spring will 
have the start of the weeds. If weeds 
threaten to injure an old stand, their stalks 



26 



ALFALFA 




An alfalfa haystack on a 5,000-acre farm assumes enormous proportions. 



can sometimes be burned out in the spring' 
before the alfalfa starts. 

Dodder is one of a few weeds to be 
feared. Especial care should be taken to 
get seed free from dodder. The stems come 
up with the alfalfa, twine around it, and 
finally wither away. From that time until 
the death of both plants the dodder lives 
parasitically on the juices of the alfalfa. 
Therefore if dodder makes its appearance 
in a field of alfalfa and becomes well es- 
tablished, the alfalfa should be rooted out 
by using the field for some other crop 
for several years. Wild barley often ruins 
the first crop in irrigated regions of the 
West. Quack or couch gTass, Kentucky 
blue grass, and foxtail grass are weeds 
dangerous in other regions. 

PUTTING IN THE SEED. 

A great many facts have been collected 
on seeding alfalfa, not all of which apply 
to a particular locality by any means, nor 
even agree with one another in some cases. 
The time of sowing varies widely between 
one part of the country and another. Mid- 
summer sowing is probably most popular 
in the North and East. If the seed is put 
in between June and the first of September, 
the young plants are usually strong enough 
to resist winterkilling. Some advise spring 
sowing — tlie last of May and early June, 



but this is not best where weeds are likely 
to disturb the young plants. In the hot 
irrigated portions seed may be sown any 
time between April and August. Fall seed- 
ing is most common — September, October, 
or November. 

Early-maturing crops do well to precede 
alfalfa. The clean culture of potatoes and 
garden truck rids the land of weeds, aerates 
the soil, and makes an introductory appli- 
cation of nitrogen unnecessary. Corn in 
the North and cotton in the South are both 
suitable. A crop of crimson clover cut for 
hay builds up the soil and gives plenty of 
time to get the land ready for alfalfa. 

Too much care can hardly be given to the 
selection of seed. Not only thru careless- 
ness in this respect do weeds get their 
foothold, but failure often comes from 
adulterated seed or seed of poor quality. 
The average quality of alfalfa seed in the 
market is low. A considerable quantity of 
dead seed has been sold and it is sometimes 
adulterated with trefoil. In every case be- 
fore buying, samples should be tested for 
germination, either by a home testing-plate 
or sending to the seed laboratory of the 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, 
D. C, which does this testing free of 
charge. A home test should show a ger- 
mination of at least 95 per cent. If the ger- 



ALFALFA 



27 



mination is low, a larger quantity should be 
sown than if the germination is high. 

Seed grown in the Northern States may 
be planted with success in the Southern, 
but the reverse is not true. It is always 
well to get seed grown in the same latitude 
in which it is to be sown. While ordinary 
alfalfa is very satisfactory, certain kinds 
have local advantages. Superior resistance 
to the cold, as well as greater tonnage to 
the acre, is claimed for the Grimm alfalfa 
and the commercial sand lucerne. The Bal- 
tic has also been found a superior strain. 

It is necessary to plow deeply for alfalfa. 
The roots need all the moisture they can 
get, and the ground should be thoroly stir- 
red up, so that air can penetrate to the 
nodules. The seed bed should be fine on 
top, but thoroly settled ; for this reason it is 
well to let the land rest for six weeks after 
plowing, and then to give it a light disking. 
If plowing is done on hot days, it should be 
followed immediately with a harrow to 
break up clods before they harden. Then 
the soil should be pulverized with a drag, 
disk, and smoothing harrow. For spring 
sowing it is not so necessary to have a per- 
fect seed bed; the plants have a long start 
by winter. 

Seeding alfalfa in irrigated regions re- 
quires an entirely different procedure. In- 
oculation is unnecessary; so is fertilizer. 
It is well to level the land, plow deeply, 
follow with the disk and harrow imme- 
diately, and let stand a month. It is advis- 
able to irrigate before and after seeding, 
and to irrigate again if the young plants 
seem to be suffering for lack of water. 
They should be watered after each cutting. 
Upon the irrigation of alfalfa Mr. Kezer 
of the Colorado Experiment Station writes 
as follows: 

Different soils, different climates, and dif- 
ferent sources of water supply would all be 
causes of different methods. In some sec- 
tions it is necessary to irrigate two or three 
times for each cutting; in other sections, one 
irrigation to the cutting is sufficient, in 
which case the best practice is to irrigate a 
week or ten days prior to the cutting or the 
expected time of cutting, and then cut as 
soon as the ground is settled enough to bear 
the weight of the haying machinery. This 
water puts the soil in good condition for the 
succeeding crop and causes it to start for- 
ward more quickly and more vigorously. Ir- 
rigation practice varies quite widely and 
must vary quite widely because of the diver- 
sity of conditions. A complete statement 



covering the most of the known conditions 
would require several pages. Suffice it to 
say, that in some regions best results are 
obtained by a flooding method, in others by 
a furrow method, and in some regions the 
basin methods give the best results. Climat- 
ic and soil conditions chiefly govern. 

The amount of seed to the acre likewise 
varies with the locality. For honey produc- 
tion in the West 10 pounds gives a good 
stand; in the Atlantic and Southern States, 
24 to 28 pounds; between the Appalachian 
Mountains and the Mississippi, slightly less 
than this. Wing estimates 15 to 20 pounds 
under ordinary circumstances and with or- 
dinary soils. One plant to the square foot 
is enough under the best of conditions, but 
they must Stand more thickly as a rule. 
Since more come up than can exist, only 
the strongest plants survive. 

Alfalfa may be sown either broadcast or 
with a wheelbarrow seeder or a drill. Broad- 
casting requires more seed than drilling, 
and must be followed with a harrow or 
some other implement to cover the seed 
almost an inch deep. In arid lands it is 
covered about an inch and a half. In drill- 
ing it is advisable to sow across field in one 
direction and then at right angles. No 
further treatment need be given the rest of 
the year except for the appearance of dod- 
der. Wagons and stock should be carefully 
kept off the field. 

After seeding in the late summer, the 
stand will usually be eight or ten inches 
high by fall. With the spring sowing a 
clipping may need to be given in the late 
summer, but no hay can be taken off until 
the next season. Should the plants show^ a 
lack of vitality or trace of disease, cutting 
them will often prove salutary, and in the 
East a top dressing of nitrate of soda is 
effective. In a great portion of the West 
this would not be beneficial. If weeds are 
troublesome, the field may be disked with 
the disks set upright. This hinders the 
growth of weed and grass and lets air and 
water into the soil. 

Alfalfa is seldom successful with a nurse 
crop except in irrigated land, for the reason 
that the nurse crop often chokes out the 
young plants just as weeds do. Barley 
gTOwn for hay, and hay only, can be made 
a success with spring sowing of alfalfa, and 
gives a larger return to the acre, but to let 
it grow until it is ready to harvest as grain 
seriously injures the forage stand. In irri- 



28 



ALFALFA 



AVERAGE PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION OF ALFALFA AND OTHER FORAGE CROPS. 



Kind of forage 



Number 
of analy- 
ses. 



Water 



Ash 



Protein 



Crude 
fiber 



Nitrogen , Ether 
free , extract 
extract ! (fat) 



Fresh alfalfa 
Fresh clover 
Alfalfa hay 
Clover hay . 
Timothy hay 
Gowpea hay 



23 
43 
21 
38 
68 
8 



71.8% 
70.8 



10.7 



2.7% 

2.] 

7.4 

6.2 

4.4 

7.5 



4.8% 


7.4% 


12.3%, 


4.4 


8.1 


13.5 


14.3 


25.0 


42.7 


12.3 


24.8 


38.1 


5.9 


29.0 


45.0 


16.6 


20.1 


42.2 



1.0% 

1.1 

2. 2 
3.3 
2.5 
2.2 



gated sections with good water rights, alfal- 
fa is usually successful with a nurse crop, 
altho more vigorous growth can usually be 
obtained without it. Mixtures of alfalfa 
with certain of the grasses are successful, 
the grasses being seemingly more vigorous 
than when alone, and the alfalfa almost as 
good. 

ALFALFA AS HAY. 

Alfalfa is one of the most palatable and 
highly nutritious of all forage crops, either 
gTeen or as hay. One estimate gives alfalfa 
hay slightly more than double the food 
value of timothy. No other forage crop is 
so rich in digestible protein. Wheat bran 
which runs $25 to $30 a ton is about as 
rich, tho more easily fed. While protein is 
hard to get and expensive, it is the one 
thing absolutely necessary for the produc- 
tion of stock or milk. While dair3'men are 
bankrupting themselves buying bran and 
cottonseed meal to get this necessary pro- 
tein, they could feed just as much and make 
enormous saving by growing alfalfa on 
their own farms. Alfalfa has three times 
as much protein as corn, but in fat and 
carbohydrates is decidedly inferior. 

The market price of alfalfa hay is gov- 
erned simply by supply and demand. The 
number of cuttings which may be made in 
one season has been as high as eight and 
even nine in the Southwest. In favorable 
years in the North three are possible, but 
two are most common in the eastern part 
of the country. Thirty or forty days of 
hot weather are usually all that are neces- 
sary to mature a crop. A good yield 
amounts to two tons to the acre. 

CUTTING BEFORE IT BLOO:\LS. 

Shall the farmer cut the alfalfa before 
it comes to bloom, or while it is in bloom, 
or wait until the blossoms are all gone? 
This is a matter of decided concern to the 
beekeeper, since his crop of honey depends 



upon it. If the stand is mown befoi-e 
bloom, the bees get no nectar at all, and 
the beekeeper may find his colonies starving 
in the midst of miles of alfalfa. 

The old rule with alfalfa-growers was to 
cut for hay when the stand was about one- 
tenth in blosson, Arizona growers claimed 
that the alfalfa is richer for milk produc- 
tion at that time than at any other, but for 
horses and mules it is more nourishing if 
cut in full bloom. The Utah Experiment 
Station after a series of investigations 
reached this conclusion : " To insure a 
large yield of dry matter and the largest 
amount of albuminoids, lucerne should be 
cut not earlier than the period of medium 
bloom, and not much later than the first 

full flower It is a more serious 

matter to cut too early than to cut too late." 
On the same point the national bulletin 
says : " The general rule is to cut alfalfa 
just as it is coming into bloom. Feeding 
experiments sliow that the feeding value is 
highest when alfalfa is cut in early bloom." 

Of late years a new rule has taken the 
place of the old. Authorities now advise 
alfalfa-growers to mow when the shoots of 
the new growth at the base of the plant are 
just showing. In Ohio this comes about 
June 1. When the shoots appear it is time 
to cut immediately. If this is done too soon 
the second growth is retarded; if too late a 
great many of the leaves are lost, and in 
them lies much of the food value. Dangei" 
of winterkilling is also increased. The net 
result so far as the beekeeper is concerned 
is often more favorable under the new plan. 

Another fact to his advantage is the 
habit of men, whatever the rule, of being 
just a little late. In some places the prac- 
tice is to cut while the fields are well into 
bloom. The growers fear tliat if cut too 
early it will cause bloat in cattle, and is 
likely to powder in curing. The state of 



* In part from Henry's 
appcndi.x. 



Feeds and Feeding 



ALFALFA 



29 



growth at which to mow the alfalfa also 
varies between one crop and another: the 
third cutting is often made when the plants 
are in full flower. 

Immediately after cutting, fields look 
brown and bare for the first few hours, but 
the plants soon rally, and are fiourishing 
again in a surprisingly short time. The 
field should not be disturbed until the time 
for the second cutting. 

Making hay with alfalfa in the West is 
a struggle to get it stacked before the leaves 
dry so much that they drop off. In the 
East is a similar struggle to get it cured be- 
tween showers. On the ranches the farm- 
ers harvest a green hay which is practically 
impossible to get in humid regions. It is 
esteemed highly as horse feed, altho for 
cows a brown hay is quite as good. Stacks 
of this green hay keep their color indefi- 
nitely. To the Easterner it is surprising to 
cut into a stack and find the interior as 
green as the field itself. 

Cui'ing in windrows is better than in the 
swath. The hay is raked the same day it 
is cut, and as soon as cured is cocked and 
stacked, or baled directly from the cocks. 
The tedder is of little value since it shatters 
the leaves too much. Most of the protein is 
contained in the leaves, which are somewhat 
richer than bran. Where showers are fre- 
quent, the alfalfa should be raked into 
windrows soon after being cut, in order to 
avoid damage by rains. Special alfalfa 
rakes are on the market. Of the ordinary 
machinery the side-delivery rake is very 
useful. If the hay is put into the barn too 
green, it may ignite. 

ALFALFA AS PASTURE AND SOILING ', SEED 
PRODUCTION. 

Alfalfa pastures, while not uncommon, 
must be grazed sparingly if a good stand 
of the plants is to be maintained. Fields 
should never be used for this purpose the 
first season or two. Horses and sheep graze 
more closely than cattle do, and are there- 
fore more destructive to the stand. Hogs 
on alfalfa pasturage should be ringed. In 
the autunm stock should be taken off in 
order to give the plants a start for winter. 
The tendency of cattle and sheep to bloat 
when turned on an alfalfa fieia can be 
overcome, it has been suggested, by feed- 
ing before turning them in, and then keep- 
ing them on the pasture all the time, altho 



there are few places east of the Rocky 
Mountains where either sheep or cattle can 
be pastured on alfalfa with safety, except 
when the plants are in a dormant state. 
In the West are great alfalfa ranches for 
horses, cattle, and even ostriches. 

Alfalfa land will support three times as 
many animals by soiling as by pastuiing. 
Let the crop mature and then carry it to 
them. A better way even is to combine 
both pasturing and soiling — feed the ani- 
mals with alfalfa, then give them access to 
the pasture. Alfalfa makes silage if prop- 
erly handled, but the silage is inferior to 
corn, kafi.r, feterita, milo, or sorghum. 

In the arid regions of the country where 
seed can be grown, there are great opportu- 
nities for profit. Seed now brings 10 to 
$12 a bushel, but the culture would be 
worth while with seed at half that price. 
The crop which matures in the driest season 
is always the one saved. A thin stand is 
necessary; for best results the plants are 
set in long rows about 20 inches apart and 
cultivated just as corn. East of the Mis- 
sissippi very little seed has been produced. 

POLLINATION. 

The form of the flower is papilionaceous, 
or butterfly-shaped, bearing a general re- 
semblance to the flower of the garden pea. 
The manner of pollination is of great inter- 
est both to beekeepers and seed-growers. 
The flowers are known as explosive flowers. 
The anthers and stigma are held in the keel 
under elastic tension, which resides in the 
staminal column formed by the union of 
the filaments of 9 of the 10 stamens. When 
a bee presses down the wings and keel, says 
Burkill, it pulls two triggers and fires oiT 
the flower, that is, the two processes which 
restrain the staminal column in the carina 
separate, and permit the stamens and pistil 
to fly forcibly upward, bringing the pollen 
in contact with the under side of the bee's 
body. A slight clicking soimd may some- 
times be heard when the stigma strikes 
against the standard, and a little cloud of 
pollen is visible. The stigma stands a little 
in advance of the anthers, and strikes the 
pollen-brush of the bee first; if the latter is 
covered with pollen from another flower, 
previously visited, cross-pollination is ef- 
fected. Both of these organs then move 
upward against the erect petal called the 
standard, where they are out of the way. 



30 



ALFALFA 



and do not again come in contact with in- 
sects. A single normal visit is sufficient to 
effect pollination, and all subsequent visits 
are useless. After the flowers have been 
exploded, or " tripped," they still continue, 
however, to secrete nectar and receive in- 
sect visits. This is clearly an imperfection, 
since the attraction of visitors is no longer 
an advantage. 

In different seasons and different local- 
ities there is a wide difference in the quan- 
tity of seed produced by alfalfa. In the 
Milk River Valley of Montana a yield of 
from 10 to 12 bushels per acre has been 
obtained in favorable years, while in others 
it was almost a complete failure. Contra- 
dictory assertions have been repeatedly 
made by various, observers that the flowers 
are self-fertile or self-sterile in the ab- 
sence of insects. For the purpose of set- 
tling this question definitely, numerous ex- 
periments were conducted by Piper and his 
assistants, the results of which were pub- 
lished by the Bureau of Plant Industry in 
1914. 

More than 24 species of wild bees, be- 
sides many butterflies, flies, and beethis, 
have been observed on the flowers; but 
many of these are useless as pollinators. 
In localities where alfalfa is nectarless it is 
almost entirely ignored by honeybees, but 
where it secretes nectar freely they are 
attracted in great numbers. Usually they 
obtain the nectar thru a hole in the side of 
the flower without tripping it. Out of 500 
visits observed by Westgate a flower was 
tripped in only one instance. In California, 
according to McKee, few flowers are trip- 
ped by honeybees; but in England, Burkill 
saw them tripping the flowers in great 
numbers. Even if an individual honeybee 
tripped a flower only occasionally, the ag- 
gregate exploded in a day over a large area 
of alfalfa would be large. In Colorado 
and western Kansas, where bee culture has 
been greatly developed in recent years, it 
is claimed that the alfalfa seed crop in 
fields near apiaries is much heavier and of 
better quality than that of fields a few 
miles away. In the former fields the amount 
of seed was at least 50 per cent greater 
than in those which were remote from colo- 
nies of bees. Bumblebees are more im- 
portant than honeybees, and trip the flow- 
ers frequently — in Washington and Mon- 
tana about 30 per cent of the flowers visit- 



ed. But the leaf -cutting bees (Megachile) 
are the most efficient pollinators. M. lati- 
manus trips 9 out of eveiy 10 flowers visit- 
ed, and three of these bees were observed to 
trip flowers at the rate of 552 per hour. 
Butterflies are common visitors, especially 
in California, where the alfalfa butterfly 
{Eurymus eurytheme) is abundant; but 
they obtain the nectar thru the orifice in 
the side of the flower without depressing 
the carina. In South America small birds 
called honey-suckers visit the flower for 
nectar. Pollination by the wind does not 
occur. 

Untripped flowers seldom produce seed, 
but in the absence of insects a large per- 
centage may explode automatically. At 
Chinook, Montana, 33 out of 57 marked 
flowers on one plant became self-tripped, 
and set 21 pods; and on a second plant 36 
flowers out of 64 tripped automatically, 
and produced 16 pods. In the first case 
63 per cent of the self-pollinated flowers 
produced pods, and in the second 44 per 
cent. In rare instances flowers develop 
pods without tripping. Variability in self- 
tripping is strongly influenced by climatic 
factors, as temperature, humidity, and 
bright sunshine. A single alfalfa plant 
was screened from insects for 10 days or 
longer until it was in full bloom. The 
screen was then removed for 15 minutes on 
a very warm clear day. The flowers quick- 
ly began exploding with a snapping sound, 
at times three or four being heard simul- 
taneously. It was estimated that more than 
one-half of the flowers were self-tripped 
before the screen was replaced. In the 
West, automatic self-tripping probably re- 
sults in the production of as many pods as 
insect pollination. This observation is im- 
portant since it explains the production of 
a large crop of seed in the absence of in- 
sects. 

A series of experiments was conducted 
to test the comparative effects of self-pol- 
lination and cross-pollination of alfalfa 
flowers. Nine thousand and seventy-four 
flowers were artificially tripped, and con- 
sequently self-pollinated, and set 2,784 
pods. The different plants on which the 
flowers were thus self-pollinated varied 
greatly in the production of pods, 68 per 
cent of the flowers in one instance setting 
pods, while others yielded none. Pollina- 
tion from a different flower on the same 



ANATOMY OF THE BEE 



31 



plant is of little advantage over self-polli- 
nation. Five hundred and thirteen self- 
pollinated flowers set 165 pods, or 32 per 
cent; while 437 flowers pollinated from 
another flower on the same plant set 134 
pods, or 30 per cent. When 446 flowers 
were each cross-pollinated with pollen from 
another plant 206 pods were produced, or 
46 per cent. The average number of seeds 
per pod of the self -pollinated flowers was 
1.4; of the flowers pollinated from anucher 
flower on the same plant, 2.02; and of the 
cTOSS-poUinated flowers 2.38. Cross-pol- 
lination is, therefore, more potent than 
self-pollination, and consequently pollina- 
tion by insects is an advantage. 

It is now well established that the pro- 
duction of seed is greatly influenced by 
climate; and practical experience has shown 
that it can be raised in paying quantities 
only in those States which possess a hot, 
dry season. Too much moisture is injuri- 
ous, and consequently the eastern portion 
of the country with its larger rainfall is 
not well adapted for this purpose ; while in 
the irrigated sections one irrigation is usu- 
ally omitted. It is of interest to beekeepers 
to know that most of the seed is raised in 
Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado, Kan- 
sas, and Idaho. The best results are obtained 
with a thin stand of alfalfa, or where it is 
cultivated in rows. The domestic supply is 
far below the demand, and millions of 
pounds are annually imported. 

AUTHORITIES. 

While certain general princii3les can be 
laid down regarding alfalfa for all parts of 
the United States, it has not been possible 
in this article to go into those local details 
with which the well-informed grower should 
be familiar. Any one interested in the 
plant should first find out what his state 
experiment station has published on alfal- 
fa-gTOwing in his locality. The literature is 
thoro and comprehensive. 

The best work on the subject is J. E. 
Wing's "Alfalfa in America" (1912). A 
somewhat more extensive work is F. D. 
Coburn's "The Book of Alfalfa" (1906). 
The Department of Agriculture, Washing- 
ton, publishes Farmers' Bulletin No. 339, 
entitled " Alfalfa," by J. M. Westgate. Of 
the various publications by state experi- 
ment stations, those by the Colorado, Illi- 



nois, Utah, and Kentucky stations are espe- 
cially valuable. All of the works cited 
were used in the preparation of this article. 
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Mr. 
Alvin Kezer, Chief Agronomist at the Col- 
orado State Experiment Station, for read- 
ing the manuscript and making suggestions. 
ALFILERILLA {Erodium cicutarium 
(L.) L'Her). — Alfilerilla is derived from 
the Spanish word for pin, also known as 
alfilaria, pin-clover, musk clover, storksbill, 
heron's bill, and pin-grass. The fruit re- 
sembles a heron's bill, whence the name of 
the genus Erodium^ the Greek for heron. 
Naturalized from Europe, and widely dis- 
tributed: one of the leading honey and 
pollen yielders of California and Arizona. 
It is regarded as an excellent forage plant 
by stockmen, quite equal in feeding value 
to alfalfa, and probably more palatable, 
because much less woody in character. An 
analysis by the chemist of the Arizona Ex- 
periment Station shows it is quite equal to 
any clover for feeding. It is being rapidly 
spread by sheep and cattle in the extreme 
Southwest, for it is easily disseminated, 
and requires no particular cultivation. In 
this respect it resembles sweet clover; but 
animals do not have to be educated to eat- 
ing it ; on the contrary they are fond of it 
from the start. As a honey and pollen 
plant it ranks very high, both as regards 
quantity and qualit}^ 

ALGARROBA.— See Mesquite. 
ALSIKE CLOVER.— See Clover. 

AMATEUR BEEKEEPING. — See 

Backlot Beekeeping; also A B C of Bee- 
keeping. 

ANALYSIS OF HONEY.— See IIonev 

AND Honey Analysis. 

ANATOMY OF THE BEE.— The three 
parts of the body of the bees are well sepa- 
rated by constrictions. The head carries 
the eyes, antennae, and mouth parts; the 
thorax, the wings and legs; and the abdo- 
men, the wax-glands and sting. 

The head is flattened and triangular, be- 
ing widest crosswise thru the upper corners, 
which are capped by the large compound 
eyes. It carries the antennae, or feelers, on 
the middle of the face (Fig. 2, A, Ant) ; 
the large compound eyes (E) laterally; 



32 



ANATOMY OF THE BEE 



8 



H 5 



o s.* o g ^ 



s 






* sSp.>o^a 

C! ^3 O ^ » ^ 






r E o) 




^ « ^ 'e — a 

I !«§«!? I 

:5 t! ,13 * fell*' 

^ ^'-cS U g o « 

7^-5,3-.!= 



C c > 






ANATOMY OF THE BEE 



33 



three small simple eyes or ocelli ( ) , at the 
top of the face, and the mouth parts {Md, 
Mx, and Lh) ventrally. Each antenna con- 
sists of a long basal joint and of a series ot 
small ones hanging downward from the end 
of the first. The antennae are very sensitive 
to touch, and contain the organs of smell. 
At the lower edge of the face is a loose flap 
(Fig. 2, A, Lm) forming an upper lip 
called the lahrum. On its under surface is 
a small soft lobe called the epipharynx on 
which are located the organs of taste. At 
the sides of the labrum are the two heavy 
jaws, or mandibles {Md), which work side- 
wise. They are spoon-shaped at their ends 
in the worker, but sharp-pointed and tooth- 
ed in the queen and drone. Those of the 
queen are largest, those of the drone small- 
est. Behind the labrum and the mandibles 
is a bunch of long appendages, usually 
folded back beneath the head, which to- 
gether constitute the proboscis (Fig. 2, A, 
Prb). These organs correspond with the 
second pair of jaws, or maxillae, and the 
lower lip, or labium, of other insects. In 
Fig. 2 they are cut off a short distance from 
their bases, but are shown detached from 
the head and flattened out in Fig. 3, D. The 
middle series of pieces (Smt-Lbl) consti- 
tutes the labium, the two lateral series 
(Cd-Mx) the maxillae. The labium consists 
of a basal submentum (Smt), and a men- 
tum (Mt), which supports distally the slen- 
der, flexible, tongue-like glossa {Gls), the 
two delicate paraglossae {Pgl), and the 
two lateral, jointed labial palpi {Lb Pip). 
Each maxilla is composed of a basal stalk, 
the cardo {Cd) ; a main plate, the stipes 
{St), and a wide terminal blade {Mx) 
called the galea. At the base of the galea 
is a rudimentary maxillary palpus {Mx- 
Plp), representing a part which in most 
insects consists of several slender joints. 

As before stated, the part of the maxil- 
lae and the labium together constitute the 
proboscis, which, as shown in Fig. 2, is 
suspended from a deep cavity {PrbFs) on 
the lower part of the back of the head hav- 
ing a membranous floor. The nasal stalks 
{Cd) of the maxillae are hinged to knobs 
on the sides of this cavity, while the labium 
is attached to the maxillary stalks by means 
of a flexible band called the lorum (Fig. 3, 
D, Lr). 



When the bee wishes to suck up any 
liquid, especially a thick liquid like honey 
or syrup, provided in considerable quantity, 
the terminal lobes of the labium and max- 
illae are pressed close together so as to 
make a tube between them. The labium is 
then moved back and forth between the 
maxillae with a pump-like motion produced 
by muscles within the head. This brings 
the liquid up to the mouth, which is situat- 
ed above the base of the proboscis, between 
the mandibles and beneath the labrum. The 
food is then taken into the mouth by a 
sucking action of the pharynx, produced by 
its muscles. 

A more delicate apparatus is probably 
necessary, however, for sucking up minute 
drops of nectar from the bottom of a 
flower. Such a structure is provided within 
the glossa. This organ (Fig. 3, D, Gls), 
ordinarily called the " tongue," is terminat- 
ed by a delicate, sensitive, spoonlike lobe 
know as the labella (Fig. 3, A. B. and D, 
Lbl), and has a groove {k) running along 
its entire length on the ventral side. With- 
in the glossa this groove expands into a 
double-barreled tube (Fig. 3, E, Lum). A 
flexible chitinous rod (r) lies along the 
dorsal wall of this channel, which is itself 
provided with a still flner groove {I) along 
its ventral surface. Thus the very smallest 
quantity of nectar may find a channel suit- 
ed to its bulk thru which it may run up to 
the base of the glossa by capillary attrac- 
tion. But since the glossal channels are 
ventral the nectar must be transferred to 
the dorsal side of the labium by means of 
the paraglossae, the two soft lobes (Fig. 3, 
D and F, Pgl) whose bases are on the up- 
per side of the mentum, but whose distal 
ends underlap the base of the glossa, and 
thus afford conduits for the nectar around 
the latter to the upper side of the labium. 
The glossa is highly extensible and retrac- 
tile by means of muscles attached to the 
base of the rod, and its movements when a 
bee is feeding are very conspicuous, and 
interesting to watch. 

The thorax of an insect carries the wings 
and the legs. The two wings of the bees on 
each side are united to each other by a 
series of minute hooks so that they work 
together, and the four wings are thus prac- 
tically converted into two. Each wing is 



34 



ANATOMY OF THE BEE 



Vx ten 



PrbFs 




m Mx Pip 



From Bulletin No. IS, " The Anatomy of the Honeybee," by Snodi/rass, Dept. of Ay., Washington, D. C. 

Fig. 2. — Head of worker with parts of proboscis cut off a short distance from their bases. A, anterior; 
B, posterior; a, clypeal suture; Ant, antenna; b, pit in clypeal suture marking anterior end of internal bar 
of head; c, pit on occipital surface of head, marking posterior end of internal bar; Cd, cardo; Olp, clypeus ; 
E, compound eye; For, foramen magnum; Ft, front; Ge, gena; Gls, glossa, or "tongue;" 7c, ventral groove 
of glossa; Lb labium; LbPlp, labial palpus; Lm, labrum; Md, mandible; Mt, mentum ; Mth, mouth; Mx, 
terminal blade of maxilla; MxPlp, maxillary palpus; O, ocelli; Oc, occiput; Pge, postgena; Pgl, paraglossa ; 
Prb, base of proboscis; PrhFs, fossa of proboscis; Smt, submentum; St, stipes; ten, small bar of tentorium 
arching over foramen magnum; Vx, venex. 



hinged at its base to the back, and pivoted 
from below upon a small knob of the side 
wall of the thorax. The up-and-down mo- 
tion of the wings is produced, not by mus- 
cles attached' to their bases, but by two sets 
of enormous muscles, one vertical and the 
other horizontal, attached to the walls of 
the thorax, whose contractions elevate and 
depress the back plates of the thorax. 
Since the fulcrum of each wing is outside 
of its attachment to the back, the depres- 
sion of the latter elevates the wings, and an 
elevation of the back lowers the wing. But 
the bee flies by a propeller-like action, or 
figure-8 motion of the wings. This is pro- 
duced by two other sets of much smaller 
muscles acting directly upon the wing bases, 
one before and the other behind the ful- 
crum of each. The combined result of all 
these muscles is that the down stroke of the 
wing is accompanied by a forward move- 
ment and a deflection of the anterior edge, 
while the up stroke reverses this. 

The legs of the bee are too familiar to 
need any extensive description here. Their 
special characters, such as the antennae- 
cleaners on tlie first and pollen-baskets 



and brushes on the last, are illustrated in 
Fig. 4. The tarsi are each provided with 
a pair of terminal claws {E, Cla), by means 
of which the bee clings to rough objects, 
while between the claws is a sticky pad, the 
empodium (Emp), which is brought into 
play when the bee alights on or walks over 
any smooth surface like glass. 

The hind part of the thorax of bees, 
wasps, and their allies is composed of a 
segment, which, in other insects, is a part 
of the abdomen. It is known as the propo- 
ileum. The middle division of the body of 
a bee, wasp, or ant, therefore, is not exactly 
the equivalent of the thorax of a grasshop- 
per, fly, or butterfly. 

The abdomen of the bee has no append- 
ages corresponding with those of the head 
or thorax; but it bears two important or- 
gans, viz., the wax glands and the sting. 
The wax glands are simply specially devel- 
oped cells of the skin on the ventral sur- 
faces of the last four visible abdominal 
segments of the worker. There are only six 
segments visible in the apparent abdomen: 
but remembering that the propodeum of 
the thorax is really the first, the wax glands 



ANATOMY OF THE BEE 



35 



occur, therefoi^e, on segments four to seven 
inclusive (Fig. 1, IV-VII). The wax se- 
creted by the glands is discharged thru 
minute pores in the ventral plate of each 
sei^'^ment, and accumulates in the form of a 
little scale in the pocket above the under- 
iapping ventral plate of the segment next 
in front. 



The sting is such a complicated organ 
that it is very difficult to describe it clearly 
in a few words. Fundamentally it consists 
of three slender, closely appressed pieces 
forming the sharp piercing organ that pro- 
jects from the tip of the abdomen (Fig. 1, 
St7i), and of two soft fingerlike lobes, 
sometimes also visible, all of which arise 




Frojn Bulletin No. 18, " The Anatomy of the Honeybee," by Snodgrass, Dept. of Ag., Washington D. C. 

Fig. 3. — Details of month parts of Morker. A, tip of glossa, ventral; B, tip of glossa, dorsal- C piece 
of glossal rod (r) showing ventral groove (i) with parts of wall (q) of glossal channel attached; D, parts of 
proboscis (maxillae and labium) flattened out in ventral view; E, cross-section of glossa, showing it's channel 
(Lum) open below along the groove (A-), the internal rod (r) in roof of channel, and its groove (I)- F 
distal end of mentum (Mt), dorsal, showing opening of salivary duct (SalDO) on base of ligula ; G lateral 
view of left half of proboscis; H, glossa {Gls) with its rod (r) partly torn away, showing retractor 'muscles 
(2RMcl) attached to its base; Gd, cardo ; Ur, long stifif hairs near tip of glossa; k, ventral groove of glossa- 
I, ventral groove of glossal rod; Lbl, labella ; LbPIp, labial palpus; Lg, ligula; Lr, lorum ; Lum, channel in 
glossa; Mt, mentum; Mx, terminal blade of maxilla; MxPlp, maxillary palpus; n, basal process of glossal 
rod; 0, ventral plate of ligula, carrying base of glossal rod; p, dorsal plates of mentum; Pgl, paraglossa - 
Pig. palpiger; q, inner wall of glossal channel; r, rod of glossa; bRMcI, retractor muscle of' glossal rod- 
SaWO, opening of salivary duct; Smt, submentum ; St, stipes. 



36 



ANATOMY OF THE BEE 



from three pairs of plates belonging- to the 
eighth and ninth segments of the abdomen, 
but which are concealed within the seventh 
segment. 

Fig. 5 shows, somewhat diagrammatieal- 
ly, all the parts of the left side. The acute 
stinging shaft swells basally into a large 
bulb {ShB) which is connected by a basal 
arm on each side with two lateral plates 
[Ob and Tri). The fingerlike lobes, called 
the polpi of the sting {StnPlp) are carried 
also by the lower of these two plates {Ob) 
while the upper (Tri) carries the third and 
hirgest plate (Qd) which partially overlaps 
the lower {Ob). 

A close examination of tlie sting proper 
shows that both the bulb and the tapering 
shaft are formed of three pieces. One is 
dorsal {ShB and ShS) while the other two 
{Let) are ventral (of course only one of 
the latter shows in side view). Further- 
more, the basal arm on each side is formed 
of two pieces, one of which {ShA) is con- 
tinuous with the dorsal piece of the sting, 
while the other {Let) is continuous with the 
ventral rod of the same side. Since these 
ventral rods are partially enclosed within a 
hollow on the under side of the dorsal piece, 
the latter is called the sheath of the sting. 
It consists of the terminal shaft of the 
sheath {ShS), the bulb {ShB), and of a 
basal arm {ShA) on each side. The ven- 
tral pieces {Let) are slender sharp-pointed 
rods having barbed extremities, and are 
known as the laneets. The shaft of the 
sheath is grooved along the entire length of 
its venti'al surface, the gTOOve enlarging 
into a spacious cavity in the bulb. The 
lancets lie close together against the ventral 
edges of the sheath, but slide freely upon 
minute tracks on the latter. The three 
parts, therefore, inclose between them a 
cavity which is tubular in the shaft, but 
enlarged into a wide chamber in the bulb. 
The great poison-sac (Fig. 8, PsnSe) of 
the acid glands of the sting opens into the 
base of the bulb along with the smaller 
tubular alkaline gland {BGl). By move- 
ments of the triangular plates (Fig. 5, Tri) 
the lancets slide back and forth against the 
sheath while the poison exudes in tiny 
drops from an opening between them near 
the tips. The poison-sac has no muscles in 
its walls, and, hence, cannot force the poi- 
son thru the sting. The poison, in fact. 



is driven out of the latter by a force puuip 
inside of the bulb. This consists of two 
pouchlike lobes situated on the upper 
edges of the lancets, having their cavities 
open posteriorly. When the lancets move 
forward the walls of these pouches col- 
lapse; but when the motion is reversed they 
flare apart and drive the poison contained 
in the bulb back thru the shaft and out at 
the end. 

The poison is an acid liquid foruied by 
the glands (Fig. 8, AGl, AGl, and BGl). 
Two of these {AGl and AGl) are simply 
small enlargements at the ends of two long 
coiled tubes {AGID), which latter unite 
into a short single tube that opens into tlie 
anterior end of the great poison-sac {Psn 
Sc). The secretion of these glands is acid. 
The third gland {BGl) is a short, somewhat 
twisted tube opening into the bulb of the 
sting along with the poison-sac. Its secre- 
tion is alkaline. Carlet has shown that it 
is only the mixture of these two secretions 
that lias the full strength in stinging prop- 
erties. 

The alimentary canal (Fig. 6) consists of 
a tube extending thru the entire body, and 
coiled somewhat in the abdomen. The first 
part above the mouth in the head is widen- 
ed to form the pharynx {Phy) . Then 
follows the long slender oesophagus {(E), 
running clear thru the thorax and into the 
front of the abdomen, where it enlarges 
into a thin-walled bag, called, in genei-al. 
the crop, but which is known as the honey- 
stomach {IIS) in the bee. Back of the 
honey-stomach is a short narrow proven- 
trieulus {Pvent), which is followed by the 
large U-shaped stomach, or ventrieidus 
{Vent). Then comes the slender small in- 
testine {Slnt) with the circle of Malpigh- 
ian tubules {Mai) arising from its anterior 
end. Finally, forming the terminal part of 
tlie alimentary canal, is the large intestine, 
or reetum {Beet), consisting of an enor- 
mous sac, varying in size according to its 
contents, but often occupying a large part 
of the abdominal cavity. Six opaque lon- 
gitudinal bands on its anterior end are 
known as the rectal gland {RGl) . 

The honey-stomach is of special interest 
in the worker because the nectar gathered 
from the flowers is held in it, instead of 
being swallowed on down into the stomach, 
and is regurgitated into the cells of the 



ANATOMY OF THE BEE 



37 



comb, or given up first to another bee in [he stomach as a small cone with an X-shaped 
hive. The upper end" of the proventricLilus o])ening in its summit. This opening is 
sticks u]) into the lower end of the honey- called the stomach mouth. Its four lips 




From BvUetin No. IS, " The Anatomy of lite Honeyhcv," iy Snodyra-is, Dept. of Ag., Washington, D. C. 

Fig. 4. — Details of legs. A, front leg of worker, showing position of antenna-cleaner {dd and ee) ; B. 
end or tibia of front leg showing spine (ee) of antenna-cleaner; C, antenna-cleaner, more enlarged; D, 
middle leg of worker; E, hind leg of queen; F, hind leg of worker, showing pollen-basket (Ch) on outer 
surface of tibia; G, inner view of basal joint of hind tarsus of worker, showing the brush of pollen-gathering 
hairs: //. Itind leg of drone; Ch, corbiculum, or poilen-basket ; Cla, claws; C.r, coxa; dd, nutcli of iintenna- 
tieiuu'r on 1 ubal .ioint of first tarsus; ve, spine of unienua-cleauer on distal end of tibia; Emp, empodium, 
biicky pad between the claws for walking on smooth surfaces; F, femur, jf, "wax shears;" Tar, tarsus; 
iTar, first joint of tarsus; Tb, tibia. 



38 



ANATOMY OF THE BEE 



are very active, and take Avhatever food the 
ventriculus requires from the honey-stom- 
ach, for it must all go into the latter first, 
while at the same time it affords the bees a 
means of retaining nectar or honey in the 
honey-stomach. 

The natural food of bees consists of 
pollen, nectar, and honey. The first con- 
tains the nitrogen of their diet, and the 
other two the hj'drogen, carbon, and oxy- 
gen. Observations made by the writer indi- 
cate that the pollen is not digested until it 
gets into the intestine, for masses of fresh- 
looking grains nearly ahvays appear in the 
rear part of the ventriculus, which is other- 
wise filled with a brownish slime. On the 
other hand, the nectar and honey are verv 



tents of the stomachs of the workers have 
no resemblance to the brood food. 

The circulatory system is very simple, 
consisting of a delicate, tubular, pulsating 
heart (Fig. 1, Ht), in the upper part of the 
abdomen, of a single long blood vessel, the 
aorta (Ao) , extending forward from the 
heart thru the thorax into the head, and of 
two pulsating membranes, the diaphragms 
{DDph and VDph), stretching across the 
dorsal and ventral walls of the abdomen, 
but leaving wide openings along their sides 
between the points of attachment. The 
heart consists of four consecutive chambers 
{lht-4ht), which are merely swellings of 
the tube, each having a vertical slit or 
ostium (Ost) opening into each side. The 




Frnm Bulletin No. IS, " The Anatomy of the Honeijbec," by Snodgrass, Dept. of Ag., Washington, D. G. 

Fig. 5. — Left side of sting and its accessory plates, with alkaline gland {BGl) and base of poison-sac 
{PsnSc) attached. BGl, alkaline-poison gland; Let lancet; Ob, oblong plate: Pa)(6'c, base of poison-sac 
holding secretion from acid-gland (see Fig. 8); Qd. quadrate plate; IXS, median part of ninth abdominal 
sternum; ShA, arm of sheath; ShB, bulb of sheath; ShS, shaft of sheath; Stn\Plp, palpiis of sting; Tri 
triangular plate. 



probably digested into the ventriculus, and 
in large part absorbed from it. 

The salivary glands, located in the back 
part of the head (Fig. 6, 2G\) and in the 
front part of the thorax (oGl) open upon 
the upper part of the labium (Fig. 3, F, 
SalDo). The saliva can thus affect the liq- 
uid food before the latter enters the mouth, 
or it can be allowed to run down the pro- 
boscis upon hard sugar in order to dissolve 
it, for the latter is eaten with the proboscis, 
not with the mandibles. 

The large glands (Fig. 6, IGl) situated 
in the front part of the head are supposed, 
by some students of the bee, to form the 
white pasty brood food and the royal jelly. 
Others think that these substances come 
from the stomach. More investigation of 
the subject must be made, however, before 
the question can be decided; but the con- 



hlood is the colorless liquid that fills the 
spaces about the viscera of the body cavity. 
The dorsal diaphragm and the heart pulsate 
forward. The blood in the cavity above 
tlie former enters the ostia of the heart, and 
is pumped forward thru the aorta and out 
into the cavity of the head. From here it 
percolates back thru the thorax and enters 
the space beneath the ventral diaphragm 
(VDph) of the abdomen. This membrane 
pulsates backward, and the blood is driven 
posteriorly and upward, thru the lateral 
openings, around the abdominal viscera, 
and again into the dorsal or pericardial 
cavity of the abdomen, where it begins its 
circulation anew. In insects the principal 
function of the blood is to distribute the 
food which dissolves into it from the ali- 
mentary canal. 

The respiratory system is very highly 



ANATOMY OF THE BEE 



39 



Slnr^ 



Vent 




-Pveiit] 



From Bulletin No. 18, •' The Anatomy of the Honeybee," by Snod(/rass, Dept. of Ag., Washington, D. C. 
Fig. 6.- 



40 



ANATOMY OF THE BEE 



Pen AcGl 




vnS' vis DCS 



From linHrtin A'o. IS. " The Anatomy of the Honeybee," by Snodgrass, Dept. of Ay., Washington. D. C- 

FiG. 7. — A, repioduclive organs of drone, dorsfil; B, inner view of dorsal Wiill of penis: C, group of 
sperma'ozoa ; D, terminal segments of drone, lateral, showing penis (Pen) paitly protrudi-d : A", lateral 
view of penis and e.iacnlatory duct (EjD): AcGl, accessory mucous gland: B. bulb of penis; iCUii. 201x11, 
clasping organs of ninth abdominal sternum; P'-zi, penis; PcnB. bulb of penis: V I IS J XS. .<;evcnih to niin!- 
abdo:ninal sterna; ■t-'<, gelatinous ma.^s of inner wall of bulb of penis; VI IJ-V 1 J JT, seventh and eighth 
abdominal terga ; tt dorsal plates of bulb of penis; Te.'i, testis; uu, fimbriated lol e at base of bulb of penis; 
IT. ladder-like plates of penis; VDef, vas deferens; Vc<^. seminal vesicle; vnc. .i.t. dorsal and ventral plates 
in wall of penis; yy, termnal chamber of penis thru whicb the rest is everted: zz. copnlatory pouche.s of 
penis. 



ANATOMY or THE BEE 



41 



developed in the bee, consisting (Fig. 1) of 
large air-sacs {TraSc, 1-10) in the head, 
thorax, and abdomen, and of tubes called 
trachese given off from them {Tra, LTra). 
Fig. 1 shows principally the parts in only 
the right side of the body. In the abdomen 
a large sac (10) lies on each side connected 
with tlie exterior by short tubes opening 
on the sides of the first seven segments. 
Three other pairs of such openings occur 
in the thorax; but the last of these, being in 
the propodeum, really belongs to the abdo- 
men. Thus there are in all ten pairs of 
breathing apertures, and they are called the 
spiracles. None occur on the head. The 
tracheal tubes given off from the air-sacs 
branch minutely to all parts of the body 
and penetrate into most of the tissues. 
Hence oxygen is carried directly to the cells 
that use it, and the blood of insects is thus 
relieved of the work of distributing it — 
one of its principal functions in vertebrate 
animals. The respiratory movements are 
produced by muscles of the abdomen. 

The life processes of the cells of the body 
result in the formation of products excreted 
by the cells into the surrounding blood. 
These products are poisonous to the system 
unless immediately changed into simpler 
substances. This change is effected partly 
by the inhaled oxygen combining with the 
waste products, resulting in the formation 
of compounds of nitrogen which dissolve in 
the blood, and of carbonic acid gas which 
diffuses into the tracheal tubes and is ex- 
haled. The nitrogen compounds are sup- 
posed to be removed by the Malpighian 
tubules {Fig. 6, Mai), which are regarded 
as the kidneys of insects. 

The nervous system consists of a series 
of small masses or nerve tissue called gan- 
glia, lying along the median ventral line of 
the body cavity (Fig. 1, lGng-7Gng), the 
two of the thorax being much larger than 
those of the abdomen. Each two are con- 
nected by a pai'* of cords called commis- 
sures. Nerves are given off from these 
ganglia to the various organs and parts of 
the body, and to the legs and wings. Tn 
the head there are two ganglionic masses. 
One is called the brain (OpL), and is sit- 
uated above the oesophagus, where it gives 
off nerves to the eyes, the antennas, the 
front, and the labrum. The other, called 
the suboesophageal ganglion, lies in the 
lower part of the head, and innervates the 



mouth parts, while it is connected by com- 
missures with both brain and the first 
thoracic ganglion. 

The reproductive system consists of those 
organs that produce the spermatozoa in the 
male and the eggs in the female and their 
accessory parts. 

The spermatozoa are formed in the testes 
of the male (Fig. 7, A, Tes), a pair of small 
bodies in the front part of the abdomen, 
said to be developed at their highest in the 
pupal^stage. Each is connected by a coiled 
tube, the vas deferens {VDef), with a long 
sac, the seminal vesicle (Ves) in which the 
spermatozoa are stored during the adult 
stage of the- drone's life. The two vesicles 
open into the bases of two enormous mu- 
cous glands (AcGl) which come together in 
a narrow muscular tube, the ejaculatory 
duct {EjD). This opens into the anterior 
end of the penis (Pen). This is a compli- 
cated organ, shown at E, Fig. 7. It is or- 
dinarily contained within the cavity of the 
abdomen; but during copulation it is en- 
tirely everted, and its baSal pouches (zz) 
lock into corresponding pouches of the ovi- 
duct of the queen. 

The eggs are formed by the ovaries of 
the female (Fig. 8, Ov), each of which 
consists of a thick mass of tubules called 
the ovarioles (ov), within which the eggs 
grow from simple cells at their upper ends 
into the mature eggs found at their lower 
ends. The ovarioles of each ovary open 
into an oviduct {OvD), which two unite 
into a wide median tube called the vagina 
(Vag) that swells posteriorly into a large 
pouch known as the bursa copulatrix 
(BCpx), opening to the exterior in the 
eighth segment beneath the base of the 
sting. 

During copulation the drone ejects the 
spermatozoa into the upper end of the 
vagina of the queen. The spermatozoa 
consists of minute vibratory threads (Fig. 
7, C.) which, probably, by their own mo- 
tion, make their way up thru a small tube 
opening into the dorsal wall of the va- 
gina, and so reach a globular sac (Fig. 8, 
Spm) called the spermatheca. Here they 
are held during the rest of the lifetime of 
the queen, to be extruded in small bundles, 
of about a hundred each, according to 
Breslaw, upon the eggs passing out of the 
vagina. Thus are the female eggs ferti- 



42 



ANGER OF BEES 



lized, the drone eggs developing 
addition of the male element. 
ANGER OF BEES.— We do 

term " anger," when applied to 



without the almost makes us angry when we hear people 

speak of their being " mad," as if they 

not like the ai'e always in a towering rage, and delight 

bees, and it to inflict severe pain on everything and 




From Bulletin No. 18, " The Anatomy of the Honeybee," by Snodgrass, Dept. of Ag., Washington, D. C. 
Fig. 8. — Reproductive organs of queens, dorsal, together with sting, its muscles, glands, and poison-sac, 
AGl, acid glands of sting; AGID, duct of acid-glands; BCpx, bursa copulatrix; BGl, alkaline gland of sting; 
Ov. ovaries; ov. ovarioles; OvD, oviduct: PsnSc, poison-sac; IXS, median part of ninth abdominal sterum ; 
Spm, sac of spermutheca ; SpmGl, spermathecal gland: Stn, sting; StnPlp, palpus of sting; Tag. vagina. 



ANGER OF BEES 



43 



everybody coming near them. Bees are, 
on the contrary, the pleasantest, most so- 
ciable, genial, and good-natured little be- 
ings we meet in all animated creation, when 
we understand them. We can tear their 
beautiful comb all to bits right before their 
very eyes, without their showing a particle 
of resentment; and with all the patience 
in the world they will at once set to work 
to repair it, and that, too, without a word 
of remonstrance. If they are pinched they 
will sting; and anybody who has energy 
enough to take care of himself would do 
as much had he the weapon. 

How to oi)en hives in such a way as to 
avoid stings, see Manipulation of Colo- 
nies, and Stings. 

In order that the reader may better un- 
derstand that which follows, it may be well 
to set forth two or three fundamental con- 
ditions under which bees become cross or 
nervous and unpleasant to handle. First, a 
slackening or a shutting-oif of the supply 
of food obtained either from the fields in a 
natural way, or from exposed sweets, al- 
ways has a tendency to make bees ill-na- 
tured. If the honey flow is unusually 
strong, and then slackens up very rapidly, 
the bees in the whole yard become cross. 
This is particularly noticeable at the clos- 
ing of basswood or after the drying up of 
certain honey dews deposited on the leaves 
of trees. When the bees are robbing, and 
combs or syrup are carelessly exposed, and 
these combs or syrup are suddenly put un- 
der cover, so that not another drop can be 
secured, bees will usually sting furiously, 
when, if their supply were allowed to stand 
and gradually diminish, they will be much 
better natured. 

If some one carelessly exposes sweets in 
quantities during a dearth of honey when 
bees are disposed to rob, this will have a 
tendency to stir up the whole apdaryi 
The roar of the excitement may be heard 
some distance from the apiary. Thousands 
and thousands of bees will be found flying 
around everywhere to discover where this 
new supply is located; but, as a general 
thing, bees are not cross when trying to 
find the source of the sweet. The real 
trouble begins about the time the supply 
gives out. 

During the middle hours of the day when 
the air is warm and balmy and the bees 
are going into the fields, they are generally 



very gentle. But if a sudden rainstorm 
comes up, shutting off the supply of nectar, 
they will usually be quite cross, and this 
bad temper will last until the normal sup- 
ply begins to come in again. 

Bees are apt to be cross on cool or chilly 
days. When all are at home, and the hives 
are opened unceremoniously, they may re- 
sent the intrusion. It is then that beginners 
discover, much to their sorrow, that bees 
should not be handled during cool or chilly 
weather, right after a rain, nor at night. 

By keeping these facts carefully in mind, 
when the following incidents are related, 
one will more readily discover why bees are 
cross : 

A few years ago a very intelligent man 
procured some Italians, an extractor, etc., 
and commenced bee culture. He soon learn- 
ed to handle them, and succeeded finely; 
when it came time to extract, the whole 
business went on so easily that he was sur- 
prised at what had been said about expe- 
rienced hands being needed to do the work. 
He had been in the habit of doing his work 
as directed, toward the middle of the day, 
while the great mass of bees were in the 
fields ; but in the midst of a heavy yield of 
clover honey, when the hives were full to 
overflowing, they were one day stopped by 
a heavy thundershower. This, of course, 
drove the bees home, and at the same time 
washed the honey out of the blossoms so 
completely that they had nothing to do but 
remain in the hives until more was secreted. 
Not so with their energetic and enthusiastic 
owner. As soon as the rain had ceased, the 
hives were again opened, and an attempt 
made to take out the frames, as but a few 
hours before; but the bees that were all 
gentleness then, seemed now possessed of the 
very spirit of mischief; and when all the 
operators had been severely stung, they 
concluded that prudence was the better part 
of valor and stopped operations for the 
day. While loads of honey were coming in 
all the while, and every bee rejoicing, none 
was disposed to be cross; but after the 
shower, the bees were standing around idle ; 
and when a hive was opened, each was 
ready to take a grab from its neighbor, 
and the result was a free fight in a very 
short time. 

There is nothing in the world that will 
induce bees to sting with such wicked reck- 
lessness as to have them get to quarreling 



44 



ANGER OF BEES 



over ronibs or honey left exposed when they 
have nothing to do. When the supply is 
exhausted their frenzy reaches its height. 
From a little carelessness in this respect, 
and nothing else, whole apiaries have been 
so demoralized that people were stung when 
passing along the street several rods dis- 
tant. During the middle of the day, when 
bees were busily engaged on the flowers 
during a good yield, we have frequently left 
filled combs standing on the top of a hive 
from noon until supper time without a bee 
touching them; but to do this after a hard 
rain, or at a time when little or no honey 
is to be gathered in the fields, might result 
in the ruin of several colonies, and the bees 
being voted a nuisance by the whole neigh- 
borhood. 

Almost every season we get more or less 
letters complaining that bees have sud- 
denly become so cross as to be almost un- 
manageable, and those letters come along in 
July, after the clover and linden have be- 
gun to slacken. As already pointed out. 
at the beginning of this article, it is the 
slackening or stoppage of the flow that 
makes the bees irritable. 

Bees are not so very unlike mankind 
after all, and all one has to do is to avoid 
opening a hive for a few days, until the 
bees get used to the sudden disappointments 
of having avenues thru which they were get- 
ting wealth so. rapidly, cut off. After a 
week or 10 days they will be almost as gen- 
tle as in times when they gathered half a 
gallon of honey daily, if care is taken not 
to let hives be open too long nor to leave 
any bits of honey or comb about. 

It is not easy to explain why bees sting 
so remorselessly and vindictively after hav- 
ing had a taste of stolen sweets, yet nearly 
all the instances where there is trouble with 
stinging have been from this very cause, 
then buzz about in an infuriated way, as 
if frantic because unable to sting one a 
dozen times more after their stings are 
lost. The colonies that furnish this class of 
bees are generally hybrid, or perhaps black 
bees having just a trace of Italian blood. 
These bees seem to have a perfect passion 
for following one about and buzzing be- 
fore the nose from one side to the other 
Bees from colonies that have a habit of 
robbing will buzz about one's ears and eyes 
for hours, seeming to delight in making one 
nervous and fidgety if they succeed in so 



doing, and they not only threaten, but often- 
times inflict, the most painful stings, and 
(until one get's cross-eyed in trying to fol- 
low their erratic oscillations), in a way that 
is most decidedly provoking. One such 
colony annoyed us so much while extracting 
that we killed the queen, altho she was very 
prolific, and substituted a pure Italian. It 
is seldom an Italian follows one about in 
the manner mentioned, yet an occasional 
colony may contain bees that do it ; at least 
we have found such, where the workers 
were all three-banded. That it is possible 
to have an apiary without any such dis- 
agreeable bees, we have several times dem- 
onstrated; but oftentimes it will be neces- 
sary to discard some of the very best hon- 
ej'-gatherers, to be entirely rid of them. On 
occasions like this it is advisable to use 
robber-traps. See Robbers. 

With a little practice the apiarist will tell 
as soon as he comes very near the apiary 
whether any angry bees are about, by the 
high keynote they utter when on the wing. 
It is well known that with the feeding of 
meal (see Pollex) there may be perfect 
tranquillity, altho bees from every hive in the 
apiary are working on a square yard of meal. 
Now, should honey be substituted for the 
meal, there would be a perfect uproar, for 
a taste of honey found in the open air dur- 
ing a dearth of pasturage, or at a time 
when the bees have learned to get it by 
stealing instead of honest industry, seems 
to have the effect of setting every bee 
crazy. In some experiments to determine 
how and why this result came about, we 
had considerable experience with angry 
bees. After they had been robbing and had 
become tranquil, we tried them with dry 
sugar; the quarrelsome bees fought about 
it for a short time, but soon resumed their 
regular business of hanging about the well- 
filled hives, trying to creep into every 
crack and crevice, and making themselves 
generally disagreeable all around. If a 
hive was to be opened, they were into it 
almost before the cover was raised, and 
then resulted a pitched battle between them 
and the inmates; the operator was sure to 
be stung by one or both parties, and, pretty 
soon, some of the good people indoors 
would be asking what in the world made 
the bees so awfully cross, saying that they 
even came indoors and tried to sting. Now, 
why could they not work peaceably on the 



ANTS 



45 



sugar as they do on the meal, or the clover 
blossoms in June? We damijened the sugai- 
with a sprinkler, and the bees that were at 
work on it soon started for home with a 
load; then began the high ke^'note of rob- 
bing, faint at first, then louder and louder, 
until we began to be almost frightened at 
the mischief that might ensue. When the 
dampness was all licked up they soon sub- 
sided into their usual condition. The effect 
of feeding honey in the open air is very 
much worse than that of feeding any kind 
of syrup. 

now THE SOURCE 'FROM WHICH BEES ARE 
GATHERING AFFECTS THEIR TEMPER. 

It has been found that bees are crosser 
when working on some blossoms than on 
others. For example, they seem to be more 
inclined to sting when working on buck- 
wheat than on clover. This is probably due 
to the fact that the latter yields nectar all 
day, while the former will in most localities 
yield an hour or two in the morning and 
again toward night. The stoppage of the 
flow seems to affect the bees adversely. 

In the same Avay they are cross when 
working on hone^^dew fioin hickory and 
oaks. This yields heavily in the morning, 
and lets up and stops during the middle 
hours of the day. The morning dew^s soften 
the saccharine matter secreted on the leaves 
of these trees, and when it dries up again 
the nectar supply is cut off and the bees are 
cross. During 1909, when there was so 
much honeydew from oaks and hickories 
from all over the country, bees that year 
were reported to be exceptionally cross. 

To make bees good-natured, a honey 
plant must be a continuous yielder all day. 
So long as it keep up its supply, there is 
quiet. 

HOW THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF SHRUB- 
BERY OR TREES AFFECTS THE TEMPER 
OF THE BEES IN THE YARD. 

It has been shown time and time again 
that the same bees that are docile as kittens 
in the home yard, with plenty of shrubbery 
to shut off the view of individual colonies, 
will often be as cross as hornets when 
placed in an out-apiary on a level piece of 
ground where their hive is in view of every 
other hive, without any obstructing shrub- 
bery or trees. The reason of it is plain. 



If there are any cross bees in the air, and 
they see a moving object like a beekeeper, 
for example, going thru the yard, they will 
immediately come buzzing about him with 
the peculiar angry scream that a mad bee 
alwa\'s has. Those same bees when located 
in a yard where there is plenty of shrub- 
bery, and where they cannot see moving 
objects as readily, will forget all about the 
source of their irritability, and either go to 
the fields or into their own hives. 

Several times w^e have been tempted to 
kill all the queens in a certain yard because 
their bees were so very cross, only to dis- 
cover later on that when we moved them to 
the home yard, where there were grapevines 
shutting off the view of their colony or 
hive, that there was nothing the matter 
with the bees but only with their previous 
environment. For that reason alone, some 
of the Grossest bees we have ever known 
have become very tractable when placed in 
a small orchard or piece of woods. The 
Grossest bees will also become very docile 
when put into a house-apiary. W^hen the 
owner is inside he cannot be seen, of coarse, 
and he can work inside of the building with- 
out hindrance. 

How to make bees good-natured by feed 
ing, see Feeding Outdoors; also see Rob- 
bing^ Stings, and Manipulation of Colo- 
nibs. 

ANTS. — Altho we liave given the matter 
considerable attention, we cannot find that 
ants are guilty of anything in the North 
that should warrant the apiarist in waging 
any great warfare against them. Some 
years ago a visitor frightened us by say- 
ing that the ants about our apiary would 
steal every drop of honey as fast as the 
bees could gather it. Accordingly we pre- 
pared ourselves with a teakettle of boiling 
water, and not only killed the ants but 
some grapevines growing near. Afterward 
there came a spring when the bees, all but 
about eleven colonies, dwindled away and 
died, and the hives filled with honey, scat- 
tered about the apiary unprotected, seemed 
to be as fair a chance for the ants, that had 
not " dwindled " a particle, as they could 
well ask for. We watched to see how fast 
they would carry away the honey, but, to 
our astonishment, they seemed to care more 
for the hives that contained bees than for 
those containing only honey. We boon de- 



46 



ANTS 



termined that it was the warmth from the 
cluster that especially attracted them; and 
as the hives were directly on the ground, 
the ants soon moved into several that con- 
tained a small cluster only, and for a while 
both used one common entrance. As the 
bees increased, they began to show a decid- 
ed aversion to having two families in the 
same house, altho the ants were evidently 
inclined to be peaceable enough until the 
bees tried to " push " matters, when they 
turned about and showed themselves fully 
able to hold possession. The bees seemed 
to be studying over the matter for awhile, 
and finally we found them one day taking 
the ants, one by one, and carrying them 
high up in the air, and letting them drop at 
such a distance from their home that they 
would surely never be able to walk back 
again. The bees, as fast as they became 
strong colonies, drove the ants out ; and our 
experience ever since has been, that a good 
colony of bees in the North is never in any 
danger of being troubled in the least by 
ants. One weak colony, after battling a 
while with a strong nest of the ants, swarm- 
ed out; but they might have done this any 
way, so we do not lay much blame to the 
ants. 

But ants do prove to be very annoying in 
those apiaries where there is any attempt 
to keep the grass down with a lawnmower. 
The little hillocks that they make all over 
the yard disfigure it to some extent, as well 
as forming more or less obstruction to the 
scythe and lawnmower. While, as we have 
already said, ants do little if any damage to 
hives in the North, yet as it is so easy to 
eradicate them it may be well to consider 
methods for their extermination. 

HOW TO DESTROY ANTS' NESTS. 

With a crowbar or a short stick and a 
mallet make a hole an inch or so in diame- 
ter, and about a foot deep, down thru the 
center of the nest. Around this hole make 
two or three other similar ones, or more if 
the nest is a large one. Go to the drugstore 
and get about a dime's worth of bisulphide 
of carbon. Be careful with the stuff, for it 
is very explosive, and the fumes of it should 
not be allowed to collect in the room where 
there is a gasoline flame or any stove or 
lamp burning. From this bottle pour about 
a tablespoonful of the liquid in each hole; 



then immediately stop each up with a plug 
of earth, for it is desired to have the fumes 
of the bisulphide penetrate all the galleries 
of the nest, thus destroying ants, larvae, and 
eggs. In a day or so it will be found that 
everything formerly animate in and about 
the nest is dead. 

But if the nests are not very large, one 
can secure almost as good results by using 
coal oil or gasoline in place of the bisul- 
phide. But in using these, about twice or 
three times the quantity should be poured 
in each hole. We have tried both gasoline 
and kerosene, and have found each effective 
in destroying the nest. Of the two, the 
kerosene (or coal oil, as some call it) seems 
to be preferable. In using bisulphide of 
carbon, gasoline, or kerosene, be careful 
about spilling or pouring any of it on the 
top of the nest, as that will kill the grass, 
leaving a brown spot right where it should 
be green. The bisulphide is more apt to 
kill the grass than the gasoline or coal oil, 
as it is much more powerful. 

The best time to destroy ants' nests is in 
the spring, before the ants have had an 
opportunity to make much of a hillock; 
then there will be less liability of killing 
the grass; or, rather, a better opportunity 
for the grass to recover from its " dose " 
during the early spring rains. 

ANTS IN THE SOUTH. 

These insects are much more troublesome 
in the Southern States, and all warm cli- 
mates, in fact, than in the North. Some- 
times they are so large and powerful that 
they even set about to destroy the colony. 
AVe would first find the nest, and proceed to 
destroy by the use of kerosene or gasoline. 
If these do not prove to be powerful 
enough, use bisulphide of carbon, making 
three or four holes to the square foot of 
nest; but in the case of bisulphide, one 
must be careful to have each hole stopped 
up tight with plugs of earth, otherwise the 
gas will escape, and the effect of the liquid 
will be largely lost. 

But there is a species of ants in warm 
climates that have nests in trees that are 
inaccessible. Other ants are so small, and 
come such long distances, that it is almost 
impossible to find their nest. In such cases 
it has been recommended to place within 
their reach some syrup or honey mixed with 



ANTS 



47 



arsenic, Paris green, London purple, or 
strychnine. It is unnecessary to say that 
all vessels containing such poisonous mix- 
tures should be placed in a box covered with 
screen just fine enough to keep out the bees, 
and coarse enough to admit the ants. They 
will work on these poisonous mixtures, and 
carry them home to their young, with the 
result that both mature insects as well as 
larvae will be destroyed, no matter where 
the nest may be. 

The box containing the poisonous sweet 
should be put in the trail of the ants. It is 
usually necessary to get the ants started on 
something that they like that is not poison- 
ous — a piece of fat chicken meat, for in- 
stance, then add the poison when they are 
•veil started. 

When it does not seem practicable to de- 
stroy the pests they may be kept away from 
the hive temporarily by pouring a little 
n^irrow trail of kerosene clear around the 
hive or hives. The ants will come up to the 
oily line, and there stop. 

Mr. Poppleton of Florida has graphi- 
cally described in Gleanings the carnivorous 
ants. 

With one exception these ants are the 
worst enemies bees have here in Florida, and 
only constant vigilance from September to 
December inclusive will prevent the loss of 
many colonies every season. These ants are 
usually found in our hummock lands, and 
only occasionally in clean pine woods; are 
red in color; of a very large size; frequently 
measuring nearly or quite half an inch in 
length; are strictly nocturnal in their habits, 
being seldom seen in daytime except when 
disturbed or waging battle with a colony of 
bees; are usually found in decayed wood, 
thru which they eat out galleries for use as 
living-apartments. A favorite place is in a 
saw-palmetto root in the ground. Nearly 
every cabbage-palmetto tree contains a colo- 
ny of them among the roots near their top, 
and for this reason a thick palmetto grove 
is one of the worst places where an apiary 
can be located. They are also found in piles 
of old boards, and on the ground under 
boards or logs. They also like to enter our 
houses and locate in trunks, boxes, drawers, 
and in almost any place where they can find 
a few inches of space to occupy. They are 
frequently found in the tops of our hives, if 
there is sufficient space above the bees under 
the cover. 

At sundown they start on their nightly 
quest of food; and if near an apiary a few 
of them will usually be seen running on some 
of the hives. As long as only two or three 
can be seen on any one hive, no special at- 
tention need be given them; but if a dozen 



or more are seen, it means that they have 
probably selected that hive for their own 
use, and it needs close watching. They will 
continue their regular attentions to that 
one hive, gradually increasing in numbers 
until they decide they are strong enough, 
when nearly the entire colony of ants will 
boldly attack the bees by biting off their 
wings and legs, and crippling them so they 
are of no more use. Bees fight back courage- 
ously, the battle continuing for hours, and 
sometimes a day or two, according to the 
relative strength of the two belligerents. 
The inside of the hive and the ground near 
by will be strewn with dead ants and dead 
and crippled bees; but it always ends with 
the destruction of all the bees, and the 
moving in and occupation of the hive by the 
ant colony. When ants have once chosen a 
certain colony of bees to work on, the bee- 
master has ■ to destroy the ants, root and 
branch, or they will in time destroy the bees. 
If a part only of the ants are destroyed, they 
will simply bide their time until they have 
built up strong enough, and then do the 
work. I know of few or no living creatures 
more persistent in evil works than are these 
bee-killing ants. They also, in certain lo- 
calities, do great damage to queen-rearing 
nuclei. 

During the fall months I make it a prac- 
tice almost every evening after dark in my 
home apiary, and as often as possible in the 
out-apiaries, to see by the light of a lantern 
the front of every hive; and any one on 
which I see three or four or more ants run- 
ning over has a mark placed on it. If the 
number of ants on any one of these marked 
hives increases each night, I give that hive 
special attention until the ants get numer- 
ous enough to begin to worry the bees. When 
this occurs, bees commence to whine, as I 
call it — that is, utter a fine, sharp note with 
their wings. As the ants get bolder the cry 
of the bees becomes louder and more fre- 
quent — so much so that I have frequently 
heard it 50 feet away. The ants usually 
worry the bees continually for several nights, 
when suddenly the whole colony of ants 
starts in on a battle royal, which continues 
for hours or even a day or two, until every 
bee is disabled or driven out. A great many 
of the ants will also be killed; but how the 
bees do this is a mystery to me. 

When the battle has once been joined, the 
beekeeper has a difficult task to save the 
bees; but this condition is preventable. 
When the ants become plentiful enough at 
the hive to begin worrying the bees, there 
is usually a trail of going and returning ants 
from their nest to the hive, and this can 
usually be located and traced to their nest, 
which, when found, should be left undis- 
turbed until the following day, when all the 
ants will be at home. If the nest cannot be 
found the first timo trying, I search again 
until it is found. As soon as the nest is 
found, or search for it is given up for that 
night, I sprinkle some insect powder on th&ir 



48 



APIARY 



trail near the hive: also wherever on or 
around the hive I can do so to worry the 
ants and not injure the bees. This will 
usually keep the ants from doing any more 
harm that night. 

The next day when all the ants are at 
home, I take a kettle of boiling water, tear 
open the nest, and, if possible, kill every ant 
and egg. If a few of them are left they are 
likely to gather together, increase in time to 
their former strength, and again attack that 
same colony of bees. Whenever the nest is 
found in a box or piece of wood that can be 
easily moved with all the ants, the easiest 
and best plan is to carry them into the 
chicken-yard, break open the nest, and the 
hens will gladly do the rest of the business. 
They are very fond of both ants and eggs; 
and they not only find them good to eat, but 
give their owner lots of fun watching the 
old rooster especially, kick and scold every 
time an ant bites one of his feet. I have 
had many a hearty laugh watching this per- 
formance. 

The ants are a great pest here in Florida. 
They destroy in the aggregate a great many 
colonies every fall. I know of one apiary 
which was entirely lost, largely, I judge, 
from what I hear, by these ants. At the 
best they are a great nuisance because they 
compel the beekeeper to remain at home 
watching them at a season of the year when 
nothing is doing in the apiary, and the 
apiarist could, but for them, be away on a 
holiday, or have some outside business. 

Stuart, Fla. O. O. Poppleton. 

Ants are a serious pest to bees in many 
tropical countries, notably in South Ameri- 
ica, where they are omnipresent and almost 
omnipotent. A .species similar to that de- 
scribed by Mr. Poppleton in Florida exists 
all over tropical America, particularly 
in the Southern continent. He has so 
graphically described it, there is no neces- 
sity to enlarge on it further. The worst 
feature of these ants is their readiness to 
travel, so that, when one does destroy their 




Morrison's ant-proof beehive shed. 

nests, there is no assurance that the apiary 
is safe from their attacks. Another bad 



feature is their habit of travelino- by night; 
in fact, nearly all their depredations are 
made in the dark. 

To circumvent them it is necessary to 
destroy all their nests within a radius of 
100 yards of the apiary by the application 
of bisulphide of carbon to their nests. But 
this precaution alone will not suffice, and it 
will be necessary to adopt further mea- 
sures. Luckily it is not difficult to do this, 
as tropical beekeepers are obliged to keep 
their hives under a shed, for excellent rea- 
sons. 

In erecting a shed, therefore, we can 
take measures to prevent effectually the 
ants having access to the hives at all. All 
we have to do is to add cups to all the posts 
used to support the structure. The illus- 
tration preceding- shows very clearly how 
this is accomplished with but little expense 
or trouble. The cups are filled with coal 
tar, creosote, or crude petroleum, all of 
which the ants positively dislike for two 
reasons — they stick to their feet and the 
smell is vile. No ant will attempt to cross 
such a mess as this, hence the bees are 
secure. The warm climate keeps the tar, 
etc., always soft; and if some rain falls 
into the cups it does no harm, as the water 
also tastes of the tar. 

In workinjj with the bees care should be 
taken to see nothing is left which will forui 
a " bridge " whereby the ants will manage 
to reach the beehives while the apiarist i« 
absent. One of the worst tilings that cm 
happen is to allow the ants to get a taste of 
the bees; for once they do they are s'lre to 
linger around waiting for an oppoiinnity 
to get into the hive. 

APIARIST. — An apiarist is one who 
manages one oi" more yards of bees for 
profit. 

APIARY. — A place where a number of 
colonies of bees is kept is called an apiary 
or bee-yar<l. 

LOCATION. 

There is scarcely a spot on the surface of 
the earth where mankind finds sustenance 
that will not, to some extent, support bees, 
altho they may do much better in some 
localities than in others. A few years ago 
it was thought that only localities especial- 
ly favored would give big honey crops ; but 



APIARY 



4!) 




APIARY OF M. H. MENDLESON. 

This apiary occupies a veiy unique position down in the bottom of the canyon, where it is well protected- 
The ground has been leveled off and terraced, and the rows of liivts are sivaighi and paral'el. Tliis is one 
of tiie most picturesque spots for an apiary in the world. From it some of tlie best sage honey of California 
is obtained, and no wonder; for the mountain sage is always in sight and in reacli of the bees. The patches 
of white, black, and button sage on the mountain sides can be plainly seen. 

When the author visited this yard in 1901, he considered it one of the best-located yards in all California 
— well protected and the bee pasturage at close range. But for the fact that theie is only about one good 
yield of honey in five years, this would be a veritable bee paradise indeed. 




THE PUBLISHERS' APIARY AT JENKINTOWN. PA. 

1'his was an e.vhibition apiary in the suburbs of Pliiladelphia. used to deraoustrate tlie various piocesses 
and methods of handling bees. Here is also shown to the visitors the various races, their characteristics, 
and markings. 

Tliis yard ;it rlio time was a model one in every respect, and was so pronounced. The ground wa.s 
nicely terraced and here and there were flower gardens so arranged as to give a pleasing effect. 

In June. 1905, and again in 1906. a general field day of beekeepers was held at this apiary. Experts 
were present to describe and illustrate their various methods of handling bees, to the crowds that assembled 
from all over the country. At the field meet of 1906 there were somewhat over 1,000 beekeepers present, 
making by far the largest gathering of beekeepers the country has ever seen. The location was only leased, 
and has since been sold, and is now used for other purposes. 



50 



APIARY 




PUBLISHERS' APIARY IN NEW YORK CITY AS IT WAS SOME YEARS AGO. 

In several cities bees are kept on the roofs of buildings in the heart of cities and towns. If the buildia,g 
is high enough there will usually be enough breezes to keep the bees from getting too hot and combs from 
melting down. If the roofs are not high, shade-boards will have to be provided. 




THE PUBLISHERS' APIARY IN CUBA. 

Some eight or ten years ago the publishers owned and operated in Cuba an apiary 
which was run for honey as well as bees and queens; but the poor seasons finally 
compelled them to abandon it. . . . The hives here shown are in straight rows and 
close together. Experience showed that this was a mistakes for there were no dis- 
tinguishing objects by which the bees could mark their homes, and more or less 
confusion and robbing resulted. 



since the introduction of modern races, and 
the new methods of management, we are 



each year astonished to liear of big yields 
heie and there, and from ahnost every 



APIARY 



51 




CULVER APIARY AT CALEXICO, CALIFORNIA. 

This method of shading an apiary in New Mexico, Arizona, and the Imperial Valley, southern California, 
where the temperature during the hottest weather often goes above 100 degrees, is almost universal. The 
roof consists of dried grass or leaves laid on top, and secured by wires laid over the wTiole. 



quarter of the globe. It will certainly pay 
to try a colony or two of bees, no matter 
where one may be located. 

Beekeeping is practiced even in the heart 
of some of our large cities. In the sub- 
urban districts bees can be kept on a small 



plot of ground in the back yard. In the 
heart of business sections bees are very 
often kept on the roofs of buildings, some- 
times on the ver}' top of skyscrapers. On 
account of the intense sunlight and lack of 
natural shade in the form of bushes, shade- 




SIDE AND END VIEW OF THE SAME APIARY. 
The climate in this valley is very hot in summer, the same as it is in Arizona. Shade is very necessary. 



52 



APIARY 




APIARY OF CHAS. Y, HAKE, YORK, PA. 

This is a backlot apiary that is well screened from prevailing winds, as most yards of this kind are. It 
therefore follows that such yards winter better than the. large apiaries out in the open. Mr. Hake has his 
colonies elevated on hive-stands for convenience in handling. The objection is that during bad, chilly weather 
some bees drop short of the entrance. If they were on or near the ground, the bees could crawl in and be 
saved. The arrangement used by Robert Peschko, shown at the close of this article, is much better. 



boards should be provided as described 
further on in this article. Such an apiary 
should be established like those on the 
ground in all essential points. 

It is not always possible to select just 
the location for an apiary that one might 
like, and he is therefore compelled to take 
what he can get; but where conditions per- 
mit it is advisable to select the rear of a 
village lot; or, if located on a farm, back 
of the house in an orchard. The ground 
should be rolled and smoothed down so that 
a lawnmower can be run over every portion 
of it, as the grass should be kept down 
around the hives. Moreover, a smooth plot 
of ground renders the use of a wheelbarrow 
or handcar for handling loads much more 
pleasant and convenient. An ideal spot 
would be an orchard of young trees 75 



01- 100 feet from the road or highway. 
Usually the rear end of a village lot just 
back of the house will answer very nicely. 
If the apiary must be located close to the 
highway, then a high board fence should 
be placed between the bees and the street. 
A hedge of osage orange or evergreens; a 
trellis of some sort of vine; trees, shrub- 
bery, or anything that will cause the bees 
to raise their flight to a height of 10 or 12 
feet above the ti-affic of the street should 
be used. In any case, the bees should never 
be allowed to go directly from their hives 
on a line that would encounter vehicles or 
pedestrians; otherwise their owner may 
)iave a lawsuit on his hands for alleged 
damages from bee-stings. See Bees as a 
Nuisance. 



APIARY 



53 




APIARY OF HARRY DUBOIS ON THE LOXAHATCHIE RIVER, FLORIDA. 

The idea of a screen of slats overhead is not to shut off the sun's rays entirely, but to break them up. 
Too much shade does as much harm as too little in this country. The same general scheme of semi-shading 
could le carried out elsewhere to advantage in many localities. It would not answer in Arizona, New 
Mexico, and the Imperial Valley, California, because the sun is too hot and the climate too dry. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF SHRUBBERY OR SMALL 
TREES IN THE BEEYARD. 

Under the head of Anger of Bees^ at the 
close of the article attention is called to the 
value of small shrubbery or trees to shut off 
the views of individual colonies from each 
other. The matter is so important that it 
is mentioned again in order that the reader 
may wisely locate his bees. 

The same bees that are gentle at the home 
yard where they are well screened or locat- 
ed, sometimes become very cross when 
placed out in the open field without shrub- 
bery or trees. A little shade on hot days 
is of great value in protecting the hive from 
the direct rays of the sun. Aside from the 
value of the shade, if the shrubbery is tall 
enough it adds a great deal to the comfort 
of the apiarist himself. In an open yard 
it usually becomes necessary to wear a veil 
to prevent the bees from stinging the face 
without warning. In a yard that has shrub- 
bery, one can often work all day without 
a veil, and sometimes with but very little 
smoke. It is not always possible to locate 



a yard in the midst of shrubbery or small 
trees; and one, therefore, has to take what 
he can find, which very often is an open 
space in one corner of a lot. 

Shrubbery consisting of small bushes or 
trees has an additional value in that it en- 
ables the bees to locate their entrances a 
little more easily. When the hives are 
placed together without any space between, 
there is more or less drifting — that is to 
say, the bees make mistakes and go into 
the wrong hives. (See Drifting.) The 
unfortunate part of it is that the strong 
colonies will draw from the weaker, be- 
cause the young bees, in their initial flight, 
are quite inclined to join the place where 
there are the most bees flying. At the home 
yard, a view of which is shown several 
pages ahead, it will be noted that the indi- 
vidual colonies are placed on the north side 
of the individual grapevine trellises. These 
trellises are between six and seven feet 
high. The vines are all very carefully 
trimmed; and we usually estimate that the 
amount of fruit pays for the labor of 
keeping them in order. Strangers at any 



54 



APIARY 




PART OF THE OLD APIARY OP E. A. DUAX, CHIPPEWA FALLS, WIS. 



This yard is sheltered on the west and north by a cedar hedge 
Too much shade does as much harm as too little. 



but the shade is a little too dense. 



time are permitted to go thru this yard, 
and it is very seldom that any one is stung, 
because an occasional cross bee or dozens 
of them, on account of the obstructions to 
the general view by the vines, are unable to 
see any moving object, and therefore they 
do not follow one about nor offer to at- 
tack. 

TOO MUCH SHADE DETRIMENTAL. 

If the orchard where the bees are to be 
located is made up of old trees, then there 
can be from four to five hives grouped 
imder each tree. If, on the other hand, it 
consists of young ones, then not more than 
one or two hives should be placed at a tree, 
and in that case always on the north side, 
so as to be in the shade. The hives should 
be so located that they will get the morning- 
sun up to eight or nine o'clock, and the 
afternoon sun from three or four o'clock 
on. Too much shade is detrimental, and too 
much hot sun pouring directly on the hives 
is equally bad. Experience has shown con- 
clusively that a very dense shade over bees 



in the morning hours is detrimental. Colo- 
nies located on the west side of a building 
or barn, or under densely foliaged trees, 
so that they do not get the morning sun, 




Marchant's shade-board. This provides better venti- 
lation than the ordinary flat shade-board. 

will not, as a rule, be as far along by the 
time the honey flow comes on as those that 



APIARY 



55 




APIARY OF THE A. I. ROOT CO., ON THE APALACHICOLA RIVER, FLORIDA, IN 1914. 

This shows a general view of 300 colonies placed on raised platforms or scaffolding five or six feet 
high, or above high-water mark. "While these platforms are somewhat expensive, they are very convenient 
in affording easy access to all colonies. There is no uneven ground, no shrubbery nor weeds to interfere 
with the flight of bees, and a wheelbarrow has good wheeling to every hive. It would have been better 
if the hives had been arranged in groups of twos, threes, and fours, as explained under the engraving and 
apiary of L. F. Howden. 



have only moderate shade. On the other 
hand, an afternoon shade does not do as 
much harm as one in the forenoon. 

If one does not have trees of any sort in 
his yard — what shall he do? One of four 
courses lies open: First, to use double- 
walled hives; second, singie-walled hives 
with shade-boards; third, singie-walled 
hives having on the south side of them some 
sort of vine that can be reared up within 
a year or two. A grapevine trellis, say 8 




feet high and 10 or 12 feet long, running 
from east to west,* well covered with a 
vine, can be made to protect anywhere from 




Shadins 



tops and fronts of hives durinj 
part of the day. 



the hottest 



Robertson method of shading the hives and the 
entrances in the morning. 



five to ten hives. On this trellis, grapevines 
or any other quick-growing vine may be 

* In Cuba or other humid countries the sheds 
should run north and south, for the hives need the 
sun in the morning and late afternoon to dry them. 
Protection is required only during the heat of the 
day when the sun is overhead. 



56 



APIARY 




.1. L. BYER'S APIARY, MARKHAM, ONTARIO. CANADA. 

This lias v.nndbreaks on all fonr sides; elevation to the north, and woods on the other three sides. The 
hives are completely covered with snow. No harm results from this provided the climate is cold and pro- 
vided the snow ^oes not become wet and soggy, and freeze. 



reared to provide shade during- the heat of 
the day. The fourth and last plan is to use 
overhead trellis, making use of straw, dried 
grass, or brush for covering such as is 
used in Arizona and Cuba. These trellises 
are about seven feet high, and run from 
east to west, so that the sun, nearly over- 
head as it is in Arizona and southern Cali- 
fornia, never strikes the hives from morn- 
ing till night. These trellised shades, if 
there are no trees, are indispensable in hot, 
dry climates. They thoroly protect the 
bees, prevent combs from melting down, 
and render the work of the apiarist })leas- 
ant. 

Some beekeepers prefer to use shade- 
boards. These may be made of large cov- 
ers cleated at the ends, and composed of 
two or three boards of the cheapest lumber 
that can be had, or they may be made of 
common shingles in the manner shown in 



the illustrations. Some will, perhaps, pre- 
fer them nailed up as Mr. Marchant uses 
them. Others would prefer to put them to- 
gether as Mr. Robertson makes them. In 
some cases it may be advisable to lean them 
up against the hives rather than to place 
them on top. When used on top they 
should be large enough to project a foot 
over the front and rear, and an equal dis- 
tance on each side. They are then held 
securely in place by a stone weighing 15 
or 20 pounds. 

But whenever one manipulates these 
hives he is required to lift a heavy stone 
and remove an awkward shade-board before 
he can do any work with the bees. 

When hives are placed in long rows close 
together, as under a shed or on a roof, 
it is very essential that they differ from 
each other in appearance so that the bees 
may distinguish their own hive from all the 



58 



APIAKY 




APIARY OF 190 COLONIES OWNED BY L. F. HOWDEN IN Tl^i. 



V, N OF FILLMORE N. Y. 



This apiary, -while located in town, is apparently on one side of it, and remote from any highway or 
driveway and off in the corner of the lot. The first criticism is that the hives are in long straight rows, one 
hive to a spot. There would be considerable confusion in the flight of the bees and more or less drifting. 
It would be better to put the hives in irregular groups of twos, threes, and fours, so that the bees can better 
recognize their entrances. Every hive should have an identity of its own. Otherwise there will be danger 
of robbing and drifting. The second criticism is that it has no windbreaks. 



rest. The differentiation may be accom- 
plished in various ways: first, by painting 
the hives different colors; second, by using 
a different entrance or alighting-board ; 
third, by placing a stone or other distin- 
guishing object' near the entrance. The idea 
is to place some distinctive mark by which 
each hive may be quickly recognized by its 
tenants. The best way to make such mark 
is at the entrance so that all the bees can 
see it, both on leaving and returning. See 
Arrangement of Hives. 

windbreaks. 

The most perfect windbreak is an inclos- 
ure of woods on three sides, with an open- 
ing to the south. This, however, is not 
available to all. An apiary so situated that 
there is a clump of woods on one side and 
buildings on the other two sides, leaving 
only a southern aspect, is well sheltered 
from the prevailing winds. But, as already 
stated, if there are woods or buildings 
around the east side of the beeyard, enough 
so as to shade the hives until about noon, 
the bees will not build up as fast in the 
spring as those that can get the morning 
sun up to 10 or 11 o'clock. In the ab- 



sense of any natural or accidental protec- 
tion whatever, it is highly important that 
some sort of windbreak be provided. If it 
is desirable to put up something permanent, 
and something that will not rot out or 
require repairs, the apiary should be out- 
skirted with rows of hardy-growing ever- 
greens, such as are seen in the publishers' 
apiary shown further on. These, for the 
first few years, would afford but a scanty 
protection; but in 10 years' time they 
answer their purpose admirably. In 1879 
we enclosed our apiary with evergreens. 
They have proved to be very hardy and 
thrifty, and are now large trees. 

A good windbreak is now regarded, for 
winter protection, as about as important 
(and some think more important) for out- 
door-wintered bees, as packing and double- 
walled hives. Of course, it is better still 
to have hives packed as well as protected 
from the prevailing winds. Experience has 
shown that colonies, even tho well packed, 
but placed where there are sharp wind ex- 
posures on an elevation, will often die 
before spring, or become so weakened as to 
be practically worthless, when colonies of 
tlie same stren^tli in sinqlc-walled hives 




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Marchant's home yard of 400 colonies. Along the Apalachicola River as many as 500 colonies can some- 
times be supported in one yard. He has had as many as 600. 



screened against the wind will winter com- 
paratively well. 

In a location on a prairie, especially if 
it is permanent tbruout the year, care 
should be taken to see that it is protected 
on the north and west especially. Some- 
times an apiary can be placed at the bottom 
of a hill lying- at the north ; but it would be 
far better if shrubbery were placed at 
the brow of the hill to prevent the wind 
from diving down and striking the colonies 
with full force. 

The best windbreak we have found con- 
sists of trees or shrubbery of some sort. A 
solid fence is not as effective, because the 
wind will strike.it squarely and glance up- 
ward, when the on-rushing blast will cause 
it to roll and dive downward. 

At one of our outyards we had a high 
board fence on the north, and it was dis- 
tinctly noticeable that the third row of colo- 
nies from the fence would come out in 
much weaker condition than the rows either 
to the north or south. Many colonies in 
the third row died outright. This happen- 
ed several winters. Finally an investigation 
showed that, during a blow with fine parti- 
cles of snow, the wind would strike the 
fence, glance upward, and this upward 
blast striking the wind from the north 
would roll like a sort of horizontal whirl- 
wind. This would gradually sag until it 
struck the entrances full force facing south 
in the third Vow. This horizontal whirl- 
wind apparently seemed to spend all its 
fury on this row of hives, while the other 
rows were left comparatively free. Had it 
not been for the fine snow we should never 
have known the exact course of the wind. 



An ideal location is the center of a large 
orchard. The outside rows of trees will 
break the force of the wind so that the blast 
of air will not strike any particular hive; 
or, in other words, the wind as it attempts 
to pass thru among the trees encounters so 
much friction that its force is expended. If 
the hives are placed near the outside trees, 
the wind will sometimes dive under the 
tops. 

A common fence made of rails, pickets, 
or boards, will help break the force of 
the wind; but in these latter days barbed 
wire is used almost exclusively. It is best, 
therefore, to locate the hives either in the 
center of the orchard, or, if the orchard is 
small, in an enclosure of low shrubbery or 
bushes under trees. Berry vines, gi'ape- 
vines, or trimmings from the trees in the 
form of brush, sometimes answer as a very 
good substitute. 

The apiary may often be located advan- 
tageously behind barns and. other outbuild- 
ings on the farm ; but as a general thing an 
enclosure of this kind is used for wintering 
and feeding stock. 

Where the bees are located out on a 
prairie in the North with a wind-sweep for 
miles, it is quite essential that there be a 
barrier of some sort to cut off the wind. 
Quick-growing shrubbery should be placed 
around the yard. In the mean time a screen 
of brush may be used. If a fence is erect- 
ed, one made of pickets, so that the wind 
can filter thru and not glance upward and 
downward, as explained, will be better. A 
vertical trellis may be made for quick-grow- 
ing vines; but the vines should be of such 
n nature that the intertwining branches will 



APIARY 



01 



r/iake a filtering- screen even when the sum- 
mer leaves are off. Evergreens make the 
best windbreaks of all, but it takes years to 
get them. 

HIVE-STANDS. 

It will be next in order to consider 
wliether we shall put the hives directly on 



boards or pieces of scantling, cut off in 
lengths equal to the width of the hive, and 
leveled in the same manner as the bricks. 
But the bricks and old boards should not 
allow the hives to come too near the ground 
so as to cause dampness, and, when the 
bricks settle, the rotting of the under side 
of the bottom-board. 




BACKLOT APIARY OP ROBERT PESCHKO, DANBURY, CT. 

This yard, like other backlot apiaries where there is a small number of colonies, has given a large 
yield per colony. One can judge by the height of the hives. As explained in the text, a small apiary w^ill 
give larger yields in proportion than a large yard, providing, of course, there are no other bees in the 
immediate locality. While Mr. Peschko puts his hives up on stands, he realizes the importance of having 
easy runways from the groi.nd up to the entrance. In cool or chilly weather this saves the lives of a good 
many bees. 



the ground or on some sort of stand. Many 
beekeepers use four half-bricks, so arrang- 
ing them that they come directly under the 
four corners of the bottom-board. To 



R. S. Hollins of Sladenville, Ky., drives 
four notched stakes into the gTOund, made 
of stuff three inches wide, one inch thick, 
and one or two feet long. The part driven 




Ilive-stand made of four stakes. 

secure a proper level, it will be necessary to 
use a spade or pickax to cut down the soil 
in spots sufficiently to let one or more 
bricks coine down to the grade of the oth- 
ers. It is desirable, however, to have the 
forward bricks a little lower than the rear 
in order that the water may run out of the 
entrances. Some use short strips of old 




Double hive-stand. 



into the ground is dipped in creosote, lin- 
seed oil, or, better still, carbolineum, a kind 
of wood preservative used by railway com- 
panies to preserve ties. The illustration 










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04 



APIARY 




Buckeye double-wallcd hive witli a slanting-front hive-stand. 



on page 61 will show the idea. The stakes 
project up above the ground from one to 
six inches. Four inches will ordinarily be 
high enough. In that case the stakes need 
not be more than 18 inches long. The length 
of them, however, will depend a good deal 
on the character of the soil and the pref- 
erence of operator — whether the hive shall 
be high or low. 

The stakes should be driven by line, and 
accurately measured off, and afterward lev- 



to the alighting-board, so that the bees com- 
ing in somewhat chilled may crawl from the 
ground up into the hive. 

Another arrangement that is favored by 
a good many is a double hive-stand made as 
shown in the illustration on this page. 
The legs should not be less than two inches 
square, and the ends to come in contact 
with the ground should be dipped in tar, or 





Heddon hive-stand. 



eled with a bottom-board and spirit level. 
In cool spring weather there sliould be some 
sort of board reaching from the gTOund up 



Hive-stand with slanting front. 

some sort of wood preservative. The side- 
boards, if the legs are a foot long, may be 
anywhere from three to six inches wide. 
The whole should be securely nailed and 
made to conform to a level floor. When a 
sufficient number have been made they can 
be spaced off and leveled up in the yard 
ready to receive pairs of hives, or even three 
if thought necessary. 



APIARY 



05 



Tills arrangement has much to recom- 
mend it. It permits keeping the hi\es 
in groups of two or three, so they may be 
operated at convenient distance from the 
ground. It also allows carrying out the 
general plan of shaking swarms, as explain- 
ed further under the head of Artificial 
Swarming; of forming nuclei, or doubling 
up in the fall. If there are two hives on 
the same stand, and both of them are weak, 
and neither of them strong enough to go 
thi-u the winter, place all the combs and 
bees in one hive, and put it in the space ex- 
actly between where the two stood. Move 
the other hive away entirel3\ The flying- 
bees of both hives will go back to the one 
now at a point midway between where the 
other two stood. 

Another important feature of this hive- 
stand is that it permits of being moved 
from one out-apiary to another without 
•' pulling up stakes ;" and a stand that will 
hold two or three hives is cheaper than two 
or three separate stands. 

If the entrances of the hives are less than 
a foot above ground it is desirable to have 
some sort of board leading from the ground 
up to the entrance, unless the alighting- 
board itself is of good size, as shown on 
page 61, in which case the incoming bees 
will be able to land without difficulty. 

Another arrangement that has been used 
to a considerable extent is what is known as 
the Heddon hive-stand. It is made of four 
rough boards of cheap lumber from four to 
six inches wide, and one inch thick. The 
dimensions should, of coui^e, be of the size 
of the bottom-board. The manner of put- 
ting together will be plain from the cut on 
the left. This stand is preferred by a large 
number of beekeepers. 

A modified form, and a much better one, 
is shown in the above two cuts. It has the 
oovious advantage of a slanting front from 
the ground to the bottom-board. 

A few use slabs of concrete. The objec- 
tions to these are the expense and difficulty 
of moving. 

ARRANGEMENT OF HIVES. 

Having decided upon the location, kind 
of shade, windbreaks, and hive-stands, how 
shall we arrange the hives in the apiary? 
This question can best be answered by 
3 



studying the plans adopted by some of the 
prominent apiarists. The lay of the land 
and exposure to high winds will, of course, 
have to be taken into consideration. 

The usual plan is to arrange the hives in 
long straight rows, each hive so many feet 
distant from its neighbor, and on an exact 
line drawn by a string. While such an 
arrangement is pretty, it has one serious 
objection. When hives all face in the 
same direction, and in straight rows, each 
hive by itself, the bees are apt to become 
luixed up at the entrances, especially if the 
hives are only two or three feet apart. 
When tlie young bees are out at their play- 
spells, they are liable to join the group 
where the bees are flying the thickest. The 
result is, their own colony is depleted whils 
the one that makes the biggest demonstra- 
tion for the time being is getting more bees 
than it can easily take care of. This causes 
some colonies to be too strong, and swarm 
too early, while the others are too weak, and 
do nothing all summer. See Drifting. 

It very often happens, also, that when 
bees are taken out of the cellar and put 
into regular rows they will drift in the 
same way ; and this drifting makes trouble. 

This whole drifting difficulty can be cor- 
rected by giving each hive or group of 
hives an individuality of its own. We 
would, therefore, advise putting hives in 
groups of two, three, or five; two here, 
three there, five there, and so on. They 
may be in regular gTOups of two or groups 
of three, but in either case there should be 
a bush or tree at or near each gi-oup to 
enable the bees to distinguish one gi'oup 
from another. 

The following plans have been suggested 
where gi-eat economy of space is desired; 
but instead of following any one of the 
plans, it is desirable to adopt a combination 
so that the groups will be irregular in size 
and number of hives, especially if there is 
no distinguishing shrubbery or trees. 

C. A. Hatch of Ithaca, Wis., a promi- 
nent and extensive beekeeper, arranges his 
hives on the plan shown below, which, as 
will be seen, will work nicely in connection 
with the double hive-stand shown on a 
previous page. 



66 



APIARY 



A PART OF AN APIARY ARRANGED ON THE 
STRAIGHT-ROW PLAN. 

The stars indicate the entrances. There 
are two lanes, or alleyways; one six feet 
wide for the bees, and one ten feet wide for 
the apiarist and his horse and wagon. It 
will be noticed that the hives are arranged 



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in pairs, in such a way that they face each 
other with entrances six feet apart. In the 
next alley their hacks are toward each oth- 
er, with plenty of room for a roadway. 

DR. C. C. MILLER^S SCHEME FOR PLACING 
HIVES. 

o_ o o _o_ o _o_ _o_ _o_ 



D 



n 



DD 



o o o o 



oo oo oo oo 

DD DD DD DD 
DD DD DD DD 

oo oo oo oo 



Dr. C. C. Miller prefers this arrange- 
ment. It certainly works well for him. 

If the bees are to be wintered in quad- 
ruple winter cases, as described under 
Wintering at the close of this work, the 
hives should be arranged in gTOups of four. 
During the summer time the hives are plac- 
ed from 10 to 15 inches apart; but during 
the winter they are placed inside of the 
winter eases close together, back to back 
and side to side, without any intervening- 
space. They are then packed as described 
under the head of Wintering. 

In some localities, especially where the 
bees are moved very much, it has been 
found advantageous to place the hives in 
groups of four by placing the entrances at 
the four corners, as the accompanying dia- 
jfram will explain, and there is then a little 



less trouble from drifting than where the 
hives are jjlaced in pairs with entrances side 
by side. When the bees drift, especially m 
spring, one colony in the pair may be very 
strong and the other weak. One will be 
inclined to swarm and the other die duiing 
fruit bloom. It is suggested, therefore, 
that when the hives are placed in gTOujjs of 
four for the purpose of packing for the 
winter they face the four points of the 
compass, or, more strictly speaking, the 
four corners of the packing case. For sum- 



nnn 



ALLEY FOR APIARIST. 

OOP 

HIGHWAY FOR BEES. 



nnn 



o o o o o o o o o 

DDD DDD DDG 



DDD 



ALLEY FOR APIARIST. 

DDD 

o o o 



ononn 

DDD 



HIGHWAY FOR BEES. 

mer the hives are shoved 10 or 15 inches 
apart. In the fall they should be placed 
closer together, and finally in immediate 
contact. They are then packed as explain- 
ed under Wintering Outdoors. 

S. E. miller's PLAN OF AN APIARY. 

This plan is similar to the one used by 
Mr. Hatch, but is arranged with a view of 
still greater economy of space, not losing 
sight of the scheme of a highway for bees 
and an alleyway for the apiarist. Instead 
of being in pairs they are arranged in 
groups of five each. Little circles in front 
of the hives indicate the entrances. The 
groups can be from 10 to 20 feet apart; 
but if put exactly 16 feet apart, and the 
hives in the group 18 inches apart, an 
apiary of 80 colonies can be accommodated 
on a plot 75 feet square, or in the back 
yard of an ordinary town lot. One advan- 
tage of this gTOuping plan is, that the api- 
arist can sit on one hive while he is work- 
ing on another; and his tools, such as 



APIARY 



67 



smoker, honey-knives, bee-brushes, etc., are 
right at hand for the whole five hives. 
Where there is only one hive on a stand, the 
tools have to be carried to each hive. 

The objection to this and the Hatch ar- 
rangement is that one row of hives may 
have to face prevailing winds, or a north or 
v/est exposure. In the northern climates 
this should be avoided. It is best, therefore, 
to put hives in pairs and threes, and facing 
either the south or east. 

One can crowd more colonies on a given 
area on the S. E. Miller plan (and yet 
leave room to run wagons or carts among 
the hives) than with any other. It is spe- 
cially well adapted to a location in a gTOve ; 
but as trees vary in size and the foliage 
is sometimes lopsided or scant on some of 
the trees, hence it is neither practicable 
nor advisable to put five hives at each 
tree. It is our practice to place beside 
the smallest trees only one hive; beside 
those a trifle larger, two hives; those still 
larger, three hives; and, when they are of 
fair size, five, as in the Miller plan. Ar- 
ranging the hives thus gives each group of 
one, two, three, or five, as the case may be, 
an individuality of its own, thus affording 
the bees a better chance to distinguish their 
own group. In every case the precaution 
must be observed of placing the hives on 
the north side of the tree. Where there 
are two or three in a group, the beekeeper 
can have the entrances facing toward the 
south; or, if there are only two in a group, 
he can have one hive with its entrance 
facing toward the south, and the other 
hive toward the east. In any case he should 
avoid having hives face the north and west. 
This is very important from the standpoint 
of wintering. 

KEEPING GRASS DOWN AEOUND THE HIVES. 

Having decided on the location and plan 
of the apiary, the next question that would 
naturally arise is : Shall grass be allowed to 
grow and be kept down to an even height 
with a lawnmower or shall the sod be cut 
off entirely, and the hives be placed on a 
smooth plot of clay leveled off like a brick- 
yard? In favor of this latter arrangement 
it may be said that queens can be easily 
found, and that, when the sod is once re- 
moved, all that is necessary is to go around 
the hives with a hoe or scraping-knife to 
shave off the weeds as fast as they come. 



If they are kept down thus, and the plot is 
sprinkled with a thin layer of sawdust 
raked over evenly, we have an almost ideal 
spot for bees. While ground fioors of this 
kind are nice and pretty to look at, it 
means a gi-eat deal of labor and expense, 
because there is almost constant warfare 
against weeds. They will crowd their heads 
up thru the sawdust; and, at the present 
low prices at which honey sells, it may be 
doubted whether it pays. The gxeat major- 
ity of beekeepers, however, after having 
leveled the plot, leaving the sod, consider it 
sufficient to keep the grass down with a 
lawnmower. If it is mown once or twice 
a week, the yard not only looks pretty but 
practically there is no inconvenience re- 
suiting from the short grass. A lawn apiary 
is much prettier, and about as convenient 
in every way as one with a brickyard hot- 
torn. 

KEEPING DOWN THE GRASS AT ENTRANCES 
OF THE HIVES. 

It is not practicable to run a lawnmower 
any closer than about two inches to a hive; 
and some sprinkle salt in front of the en- 
trances and around the hives. This kills 
all vegetation up to a point where the lawn- 
mower can reach it. 

But a good many apiarists do not even 
have the time to use a lawnmower. As it 
would be a great task to keep the grass 
down in front of the hives where it would 
obstruct bees retui-ning heavily laden from 
the fields, it is a very common practice to 
use a board little longer than the entrance, 
and a foot or 18 inches wide. This board 
should be cleated on the back, and attached 
to the hive so that the bees may have an 
easy runway clear up to the entrance. 
These boards may be planed and painted; 
but ordinarily we would recommend rough, 
unplaned stuff — the cheaper the better. 
This gives the bees a good foothold, and at 
the same time saves some expense. See 
Entrances. 

sheep for keeping down grass in the 

APIARY. 

One of our neighbors occasionally lets 
loose a few sheep in his apiary. It is well 
known that our woolly friends can gnaw the 
grass closer than any other stock. If a few 
of them be turned into an apiary for a day 



68 



APIARY 




Outdoor colonies sheltered on the norlli by the house-apiary, and on the west by a high board fence. 



or two, they will cut down all the vegeta- 
tion close to the hives, not leaving a sprig 
of any sort. One would naturally suppose 
that the bees would sting- the animals, with 
the possible result that a hive or two would 
be overturned; but in actual practice no 
trouble results. Once in a great while a 
sheep is stung; but instead of running and 
bellowing like a calf, or kicking and rearing 
like a horse, he quietly walks off to a 
bush and plunges his head into it. A bee 
cannot possibly hurt a sheep except around 
the eyes and nose. We have been in a yard 
where two or three sheep were allowed to 
graze the season thru, and in all that time 
they were not stung more than once or 
twice, and yet the grass was kept down 
automatically over every square foot of the 
apiary. 

One would suppose the droppings might 
be somewhat offensive; but our neighbor 
assures us that this is not the case, as the 
manure very soon sun-dries, and it is of 
such a nature that it makes no trouble in 
the first place. 

THE HOUSE-APIARY. 

This is a term that is used to designate a 
building to enclose a whole apiary. The 
hives are usually arranged on shelves next 
to the outside walls and having direct com- 
munication with the outside. 

As a general thing, an outdoor apiary is 
cheaper and more satisfactory than one in 



a building. For the house-apiary, the cap- 
ital to put up the building must be fur- 
nished in addition to that necessary to get 
the hives. But there are conditions under 
which the house-apiary may be and is used 
to advantage — in fact, affords the only 
method of keeping bees. Where land is 
valuable, such as in or near the city, or in 
localities occasionally visited by thieves or 
mischievous boys, where bees, honey, and 
everything, so far as possible, must be kept 
under lock and key, it is a necessity. A 
small building, also, to accommodate 35 or 
40 colonies, even when these conditions do 
not exist, may often be used very advan- 
tageously in connection with the regular 
apiary outdoors. When robbers are bad, 
or when the day is rainy, the work can 
continue right on inside the building be- 
cause the apiarist can leave the outdoor 
bees and resume operations inside, free 
from robbers in the one case, or protected 
from inclement weather in the other. 

Until very recently house-apiaries have 
not been regarded with very much favor 
among practical beekeepers, principally on 
account of faulty construction, and because 
bee-escapes, when house-apiaries began to 
come into use in certain quarters, were not 
known ; but since the advent of these labor- 
saving devices, the troubles arising from 
bees leaving the hives and crawling over 
the floor to die, or to be trampled on if not 
already dead, at the first visit of the api- 



APIARY 



69 




W. C. Sorter's house-apiary. 



The rags of different colors are used to enable the bees to mark their own 
entrances more easily. 



arist, are eliminated. These and other in- 
conveniences have been almost wholly re- 
moved; and perhaps the only reason why 
the house-apiary is not more generally used 
is the expense or first cost. 

HOW TO CONSTRUCT A HOUSE-APIARY, 

The building may be oblong, square, oc- 
tagonal, or round. The round or octag- 
onal form will, perhaps, save steps during 
the operation of extracting; because, if the 
building is only 12 or 14 feet in diameter, 
the extractor may be put in the center of 
the room, and every hive will be equally 
distant or practically so, and the combs 
may be transferred from hive to extractor, 
and vice versa, without taking more than 
one step ; whereas, if the building is oblong- 
some hives will be further from the seat of 
operations. The house-apiary building we 
formerly used was octagonal ; but we found 
it a very expensive thing to make, and we 
were gxeatly annoyed by a leaky roof; and 
the only way to make it tight, with its many 
angles, was to cover it with tin. We would, 
therefore, construct a plain building 10 
feet wide and 20 or 30 feet long. Where 
the winters are cold the building should by 
all means he douhle-walled. Walls should 
not be less than four inches thick and six 
would be much better. Sawdust or some 



sort of packing-material should be poured 
in between the two walls. Unless it is 
very warmly packed there will be bad win- 
tering. Our own building is lined on the 
inside with tarred paper, and re-covered 
with manilla paper; but we would not rec- 
ommend it for any one else, because holes 
are constantly being punched thru it. A bet- 
ter way is to line it with wood — some cheap 
matched ceiling. Thru the roof, and ex- 
tending thru the center of the ceiling, we 
would have a ventilatorrshaft, made of 
wood, about a foot square, and so arranged 
that it can be closed at will. During sum- 
mer weather the smoker can be set di- 
rectly beneath the shaft, and the ventilator 
opened for the escape of smoke. 

As to doors and windows there should be 
only one wbidow, and that opposite the 
door, so as to allow a draft to pass directly 
thru, because the building at best becomes 
very sultry in hot summer weather. An 
ordinary tight-fitting door should be used, 
hinged in the usual way. To the outside of 
the door frame there should be a Avire-cloth 
screen door. At the top of the door the wire 
cloth should extend up as seen in the cut 
below ; that is to say, it should be nailed on 
the outside, and should extend four or five 
inches beyond the bottom inside edge of the 
frame, leaving a bee-space between the 



70 



APIARY 




Interior of Sorter's house-ajjiary. The colonies are a 
of the building is used for 

frame and cloth. This is to allow the bees 
that collect in the room during the time of 
working, as, for instance, during extracting 



natural instinct that prompts them to crawl 
upward. The window should have wire 
cloth nailed on the outside in like manner, 
the same extending above the window cas- 
ing as in the figure. 



rranged along the south wall on the left side. The rest 
• empty supers, supplies, etc. 

the engraving in the next page. This 
will be more reliable, as the robbers cannot 
by any possibility return thru the Porter, 
while they may learn the way back thru the 
projecting screen. 

At several points, close on a line with the 




A better method is that shown in the 
larger cut, where the edges of the wire 
cloth are formed into bee-escapes. 

A better arrangement still, and the ex- 
pense is but slight, is ordinary screen win- 
dows. At two of the upper corners attach 
Porter honey-house bee-escapes as shown in 




floor, should be one-inch holes, on the out- 
side of which should be more Porter honey- 
house bee-escapes. The purpose of the 



APIARY 



71 




Addition built on the south side of E. C. Barber's shop, 20 feet long and 5 feet wide. It is covered 
with two-ply paper, granite finish. Cost for material and labor. ^22.50. Ten colonies are wintered inside 
this building, temperature 45 to 50 Fahr. In hot weather the side can be opened to give plenty of ventila- 
tion. There is also a door in each end. 



opening in these escapes is to let the bees 
that hapi^en to be inside after working 
crawl out toward the light; and, once out- 
side, they will enter theii' own hives, with 
the possible excej^tion of a few young ones, 
and they will be accepted at any of the 
entrances. 

A few years ago it was not deemed 
necessary to have anything but end boards 
to hold up the frames. These boards resting 
on the floor or shelf were secured against 
the side of the building. It remained then 
to close up the open side with a tight-fitting 
division-board, and the top with a quilt. 
But this practice was found to be very 
objectionable ; and those who manage house- 
apiaries now prefer to use ordinary out- 
door hives instead, primarily because the 
bees can be more easily confined to the 
hives; and, secondly, because the indoor 
and outdoor hives are one and the same, 
and interchangeable. 

The hive entrances should be so arranged 
that they communicate with openings thru 
the side of the building; and then ordinary 
covers should be used to confine the bees 
strictly within the hives. In lieu of a cover 
a thin % board, or inside super cover, may 
answer just as well; but, so far as possible, 



the house-apiary should be so constructed 
that everything outdoors may be moved in- 
side, and vice versa, whenever requirements 
make it necessary. The dimensions of the 




Porter honey-house bee-escape. 

house-apiary inside should be just large 
enough to take a row of hives without wast- 
ing space. 
When the building of a house-apiary is 



72 



ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZATION 



double-walled, it is necessary to provide 
some sort of bridgework or bousing to cover 
the runway between the entrances of the 
iiives inside and the openings outside. In 
our original building we used a two-inch 
round hole, because it was easier to insert 
a tube than to make a narrow rectangular 
box or housing. But a round hole as large 
as this is not desirable, and we therefore 
recommend a covered runway thru the 
building to the regular entrance of the hive 
of about the usual dimensions. 

On account of convenience in handling 
frames, many prefer to have the hive sides 
against the building. In that case there will 
have to be a slot in the side of the bottom 
board instead of the end. Others prefer, 
on account of economy of space, to place 
the front end of the hive against the build 
ing. When this is done it involves no 
change in the structure of the bottom- 
board; but it makes the handling of the 
frames a little awkward as will readily be 
seen by the illustrations of the Sorter 
house-apiary. 

To economize still further the space of 
the building, there should be another tier of 
hives about four feet above the floor; and 
these should be supported by shelving that 
reaches entirely around the room. The same 
arrangement with regard to entrances may 
be employed as described for the bottom- 
tier. 

Now let us urge again. Do not get the 
idea that you can build hives cheaper, and 
have them a part of the building. The 
ordinary outdoor hives are in every way 
much more handy. And another thing, do 
not be satisfied to put just a mere quilt on 
top of the frames. It is essential that the 
bees be confined strictly to their own hives^ 
otherwise they will be crawling from one 
hive to another, killing queens occasionally, 
getting on the floor, and getting mashed, to 
say nothing of the inconvenience to the 
apiarist when he desires to work inside. 

PUTTING CROSS COLONIES IN HOUSE-APIARIES. 

The Grossest bees are but little inclined 
to sting inside of a building. When they 
fly from the combs that one is handling, 
they find themselves inclosed; and this so 
disconcerts them that they immediately fly 
to the screen windows and escape. James 
Heddon said, " If you have a cross colony, 
put it in the house-apiary and see how 
tame it will become." 



HOUSE-APIARIES FOR WINTERING. 

As the building is double-walled, and is 
(or ought to be) packed, colonies will re- 
quire less protection than outdoors. In- 
deed, about all that is necessary to put 
them into winter quarters is to put on 
an extra comb-honey super, tuck in a chaff 
cushion, replace the cover, when the bees 
will be prepared. In very severe cold 
weather, a small fire, or heat from a large 
lamp in the room, may, perhaps, be used to 
advantage; but artificial heat in wintering 
should be used sparingly and with care, for 
oftentimes it does more harm than good. 

E. C. Barber of Fraraingham, Mass., 
whose house-apiary is shown, thus 'summa- 
rizes the advantages of keeping bees inside 
of a building: 

I prefer the house-apiary instead of the 
outside yard for several reasons. First, you 
can work at your bees and not be among 
those flying in the air, especially if the win- 
dows in the house are closed. What few 
bees fly away from any hive you are working 
on inside of the house, instead of trying to 
frighten or sting you, will fly to the window 
to get out. Second, you do not have to carry 
the hives in and out of the cellar in the 
spring and fall, or move them to their win- 
ter quarters. Third, your bees are always 
protected from the snow, rain, and winds. 
Fourth, they are at leisure for a flight in the 
winter any time when it is warm enough, 
such as the past few days have been, when 
the thermometer was around 70. Fifth, in 
this house-apiary I can see a big difference 
in spring brood-rearing; also protection dur- 
ing cold nights, when bees are working in 
sections during the summer. 

Mr. Barber is entirely correct. The only 
serious objection to a house-apiary is its 
non-portability and its expense. In these 
days of out-apiaries, colonies may occupy a 
location for only one season. Of course a 
house-apiary can be made comparatively 
small and light; but the expense of moving 
it even then would be considerable. 

APIARY, OUT.— See Out-Apiaries. 
APIS DORSATA.— See Races of Bees, 

ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZATION.— Af- 
ter the reader has read the subjects of 
Drones, Queens, and Queen-rearing, he 
will fully understand that the mating of 
the drone and the queen in a state of nature 
takes place on the wing in the air, and never 
occurs inside the hive. Nature has seemed 
to design, for the purpose of avoiding in- 
breeding, that the queen shall find her mate 



ARTIFICIAL HEAT 



73 



in the open air, where, according to the law 
of chance, she will in all probability meet 
some drone not directly related to her, and 
at the same time, one the most vigorous, 
because it is only the strongest flyers that 
are successful. Attempts have been made 
at various times to bring about fertilization 
within the hive or within some small tent 
connected with the hive entrance. But all 
such attempts have resulted in failure, be- 
cause the drones and the queens, as soon 
as they find they are confined in a small 
enclosure, will bump against the sides of 
the mosquito netting or w^ire cloth, vainly 
seeking to escape, 

A good many years ago J. S. Davitt 
of Aragon, Ga., put up a tent of mosquito 
netting, 30 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter. 
Hives of bees containing select drones ^vere 
placed aroimd the bottom edge of the tent, 
each hive having two entrances — one open- 
ing into the inclosure and the other into 
the outer air. The latter was covered with 
perforated zinc in order to compel the 
queen and drones, when seeking flight, to 
pass out of the other entrance into the en- 
closure. This inside entrance was kept 
closed for about a w^eek; then on some fa- 
vorable day, from 11 a. m. to 1:30 p. m., it 
was opened and the drones and the queens 
were allowed to go into the tent. Mr. 
Davitt reported that a very pretty school of 
drones would be found flying at the top. 
and that he was successful in mating many 
queens. It will be noticed that the worker 
bees, accustomed as they are to the outside 
entrance, which is always open, do not go 
into the inside of the tent during the mating 
hours, so that the drones and the queens 
are largely by themselves. 

Unfortunately, this general plan has been 
tried by only one or two others, but with- 
out success. So far no one else has had the 
nerve to try it. One man reported having 
tried taldng a drone of mating age and 
pressing him until the drone organs w^ere 
distended. The spermatozoa were then in- 
jected into the body of a queen of mating 
age. He stated tliat, altho the wings of the 
queen had been clipped when she was one 
day old, she began to lay and the eggs de- 
veloped into worker brood. The experiment 
is worth trying, and the author suggests 
that some of the ABC scholars try it out 
and report results. 



So far the only feasible plan for mating 
queens with select drones is to put perfo- 
rated zinc over the entrances of all colonies 
not having choice drones, leaving only se- 
lect drones to have the freedom of the air. 
If there are no other bees in the locality 
except from hives having screened en- 
trances, the chances will be largely in fa- 
vor of having the queens mated to the 
drones of the colonies selected. A still 
better plan is to take the queen-mating nu- 
clei to an island where there is a colony of 
select drones or several of them. This island 
should be located at least five miles from 
the mainland. See Queexs, Queen-rear- 
ing, and Drones. 

ARTIFICIAL HEAT.— As strong colo- 
nies early in the season are the ones that 
get the honey and furnish the early swarms 
as well, and are in fact the real source of 
profit to the beekeeper, it is not to be won- 
dered at that much time and money have 
been spent in devising ways and means 
whereby all might be brought up to the 
desired strength in time for the first yield 
of honey. As market gardeners and otli- 
ers hasten early vegetables by artificial heat. 
or by taking advantage of the sun's rays 
by greenhouses, it would seem that f,ome- 
thing of the kind might be done with bees : 
in fact, the author, by the aid of glass 
and the heat of a stove, has succeeded in 
rearing young bees every month in the 
year, even while the weather outside was 
at zero or lower; but, as nearly as we can 
learn, all work of this kind has resulted in 
failure, so far as profit is concerned. The 
bees, it is true, learned to fly under the 
glass and come back to their hives; but for 
every bee that was raised in confinement, 
two or three were sure to die, from one 
cause or another, and we at length decided 
that it was best to wait until summer weath- 
er, and then take full advantage of it. See 
Pollen. 

Later we made experiments with artificial 
heat while the bees were allowed to fly out 
at pleasure; and, altho it seemed at first to 
have the desired effect, so far as hastening 
brood-rearing was concerned, the result 
was, in the end, just about as before; more 
bees were hatched, but the unseasonable ac- 
tivity killed off twice as many as were 
reared, and the stocks that were let alone 
in the good old way came out ahead. Since 



74 



ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE 



then we have rather endeavored to check 
very early brood-rearmg, and with better 
results. 

A few experiments with artificial heat 
have apparently succeeded, and it may be 
that it will eventually be made a success; 
but our impression is, that we had much 
better turn our energies to something else, 
until we have warm settled weather. Pack- 
ing the hives with chaff, sawdust, or any 
other warm, dry, porous material, so as to 
economize the natural heat of the cluster, 
seems to answer the purpose much better, 
and such treatment seems to have none of 
the objectionable features of working with 
artificial heat. The packing needs to be as 
close to the bees as possible; and to this 
end all the combs should be removed except 
such as are needed to hold their stores. 
Bees thus prepared seem to escape the ill 
effects of frosty nights in the early part of 
the season, and exactly what was hoped for 
by the use of artificial heat is accomplished 
for brood-rearing. 

For the benefit of those who may be 
inclined to experiment, the author would 
state that he covered almost his entire api- 
ary one spring with manure on the plan of 
a hotbed, and had the mortification of see- 
ing nearly all the bees die of spring dwin- 
dling. Another time he kept the house- 
apiary warmed up to a summer temperature 
with a large oil lamp, for several weeks, 
just to have them beat those out of doors. 
The investment resulted in losing nearly all 
the house-apiary with spring dwindling, 
while those outside stayed in their hives, as 
honest bees should, until settled warm 
weather, and then did finel}', just because 
he was " too busy to take care of them "( ?) 
as he used to express it. 

WINTERING BEES IN A WAEM ROOM. 

But a number have wintered single colo- 
nies of bees in the living-room of a house 
where the temperature was kept between 
65 and 72, night and day. In the cases 
mentioned, the colonies were placed on a 
shelf next to a window, with the entrance 
communicating with the outside. All old 
and superannuated bees can thus escape at 
any time; and when the weather is suitable 
the bees can fly. A colony of bees was plac- 
ed in one of the offices of the A. I. Root 
Co. and was there for at least three years. 



Some years it seemed to winter vei^ nicely ; 
but taking one year with another, these 
indoor colonies do not seem to get ahead 
like those outdoors. The warmer atmos- 
phere in which the hive is placed has a 
tendency to start brood-rearing. This 
forces the bees out on unfavorable days, 
with the result that they never return. The 
slight amount of brood hatched does not 
compensate for the number lost in this way ; 
and the result is, the colony gradually goes 
down. By the time spring comes on, the 
queen is not ready for the active duties of 
the hive, for the simple reason that she has 
been laying more or less all winter; and, 
probably, if she were a human being, she 
would say she was "all petered out." At 
all events, such colonies do not build up like 
those that have been well packed outdoors 
or put in the cellar. 

For a further consideration of this sub- 
ject see Temperature. 

ARTIFICIAL PASTURAGE. — Altho 
there was formerly quite a trade in seeds 
and plants to be cultivated for merely their 
honey alone, little encouragement can be 
given to those who expect to realize money 
by such investments. There is certainly a 
much greater need of taking care of the 
honey that is almost constantly wasting just 
for lack of bees to gather it.* A field of 
buckwheat will perhaps occasionally yield 
enough honey to pay the expense of sowing, 
as it comes in at a time when the bees in 
many places would get little else; and if it 
does not pay in honey, it certainly will in 
grain. 

Alfalfa at the present time affords the 
best example of artificial pasturage of any- 
thing we have. But alfalfa will not gTow 
everywhere, or, at least, not until the soil 
has been put in the right condition with 
proper inoculation. See Alfalfa. In the 
West, where it grows under irrigation, it 
yields as much or more honey than any of 
the natural or wild sources of the country. 

Sweet clover furnishes an artificial as 
well as wild pasturage, and is now being 
grown as a regular farm crop. In many 
portions of the West where the land is too 
dry to grow alfalfa, sweet clover will thrive. 
In many parts of Kentucky sweet clover is 
coming to be a veiy profitable crop. It 
often does well on land that will not grow 



* See Foreword. 



ARTIFICIAL SWARMING 



75 



anything' else, especially on rocky hillsides. 
There thousands of cattle are fed on the 
legume, and there thousands of colonies of 
bees yield handsome returns in the way of 
fine honey. See Sweet Clover. 

Alsike clover also furnishes artificial pas- 
turage in the Eastern States. It often 
takes the place of ordinary red clover that 
fails to do well. Alsike can stand wet feet, 
but red clover will not. This discovery has 
caused many fanners to grow it either with 
timothy or exclusively, and the result is 
that wherever it is extensively grown the 
keeping of bees is profitable. 

In general, it may be said: Plant and 
sow all that will be sure to pay aside from 
the honey crop, and then, if the latter is 
secured, you will be so much ahead; but 
beware of investing much in seeds that are 
for plants producing nothing of value ex- 
cept honey. Alsike, white Dutch clover, 
buckwheat, rape, alfalfa, and the like, it 
will do to invest in ; but catnip, mignonette. 
Rocky Mountain bee-plant, etc., should be 
handled rather sparingly. 

The question, " How many acres of a 
good honey-bearing plant would be needed 
to keep 100 colonies busy?" has often been 
asked. If 10 acres of buckwheat would an- 
swer in full bloom, perhaps there would be 
needed 10 other similar fields sown with 
rape, mustard, catnip, etc., blossoming at 
as many different periods, to keep them 
going the entire warm season. It would 
seem 500 acres would do nicely, even if 
nothing were obtained from other sources, 
but at present it can only be conjectured. 
A colony of bees will frequently pay for it- 
self in 10 days during a good yield from 
natural pasturage; and if this state of af- 
fairs could be kept up during the whole of 
the summer months, it would be quite an 
item. Alfalfa, sainfoin, sweet clover, buck- 
wheat, rape, alsike clover, crimson and red 
clover, cow peas of the South, and some 
others, are the only cultivated plants that 
unquestionably have given paying crops of 
honev. See Honey Plants. 

ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. — Before 
the reader takes up this subject he should 
read carefully the article on Swarming in 
order that he may understand the condi- 
tions that bring about swarming in a natu- 
ral way. He will then be in better position 
to understand the principles involved" in 
artificial swarming. 



The natural swarm, when it starts forth, 
is fully prepared to abandon its old home; 
and, no matter where it may be placed, its 
individual members have no thought of go- 
ing back to the old stand. If, therefore, 
the beekeeper would succeed with artificial 
swarming, he must practice some scheme 
that will remove the home-loving instincts 
to such an extent that the swarm made up 
artificially will stay in the new location; 
and, not only ihal, will be in such a condi- 
tion that it '=5, to all intents and purposes, 
a natural swarm. As it is somewhat diffi- 
cult, however, to remove artificially the 
home-loving instinct, the beekeeper is ob- 
liged to cater somewhat to it^ and he 
therefore, so far as possible, hives his ar- 
tificial swarm in the old location, so that, if 
the home-loving instinct has not been re- 
moved, or only in part, he will still hold 
bees that would otherwise have been 
" homesick," and have gone back. 

The swarm that goes out naturally, for a 
few days prior to its issuance, begins to 
become logy. The bees show a disposition 
to hang out in front of the entrance, and 
there seems to be a general letting-up in 
their activities. Swarming cells are started. 
Whenever this condition begins to manifest 
itself, it is time to act. Instead of letting 
the colony go on and finally swarm unex- 
pectedly at its convenience when the owner 
may be away, he anticipates its action and 
forces it to swarm at his convenience. The 
plan in brief is as follows: 

After the honey flow has begun, and 
perhaps three or four days (not earlier)* 
before the colony is expected to cast a 
swarm, the hive is moved to one side of the 
stand, and an empty one, just like it, is put 
in its place. In this hive are placed frames 
having foundation starters or frames with 
full sheets — preferably the latter. But if 
neither is available, combs may be used. 
The bees of the parent colony, including the 
old queen, are then shaken or brushed in 
front of the entrance of the new hive on 
the old stand. Some go so far as to brush 
all the bees out of the old hive; and this 
can be done if the weather is hot and nights 
warm; for young hatching brood will soon 



* Reports show that, if the colony is shaken or 
brushed from one week to ten days before a swarm 
would otherwise issue, no good will be accomplished 
and that the bees will be likely to swarm. The 
shaking should not take place before the bees feel 
and show the desire to swarm. 



76 



ARTIFICIAL SWARMING 



be oat to take care of the young brood. 
The practice of shaking all the bees is not 
to be recommended as it is too risky. The 
supers from the parent hive are next put 
on the new one. The parent colony is then 
moved to a new location or left by the side 
of the new hive with its entrance facing in 
the same direction. In either case the en- 
trance of the old hive should be contracted.' 
If work is already partly begun in the 
super, the bees will continue work and 
rush the honey above. In some cases it may 
be advisable to use perforated zinc between 
the super and brood-nest to keep the queen 
below. 




Swarm shaken on the alighting-board of the new 
hive. 

The plan will meet favor, especially with 
those in localities where the season is short 
and the honey flow rapid ; and it will doubt- 
less enable many who usually get no comb 
honey at all to secure a good crop. 

The question may be asked, " What is 
done with the parent hive and all its 
brood*?" If left beside the new colony, 
the brood, when hatched out, is shaken in 
front of the new hive, so that at the last 
diive all the bees that would have been 
hatched in the original colony are now 
given to the brushed swarm, after which the 
hive is moved away. In this respect a 
brushed or " shook " swarm, as some call it, 
will secure more comb honey than a natural 
swarm, because it has the additional 
strength of the young bees. The queen 



from the old hive (if one has been raised 
or introduced) should, of course, be remov- 
ed before the last drive and given to some 
other colony. 

While this plan of forcing the swarm 
ahead of time at the convenience of the 
apiarist generally gives satisfaction among 
beekeepers, some do not make it work; but 
so many have reported favorably thru the 
bee journals that it is quite certain, if de- 
tails are carefully followed, it will prove 
successful with most people. 

Another plan has been suggested some- 
what similar to that already described; but 
instead of shaking all the bees at once 
the operation is performed at two different 
times. For example, a colony has four 
combs of brood taken out of the center of 
the brood-nest and in their place is put an 
equal number of frames of full sheets of 
foundation. The combs removed are now 
shaken one by one in front of the entrance 
of the new hive containing foundation on 
the old stand. Two or three days after- 
ward, when work gets nicely started on 
the first frames of foundation, the remain- 
ing old combs with their brood and honey 
are removed and shaken in front of the en- 
trance, as before. The beeless brood should, 
of course, be given to other colonies that 
can use it to advantage. 

This involves the principle of the brushed 
or shaken-swarm idea, and has the further 
advantage that the bees are not liable to 
swarm out as when they are shaken all at 
one drive on nothing but foundation. 

DOOLITTLE MODIFIED SHAKEN-SWARM 
METHOD. 

This plan involves some of the principles 
of the shaken-swarm method; and in cer- 
tain localities it can be employed to very 
good advantage. The method in brief is as 
follows. Sets of partly filled extracting- 
frames from weak colonies the year before, 
as will be explained later, are kept over 
winter in the honey-house, until the spring 
or early summer, when upper stories are 
filled with them and placed on all strong 
colonies. The idea of this procedure is to 
make the colony below feel rich in stores so 
there will be no curtailment of brood-rear- 
ing. If any honey should come in from 
fruit bloom or other sources before the 
main flow, it is promptly carried upstairs 
without crowding the queen below. 



ASTER 



A week or two prior to the expected 
honey flow or swarming season, this upper 
story is lifted off and the old colony moved 
to one side. On the old stand is placed 
another empty hive. The set of combs, all 
save one, that were originally in the upper 
story, containing more or less honey, are 
now put down in the empty hive on the old 
stand. One comb is left out in the center, 
and replaced by a frame partly filled with 
brood from another hive. On this hive, at 
the parent stand thus prepared, is placed a 
comb-honey super containing sections filled 
with full sheets of foundation, and having 
at the center 10 or 12 other sections with 
pai-tly drawn combs. On this super is 
placed another of sections with only full 
sheets of foundation. Last of all the cover 
is put on. The frames of brood put in the 
old hive removed to one side are now taken 
out and shaken in front of the entrance of 
this newly prepared hive at the old stand. 
The brood is then stacked up on the few 
weak colonies not run for comb honey. As 
the bees hatch, the combs are more or less 
filled with honey during the season, thus 
furnishing the sets of extracting-frames to 
be used for the comb-honey colonies the 
next year. The queen in the comb-honey 
hive will have the one frame of brood part- 
ly filled where she can begin laying. The 
large amount of honey in the brood-nest 
the bees will begin carrying upstairs to the 
supe]'S in order to give the queen- more 
room in which to lay. Thus work is started 
in filling the sections before the honey flow 
actually begins; and when honey does come 
in, the bees continue to store it above with- 
out any swarming. In the meantime the 
queen occupies every available cell in the 
lower part of the hive. 

G. M. Doolittle, the author of this sys- 
tem, has tested it most thoroly several sea- 
sons; and one year in particular, when the 
season was only fair, he secured an average 
of 114^2 pounds of comb honey per colo- 
ny, with no swarms at any outyard. 

While the first sections will contain a 
little old honey, yet, if it be buckwheat or 
other good honey, it does not impair the 
fluvor, for there are many who like a little 
buckwheat flavor in comb honey; and such 
sections, Mr. Doolittle says, sell at the 
highest market price, but on account of the 
danger of granulating should be sold at 



once and around home. For further par- 
ticulars see Doolittle's book, " A Year's 
Work in an Out-apiary," put out by the 
publishers of this work. 

The author tried what was known as the 
Sibbald method of swarm control at one of 
his outyards. It involved the idea of hav- 
ing the colonies arranged in pairs, one very 
much stronger than the other. When the 
stronger colony began to show evidence of 
its intention to swarm, it was shifted over 
to the place occupied by the weaker one, 
and the weaker one placed on its stand. 
The supers on the strong colony were given 
to the weak one. Theoretically, all of the 
flying bees would go to their old stand ; the 
cells that were built in the colony preparing 
to swarm would be destroyed because it 
would be robbed of all its flying bees. But 
the scheme worked only partially. Some 
strains of bees would go back to their old 
stand in spite of the change of position. 

So far the various methods of artificial 
swarming have been discussed. Under the 
head of Increase^ the question of vari- 
ous methods for increasing the number of 
our colonies by dividing or otherwise is 
taken up. The reader should understand 
that " artificial swarming " is one thing, 
and " increase by dividing " is entirely an- 
other. The former is used to prevent natu- 
ral swarming, or, rather, to put it at a time 
to suit the convenience of the beekeeper and 
yet get a crop of honey. The latter does 
not contemplate the idea of securing honey, 
but rather an increase in the number of 
colonies. 

ASTER— {Aster, the Greek word for 
star.) Asters are also called starworts, and 
in England Christmas daisies from their 
late period of blooming. This is a genus of 
the Compositae, the largest and most impor- 
tant plant family, to which also belong the 
goldenrods, sunflowers, thistles, and daisies. 
There are about 142 species of asters in 
North America, and about half that number 
in northeastern America. The species are 
very difficult to distinguish, as there are 
numerous varieties and hybrids. Asa Gray 
declares in one of his letters that the asters 
threatened to reduce him to blank despair. 
The so-called flower of an aster is in reality 
a compact cluster, or composite, of many 
small sessile flowers subtended by scale-like 
bracts, termed a head or capitulum. The 



78 



ASTER 



marginal or ray-flowers have strap-shaped 
corollas, and are blue, purple, or white, but 
never yellow. The central or disc flowers 
are tubular, and range in color from dark 
to golden yellow, changing in some species 
in the later stages of the flower to crimson 
purple, brown jDurple, or purple. The ge- 




Aster. 

nus is represented by a larger number of 
species in North America than in any other 
continent. 

The asters are visited by many insects 
besides honeybees, such as bumblebees, 
wasps, butterflies, and flies. On the New 
England aster there have been collected 46 
different kinds of insects, and on the com- 
mon A. Puniceus, or purple-stemmed aster, 
77 different visitors. Thus the honeybee has 
many competitors for the nectar which is 
secreted at the bottom of the tubular flow- 
ers. 

Aster honey is gathered chiefly from the 
very common species A. multiflorus, A. 
vimineus, A. lateriflorus, A. Tradescanti, 
and A. paniculatus, all of which produce 
dense clusters of small white-rayed heads, 
except A. multiflorus, which has the rays 
white or purplish. Over large areas in 
Kentucky, Indiana, and other States the 



bloom is so abundant that the fields look as 
if covered with snow. The plants are often 
very bushy, growing from six inches to 
three feet tall. When the weather is favor- 
able colonies will pack their combs with 
aster honey, or if combs have already 
been filled from an earlier source a surplus 
if often stored. One season at Underwood, 
Ind., there were hundreds of acres of white 
aster in bloom, and 100 pounds of comb 
honey per hive is reported to have been ob- 
tained. At Langnau, Ky., the scales show- 
ed a gain of 25 pounds in four days from 
Oct. 2 to 5. Forty-eight colonies harvested 
3,000 pounds, of which one-half was sur- 
plus. There were ninety-five acres of white 
aster within reach of the bees. During 12 
days of hot weather in September, 1914, J. 
L. Byer reports that 250 colonies 100 miles 
north of Toronto, Can., simply jammed the 
brood-nests solid with aster honey. 

Pure aster honey is white — as white, ac- 
cording to beekeepers familiar with it, as 
white-clover honey ; but it is seldom obtain- 
ed pure. Usually it is colored amber or 
yellow by honey from goldenrod or other 
late-blooming autumnal flowers. The asters, 
however, remain in bloom longer than the 
goldenrods. When newly gathered it has a 
rank odor, but this disappears when it has 
ripened. It has a pleasant aromatic taste, 
and is so thick that at times it is extracted 
with difficulty. It crystallizes quickly with 
a flner grain than goldenrod. It has been 
stated to be unsuitable for table use, but 0, 
H. Townsend writes that in Michigan he 
sells aster honey for the same price as red 
raspberry, and that it has a fine flavor and 
good body. Other beekeepers also describe 
the flavor as agreeable. 

Many beekeepers have complained that 
their colonies suffered more or less loss 
when wintering on aster honey. So strong 
has been the opposition to it for this pur-^ 
pose that its removal and the replacing of 
the stores by feeding sugar syrup has been 
repeatedly advised. It is not improbable 
that aster honey gathered so late that it 
only partially ripens and remains unsealed 
is liable to deteriorate and become deleteri- 
ous before spring; but any other honey or 
even sugar syrup under similar conditions 
would be objectionable. Its tendency to 
candy quickly and solidly, making it only 
partially available to the bees, has also 



ASTER 



79 



Y^. 1 


-# 


*t:^^ 


^■:€ ' 




3| 








30^ 


jj^ 






^Pflp^ 


r 




/ ; ■ 


¥ 


^P^i# 







'*4 


^ 







Aster paniculatus. 



Aster multiflorus. 



i#:= W i'm^m^ 





Aster Tradescanti. 



Aster puniceus. 



80 



BACKLOT BEEKEEPING 



added to its poor reputation as a winter 
food. Mismanagement on the part of the 
apiarist seems likewise in some instances 
to have been laid to the fault of aster hon- 
ey. But if this honey possessed properties 
that were actually injurious to bees, 
they would appear uniformly everywhere, 
but this is not the case. The experience 
of scores of beekeepers, continued thru 
many years, proves that aster honey well 
ripened and sealed is an excellent winter 
food for bees. And why should it not bef 
'J'he asters are bland innocuous herbs, 
which are readily eaten by domestic animals, 
either dried as hay or green in the pastures. 
The 250 colonies of J. L. Byer, which pack- 
ed tlieir hives with aster honey, survived 
the winter in fine condition. In a symposi- 
um, published in Gleanings in Bee Culture, 
Aug. 15, 1915, many beekeepers testified 
that they had wintered bees successfully 
year after year on aster honey with verj^ 
h'ttle loss. It has been suggested that per- 
haps different species of aster yield differ- 
ent kinds of honey ; but there is no ground 
for such a supposition. On the contrary. 



the nectar of the various species, as in the 
case of the goldenrods, is very similar. 

In Georgia several species of aster (the 
most common are A. adnatus and A. squar- 
rosus) grow all over the State, and in many 
places are the main reliance for winter 
stores. In a few localities a surplus is 
obtained. The honey is medium in quality, 
of fair color, but candies quickly in the 
comb if not sealed. The blooming time is 
from September to November. 

Several widely distributed and abundant 
species of aster are well worthy of cultiva- 
tion for their handsome flowers. A very 
couuuon form is A. patens, or purple daisy 
which has bright blue-purple flowers. The 
New England aster {A. novae-angliae) has 
stout hairy stems, eight feet tall, with \ao- 
let-purple rays, rarely white, or in one va- 
riety pink. Very common along the Atlan- 
tic Coast, especially in swampy marshes, is 
A. novi-belgii. The purple-stemmed aster, 
co-cash, or meadow scabish {A. puniceus), 
which is common in swamps, is a tall hairr 
species with purple stems and flowers. 



B 



BACKLOT BEEKEEPING. — A very 
large number of those who keep bees are 
those who might properly be called back- 
1 otters — those who live in cities and towns 
and who keep a few bees in connection 
with a few chickens or a little garden. The 
backlotters comprise professional men, 
and business men, as well as women and 
children of their families. We might in- 
clude in this class also the farmers' wives 
who have a few colonies to pollinate fruit 
trees, and who likewise desire recreation, 
amusement, and a little money on the -side 
for the family. Bees will earn as much 
money as chickens and often do much bet- 
ter. 

Backlot beekeeping does not differ great- 
ly from the keeping of bees on a large 
scale except that there will be no outyards. 



no expensive moving-truck and elaborate 
extracting-outfits, and no hired help. The 
backlotter, primarily, whether man, woman, 
or child, is one who desires to take up some 
form of amusement or recreation — some- 
thing that will keep one outdoors and some- 
thing that will take up his time while he 
is out of the store, office, or shop. If the 
backlotter happens to be an overworked 
business or professional man, he will surely 
need some line of diversion — something 
that will rest his mind, and take it off from 
his business or profession, and allow it to 
rest and recuperate in new lines of thought. 
Why not beekeeping? See Beekeeping 
FOR Women. 

Wliile there are those who take up the 
hobby of kodaking or taking pictures, of 
running a little garden, or keeping a few 



BACKLOT BEEKEEPING 



81 



chickens, the uumber of those w!;o are tak- 
ing- up bees is increasing very rapidly. The 
average back lot in the city will not permit 
of a very extensive garden — in fact, in 
most cases no garden at all. The chicken 
business is liable to cause trouble with the 
neighbors, especially if the chickens fly 
over the fence and scratch up Mrs. Neigh- 
bor's posy bed. While bees will not scratch 
up gardens they may soil Mrs. Neighbor's 
wash on the line ; but a box or two of honey 
in advance will so sweeten her up that she 
will tolerate any inconvenience of this kind, 
which fortunately occurs only about once a 
year. After bees have been confined for 
the winter, on their first flight they dis- 
charge tlieir liquid feces on the white lin- 
en if it happens to be on the line at the 
time; but a rinsing of the clothes will make 
them as clean as before, and the pail or box 
of honey will do wonders in advance by 
sweetening up feelings that would other- 
wise be sour. The neighbor should be ad- 
vised not to hang out her clothes just after 
the bees are set out of the cellar in the 
spring. Or better, the beekeeper should 
not put the bees out till after wash-day. 

But the objection may be made that bees 
may sting the neighbor's children. While 
this may happen, such occurrences are not 
common. If one will follow the plain and 
simple directions with regard to handling- 
bees, there will be no trouble. Indeed, 
there are backlot apiaries in all of our 
large cities (and even on the roofs of some 
large office buildings) — hundreds and hun- 
dreds of them; and when we consider the 
backlot apiaries in the smaller towns, their 
number can be measured by the thousands; 
and yet out of all these thousands of little 
apiaries it is only about once in four or flve 
years that we hear of a single case of trou- 
ble, and only once in about 10 or 15 years 
that resort is had to the courts. (See Laws 
Relating to Bees and Bees as a Nui- 
sance.) 

The danger from stings may be averted 
by reading carefully the articles on Api- 
aries, Robbing^ Stings^ Bee-smokers, and 
Manipulation of Colonies — particularly 
the last named. There is no good reason 
why any backlotter should stir up his colo- 
nies to a furious stinging. If he will care- 
fully inform himself by reading the arti- 
cles mentioned, his next-door neighbors will 
never know he has any bees except as they 



may see the hives and tlie bees flying o;it to 
the fields. If he will take the further pre- 
caution to give those neighbors a box of 
honey now and then, they will be willing to 
overlook any occasional annoyance result- 
ing from a lack of experience and misman- 
agement. 

Every backlotter should, if possible, visit 
some practical beekeeper. He can get more 
information of a practical sort in an hour 
by seeing some good beekeeper open up a 
hive than he can get from a book in several 
days. In fact, it would pay Mr. Backlotter 
well to take a trolley trip off into the coun- 
try, hunt up some person who is keeping 
bees, and, if he approaches his man with 
the idea of purchasing a colony or two, he 
will be able to get all the information he 
desires; and in this connection it may be 
said that it is usually cheaper for one to 
make a start by buying a few colonies than 
to send away to some dealer, unless he buys 
them in pound-package form. (See Be- 
ginning WITH Bees.) 

Besides the allurements of a restful hob- 
by, of diversion from the cares of the office, 
shop, factory, and of the home for the 
wife, backlot beekeeping affords in addi- 
tion a profit, provided, of course, that one 
follows directions, and provided further 
that there is something in the locality on 
which bees can work. In most of our cities 
white clover thrives on lawns. No matter 
how dry the season, the constant sprinkling 
and mowing keep white clover in bloom 
for a much longer period than the average 
pasture lot. Besides white clover, sweet 
clover is being grown extensively along 
railroad embankments, in waste fields, and 
lots unoccupied, and which are being held 
until a suitable price can be secured. 

The gTOwing of small-fruit trees in the 
back yards of our cities affords abundant 
pasturage in the spring when they are in 
bloom. The ever present dandelions, that 
are an irrepressible nuisance on almost all 
lawns, also afford pollen and honey. See 
Dandelion. 

The conditions for keeping a few bees in 
a city or town are usually very favorable. 
As stated under the head of Apiary and 
under the head of Overstocking, a few 
colonies of bees — five, ten, or twenty-five, 
will give much larger yields per colony than 
a larger number — say fifty or a hundred. 
Of course, if there are any considerable 



82 



BACKLOT BEEKEEPTNO 




View of D. J. Blocher's backlot apiary, Pearl City, 111. The grass is kept mowed all summer with a lawn-mower. 



number of persons in the city who adopt 
the beekeeping hobbj*, the yield per colony 
will be less in proportion; but as a general 
rule these backlot yards will not be closer 
than one or two miles, and the yield should 
be fairly good even then. 

By referring to Pkofits ix Bees one can 
get some idea of the returns; but it can be 
safely stated that our backlot beekeeper 
will do even better than there stated, for 
the reason he will have the iield all his own. 

We have known some backlotters to se- 
cure two to three hundred pounds of honey 
per colony. (See some of the legends under 
the cuts in Apiary.) As the market is right 



at hand much of the hone}- can be sold at 
retail without sharing the profits with mid- 
dlemen. Backlot beekeeping, therefore, of- 
fers exceptional opportunities for making 
a little money on the side as well as secur- 
ing an unlimited amount of pleasure and a 
new field for thought in the realm of na- 
ture. 

It is safe to say that any man or woman 
who takes up the pleasurable pastime of 
beekeeping will be bigger and broader, and 
will live longer. The great trouble with the 
American people today, especially with the 
residents of our cities, is the awful rush af- 
ter the "almighty dollar," and in this scram- 




ATIARY or E. S. BRINTOX, WEST CHESTER. PA. 

The apiary is well protected in i.he back lot by apple trees and shrubber}'. It appears to be an ideal 
place for wintering bees ; but the colonies should, of course, be packed in winter cases in order to ge the best 
results. 



BARRELS 



83 



ble to get ahead the mind and body wear 
out. If more of our city folks would have 
side lines of diversion and ride hobbies — if 
you please, the hobby of keeping bees — 
they would live longer, live happier, and in 
the end make a little money. 

BAIT SECTIONS.— See Comb Honey- 
how TO Peoduce. 

BALLING OF QUEENS.— See Queens, 
Queen-rearing, and Introducing. 

BANAT BEES.— See Races of Bees. 

BARRELS.— The regular size used for 
the storage and shipping of extracted hon- 
ey is about 31 or 32 gallons. Barrels of 45 
to 50 gallons capacity are a little too heavy, 
and being very unwieldy are liable to be 
broken or jammed by freight-handlers in 
shipping. As to the kind of barrel, second- 
hand alcohol or whisky barrels that can be 
obtained at the drugstores may be' used, 
provided they are not charred on the in- 
side. The ordinary alcohol barrel is gum- 
med or glazed on the inside with a prepara- 
tion of glue that does not dissolve. As a 
general rule, whisky barrels are charred, 
and therefore unsuitable. Before taking- 
barrels of any kind it is very necessary to 
determine what the character of the lining 
is on the inside. Molasses or syrup barrels 
may be used, if they be thoroly cleansed; 
but barrels that have a sour or musty smell 
should not be considered; for, even if 
cleaned, they may taint and ruin the honey. 

After the barrel has been cleansed it 
should be put in a dry place, so that it will 
dry thoroly inside and out. One should 
never use barrels, the wood of which has 
become soaked with water; for honey has 
the quality of absorbing moisture from 
the wood ; that is to say, a wet barrel filled 
with honey will actually become dry. The 
staves shrink, and then, of course, the hon- 
ey leaks out. If one does a large business in 
shipping honey in barrels, he should buy 
new ones. The staves should be made of 
sound kiln-dried lumber; and iron hoops, 
not wooden ones, should be used. The bar- 
rels should be kept in a dry place, and then, 
before using, they should be well coopered 
and tested, as will be explained. 

kegs. 

Wooden packages holding from 100 to 
150 pounds are used quite extensively in 



some parts of the East. They are usually 
constructed of cypress, and, when well 
made, make a very good package. The 
general directions that apply to barrels 
apply also to kegs. 

BARRELS FREQUENT CAUSE OF COMPLAINT. 

It may be said that no slovenly, careless, 
or slipshod beekeeper should use barrels. 
He will be too careless to see that they are 
tight. He will put his honey into them, 
ship them, and in all probability the barrels 
will begin to leak en route; and he will 
receive a complaint from the consignee that 
" the honey arrived in bad condition," 
" half of it gone." There has been 
more ill feeling and hard words because of 
inexcusable carelessness or lack of proper 
knowledge concerning this matter of ship- 
ping honey in barrels than, perhaps, any 
other thing connected with the marketing 
of extracted honey. If the directions we 
have given are carefully followed, and 
good barrels are selected, there will be little 
or no trouble outside of the arid regions. 

Another frequent cause of complaint 
arises from the fact that the barrels are 
filled too full. Honey, during the process 
of gTanulating, will expand. If it is put 
into the barrel long before it is candied, the 
barrel should not be filled quite full. Just 
before shipping put in a little more and 
then ship. We have received several con- 
signments of honey that had candied in 
barrels. The barrels had been filled full; 
the honey candied, and burst the barrel. 

HOW TO TEST BARRELS FOR LEAKS. 

Barrels that are intended for the storage 
of honey should not be kept in a cellar but 
in a dry place. Before filling, the hoops 
should be driven down tight all around. To 
test for leakage, A. C. Miller suggests the 
following plan : 

With a tire pump fitted over a specially 
prepared bung, force in air until there is 
quite a pressure in the barrel. Now listen 
for air leaks. If there are any, there will 
be a hissing in one or more places. Hold- 
ing the palm of one hand over the bung 
thru which the air was forced, dip the free 
hand into some water, and push it along to 
where the air seems to be hissing out. This 
will prove whether there is a leak at that 
point. If there is one, there will be a sput- 



84 



BARRELS 



tering oi' bubbling. Wherever the air is 
found leaking thru, drive the hoops down 
until the openings are closed. Then, again, 
force air into the barrel and try for leaks 
as before. 

Do not, under any circumstances, test a 
barrel for leakage with water, as it soaks 
up the wood, and the latter would swell up 
and close the leak. After the honey is put 
into the baiTel it would absorb the water, 
and the barrel would leak just at the time 
it conld be least afforded — when it would 
be halfway on its journey. 

THE NEED OF PARAFFINING OR WAXIXG BAR- 
RELS. 

The author is well aware that some of 
the best honey-producers say it is not nei'- 
essary to wax or paraffin barrels inside ; but 
our experience shows that it is very impor- 
tant, not so much for the purpose of clos- 
ing up any possible leaks as to prevent the 
honey from soaking into the wood of the 
barrel or the wood itself from giving a 
taint to the honey. The average person has 
little idea of the amount of honey that can 
be soaked up inside of an unwaxed barrel, 
and be charged up to the shipper. After 
having tested the barrels for leaks by the 
air-pressure plan recommended, and made 
them tight, wax or paraffin the inside of 
the barrels; don't depend on the waxing to 
close up the leaks — the barrel should be 
tight before. 

Paraffin, being a good deal cheaper than 
beeswax, and melting at a lower tempera- 
ture, is, therefore, to be recommended. Melt 
up about 10 or 12 pounds, and when hot 
pour it thru a large funnel into one bung- 
hole of the barrel. Quickly drive in the 
bung, roll it around, twirl it on each end; 
then give it another spin so as to cover 
perfectly all around the chime. This opera- 
tion will warm the air inside to such an ex- 
tent that the liquid will be forced into every 
crevice. As soon as the inside is covered, 
loosen the bung with a hammer; and if the 
work is well done the bung will be thrown 
into the air with a loud report. Pour out 
the remaining liquid, warm it up again, 
and treat the other barrels in a like man- 
ner. 

The operation as a whole takes but very 
little time; and if one has taken pains to 
prove the barrel tight by the air-pressure 



plan, the coating of paraffin on the inside 
will make it doubly secure. Second-hand 
barrels especially should be paraffined; and 
even new barrels should be so treated to 
prevent a great loss of honey that would 
necessarily soak into the wood. Steel bar- 
rels are not recommended. 

SLIPPING HOOPS. 

It is very important that the barrels be 
made tight before honey is put into them. 
If they once begin to leak en route, driving 
the hoops down will not do much good, for 
the simple reason that the leaking honey 
makes a sort of lubricant, causing the 
hoops to slide up immediately after receiv- 
ing a blow from a hammer. 

We have had some very unsatisfactory 
experience with shipping honey in barrels; 
and on arriving at Medina the honey was 
leaking over the sides of the barrels. This 
honey came with a carload of bees, and the 
man in charge who saw the leaks attempted 
to drive the hoops downward ; but the more 
he drove, he said the more they slipped 
back again. If it were possible to exert 
pressure enough on all sides of the barrels 
at once, and then drive nails above the 
hoops, something might be done to stop 
the leaks. 

The barrels in the first place should be 
bone-dry before they are paraffined; and 
just before the waxing the hoops should be 
driven down as far as they will go. If 
there is any danger of the hansels leaking, 
tacks should be driven above the hoops to 
prevent their slipping. But it is penny 
wise and pound foolish to use any barrel 
that is not perfect. The difference between 
the cost of a good barrel and a poor one is 
only a few cents; while a barrel of honey 
costs many times the price of the barrel. 

BARREL OR SQUARE CANS. 

In California, Colorado, and other hot or 
di-y States, barrels and kegs should never 
be used. The ordinary 60-pound tin cans, 
described under Extracted Honey, are the 
only suitable shipping packages. Indeed, 
they are the only package that nine-tenths 
of the beekeepers of this land can use safe- 
ly. While they cost considerably more per 
pound, yet the honey is nearly always re- 
ported as going thru in good order. Even 
if one has a hole punched in it, only 60 



BASSWOOD 



85 



i:;oimcls of honey is lost; while in the case 
of a leak or break in a baiTel, anywhere 
fiom five to eight times that amount is 
wasted. Thru the entire West — and that is 
where the gi'eat bulk of the extracted honej- 
in the United States is produced — the 
square tin can is used exclusively. These 
are packed two in a case, and for safe ship- 
ment there should be a wooden partition be- 
tween the cans. We would strongly m-ge 
the average beekeeper to use these cans in 
preference to barrels. While the tin pack- 
age costs a little more per pound, it also 
brings in a little more on the market; for 
the buyer can take as large or small a quan- 
tity as he needs. Where the purchaser 
hesitates to buy a whole barrel of honey 
for his own local trade, he will readily take 
one or more cans of 60 pounds each. 

REIMOVIXG CANDIED HONEY FROM BARRELS. 

Good thick honey will usually become 
solid at the approach of frosty weather, 
and perhaps the readiest means of getting 
it out of the barrel in such cases is to re- 
move one of the heads and take it out with 
a scoop. When it is quite hard, you may at 
first think it is difficult to force a scoop 
down into it; but if you press steadily and 
keep moving the scoop slightly, you will 
soon get down its whole depth. If the bar- 
rel is kept for some time near the stove, or 
in a very warm room, the honey will be- 
come liquid enough to be drawn out thru a 
large-sized honey -gate. 

A more wholesale way of removing can- 
died honey is to set the barrel or keg in a 
tub or wooden tank of water, the latter 
being kept hot by a small steam pipe. In 
24 or 36 hours the honey in the barrel will 
be melted, and can then be drawn out in 
the usual way. 

BASSWOOD.— Of the twelve described 
species three are indigenous to the United 
States. The most common species is Tilia 
Americana L., a tall tree growing in forests 
from New Brunswick to Nebraska and Tex- 
as, and especially abundant in the Alle- 
ghanies. T. Michaiixii Nutt. (T. puhescens 
is a synonym) extends from Connecticut to 
Florida and Texas; and T. heterophylla 
Vent, from Pennsylvania to southern Illi- 
nois and Alabama, but is most common in 
limestone regions. The three species may 
be separated by the following leaf charac- 



ters : T. Americana has the leaves smooth 
on both sides; in T. Michauxii the leaves 
are smooth above, but pubescent beneath ; 
and in T. heterophylla smooth above and 
silvery white below. The European linden 
(T. Europaea L.) is widely cultivated in 
this country as an ornamental tree. Other 
vernacular names are linden, lime tree, bee- 
tree, whitewood, and whistlewood. 

Excepting, perhaps, alfalfa, sage, and 
white clover, basswood furnishes more hon- 
ey than any other plant or tree known in 
this coimtry. It is a variable source of 
honey, but it is seldom that it fails entirely 
to yield nectar. In eastern New York, late 
in the spring, a drop in temperature suf- 
ficient to freeze ice has been known to kill 
all the flower buds in low ground, and 
greatly injure those on the hills. Even 
when the trees are laden with flowers if the 
weather is cold, cloud}', and windy, no sur- 
plus will be obtained. Hot clear weather 
and a humid atmosphere are the conditions 
most favorable for the active secretion of 
nectar. Small drops may then be seen 
sparkling in the bloom, and a bee may at 
times obtain a load from a single blossom. 
During a favorable season, wlien the at- 
mosphere and temperature were both pro- 
pitious, nine tons of basswood honey have 
been obtained as surplus at Delanson, N. 
Y. The best yield of honey at Medina. 
Ohio, ever secured from a single hive was 
from basswood bloom, the quantity being 
43 pounds in three days. The best e\er 
recorded from clover was 10 poimds in 
one day. At Orchard, Iowa, a yield of 600 
pounds from a single colony in 30 days 
was once secured, an average of 20 pounds 
per day. A colony at Borodino, N. Y., 
stored 302 pounds in ten days, and an aver- 
age of about 55 pounds per colony has 
been obtained for 30 years. The length of 
the honey flow from basswood may vary 
from five to twenty-five days: while the 
date of blooming is influenced by locality, 
altitude, and temperature. From 10 to 15 
days may intervene between the opening 
of the flowers in a cold season and a hot 
one. In localities where basswood grows 
both in the valleys and on high hills the 
bees will have a much longer time to gather 
the nectar, since the trees in the lowlands 
will bloom earlier than those at a greater 
height. It has been suggested that a bee- 



86 



BA8SW00D 



keeper might with advantage follow the 
blooming of basswood, beginning at some 
southern point, and moving his hives north- 
ward to meet the requirements of the har- 
vest. 

Basswood honey is white and has a 
strong aromatic or mint-like flavor, and it 
is easy to tell when the blossoms are out by 
the odor about the hives. The taste of the 
honey also indicates to the beekeeper the 
very day the bees begin to work on the 
flowers. The honey, if extracted before it 
is sealed over, has so strong and distinctive 
a flavor as to be disagreeable to some per- 
sons. The smell and taste have been likened 
to that of turpentine or camphor — very 
disagreeable when just gathered ; but when 
sealed over and fully ripened in the hive 
almost every one considers it delicious. A 
pure basswood extracted honey, on account 
of its strong flavor, should be blended with 
some honey of milder flavor, as for exam- 
ple, that of mountain sage. 

The illustration shows the appearance of 
basswood flowers and leaves. The clusters 
of from six to fifteen flowers are drooping, 
thus protecting the^ectar from the rain. 
The stem of the cluster is adnate to an ob- 
long membranous bract. The nectar is se- 
creted and held in the fleshy sepals; and it 
is often so abundant that it appears like 
dewdrops in the sunlight. The blossoms 
are small, light ^yellow, and exhale a honey- 
like fragrance. The stamens are numerous, 
and the anthers contain a small amount of 
pollen, but honeybees seldom gather it 
when the nectar is abundant; if, however, 
the nectar supply is scanty, then both 
honeybees and bumblebees may be seen 
with little balls of pollen on their thighs. 
In England basswood seldom sets seed. 
The inner bark is tough and flbrous, and 
is largely used by agriculturists and florists 
for binding purposes. 

CULTIVATION. 

If a beekeeper is content to wait, say 10 
or 15 years for the realization of his 
hopes, or if he has an interest in providing 
for the beekeepers of a future generation, 
it will pay him to plant basswood. A tree 
that was set out about 10 years ago on a 
street in Medina, 0., now furnishes a pro- 
fusion of blossoms almost every year; and, 
judging from the way the bees work on 
them it would seem that they furnish con- 



siderable nectar. A hundred such trees in 
the vicinity of an apiary would be, without 
doubt, of great value. In the spring of 
1872 A. I. Root of Medina set out 4,000 
trees, and in 1877 many of them were bear- 
ing fair loads of blossoms. While seedlings 
may be obtained by planting the seeds, 
by far the better and cheaper way is to get 
small trees from the forest. They can be 
bought for a very low price. These can 
be obtained in almost any quantity in the 
Eastern States from any piece of wood- 
land from which all stock has been ex- 
cluded. Cattle feed upon the young bass- 
woods with great avidity, and pasturing 
the woodlands will eventually cut short the 
growth of basswoods as well as many other 
valuable trees from our forests. Trees all 
the way from one to ten feet tall have been 
planted here at Medina, but the largest 
ones, as a general rule, have done the best. 
The growth of basswood is strongly in- 
fluenced by climatic conditions. Among the 
hills of New York the leaves assume mam- 
moth proportions. The author measured 
one that was 14 inches long from a small 
tree. While this leaf was among the larg- 
est, yet the leaves were, on the average, 
about twice the size of those in the locali- 
ty of Medina. In Illinois the basswoods 
seem to be less thrifty than in Ohio. 

The European basswood, which is fully 
as good a honey-producer as the American 
species, is famous as an avenue tree. The 
famous street in Berlin, Unter-den-Linden, 
is shaded by this species. It is known in 
England as " the lime tree," and is there a 
great favorite for street planting. The 
famous " Lime-tree Walk " of Cambridge 
is well known. It is also an excellent tree 
for street planting in the northern part 
of the United States. It is to be regretted 
that basswood is not more abundant, since 
where it grows it is one of the mainstays of 
the honey-producer, and is also a most 
valuable wood for manufacturing pur- 
poses. It will hardly do for outside ex- 
posure to the weather, but is admirably 
adapted for packing-boxes and for furni- 
ture, forming the bottom and sides of 
drawers, the backs of bureaus and dress- 
ing-cases. It is also employed extensively 
in the manufacture of paper. 

As large quantities of the timber are us- 
ed in making section honey -boxes, the ques- 



BEE BEHAVIOR 



87 




Basswood in full bloom. 



tion has been raised, '' Why do the nianu- 
faetui-ers of supplies use the tree that pro- 
duces so much honey and of such fine qual- 
ity ? " Is it a case of " killing the goose 
that lays the golden egg^ '' The answer is, 
that the amount used by the makers of 
sections is only a drop in the bucket com- 
pared with that used in the other arts. 
Even if aU the bee-supply manufacturers 
should discontinue the use of basswood, the 
difference in the amount of honey produced 
from that valuable tree would never be no- 
ticed. For the making of section honey- 
boxes there is no timble available that has 
the same degTee of toughness to stand the 
fold at the V edge in the ordinary one- 
piece section. The four-piece section has 
now practically dropped out of the market 
on account of the expense and time taken 
in preparing them for the hive. 

After all, there is one redeeming feature ; 
the basswood is a very rapid grower. If 
basswood will replace itself in 10 or even 
20 years, so that it is again large enough 
for lumber, there is yet hope that it will 
contkiue to bless the beekeeper. Over 
against this is the stubborn fact that the 
basswoods are disappearing rapidly over 
the whole country. During late years, 
when there has been such a great advance 
in pine lumber, basswood has been used 
very largely for house-building, with the 
consequence that millions of feet have been 
consumed. 



Basswood, and perhaps most other forest 
trees, require shade, especially when young. 
Much to the author's surprise young trees 
that were set directly under large white- 
oak trees did better than any of the rest. 
The trees should be planted not closer than 
12 feet apart. 

BEE BEHAVIOR.— Behavior is a tenn 
used to describe the activities of animal life 
whether induced by external or internal 
causes. Under this head will be described 
some of the various life activities of the 
bees, particularly those which have more 
or less to do with the practices of bee cul- 
ture. 

THE LARVAL BEE. 

On the hatching of the egg the tiny larva 
wriggles and twitches much as does a cater- 
piller when poked with a straw. Almost 
at once it is supplied with food by a 
•' nurse " bee. This part of the life of a 
larva has not received sufficient study to 
warrant any definite statement as to the 
frequency of the feeding, the amount sup- 
plied, its possible vai-ying quality, etc. It 
must suffice now to say that the periods of 
feeding seem to be irregular and the 
amount of food received by different lar- 
va3 varies largely. 

When the lar\'a has completed its feed- 
ing period and has stretched out to its full 
length in the cell, the bees proceed to seal 



88 



BEE BEHAVIOR 



the cell. There are some exceptions to this 
when the larvae are left unsealed, tho usu- 
ally the cell walls are slightly extended and 
the opening contracted. Beekeepers speak 
of this as " bareheaded brood," and it often 
causes the novice much concern. (See 
Brood and Brood-rearing.) The condi- 
tion has been ascribed to excessive heat; 
but as it occurs at other times than during 
the hot weather, and as some colonies sel- 
dom or never have brood in such condition 
while others almost always do, it is reason- 
able to look upon it as a congenital trait. 
In some cases uncovered brood is due to 
the work of the wax worm ; but such brood 
looks very different and is always in the 
path of the worm's work. 

After a brief rest the bee larva begins 
spinning its cocoon. Slowly the head turns 
from side to side and back and forth, grad- 
ually reaching the middle of the cell; and 
slowly doubling on itself, the larva extends 
its work to the base and lies at full length 
reversed in the cell. Before its labors cease, 
however, it resumes the former position of 
its head toward the outer end. 

In the case of the queen larva, the spin- 
ning begins and proceeds in tlie same way, 
but when she is reversed in the cell she 
reaches as far up as she can, but that is not 
to the base; and, as she cannot climb, there 
is no silken web on that part of the cell. 

When spinning has ceased, the larva 
turns on its back and lies still. The changes 
which follow take place so slowly that only 
after considerable intervals are the results 
noticeable. When the metamorphosis is 
virtually complete (see Development of 
Bees), there is seen in place of the larva a 
bluish-white bee lying motionless on its 
back. 

The only appendages seemingly missing 
are the wings. Careful examination will 
reveal each pair folded up in a little case 
(pellicle), which lies against the side of the 
thorax between the first and the second 
pairs of legs. 

The first sign of coloring is seen on the 
ends of the antennae, then on the eyes and 
feet, and gradually it extends over the 
whole body. As the time approaches for 
the bee to emerge from the cell slight tre- 
mors are to be seen in the feet and legs, or 
an antenna moves. About the beginning of 
the last day the encased wings begin to 



quiver and move. Slowly they turn until 
they lie under the bee and at once they un- 
fold. As soon as this occurs, the bee turns 
over and begins to cut its way out. 

THE YOUNG BEE. 

Almost as soon as out, it begins to move 
over the surface of the combs ; and when it 
comes to a cell of honey it enters and eats. 
Just when it begins to eat pollen is unde- 
termined. After eating, the young bee com- 
mences to comb itself and this procedure 
continues more or less steadily for a day or 
more. At this tender age the insects's vision 
seems to be very imperfect. Also, it is un- 
able to fly; and, if tossed into the air, it 
makes no attempt to use its wings. This 
function appears only at a later age. 
Drones, queens, and workers all spend the 
early hours of their life in much the same 
way, except that queens seem to be able to 
fly sooner than workers. Probably, queens 
most precocious in this way have been held 
in the cells longer than normally and have 
matured in there. 

The color of the young bee deepens with 
age. When they first emerge they are much 
lighter in color than a day or two later. 
This difference is more noticeable with 
queens than with workers or drones. 

HOME LABOR OF BEES. 

The fii'st duty of the worker is the feed- 
ing of the larvae, and then a little at a time 
it extends to pollen-packing, propolizing, 
comb-cleaning and repairing, honey-ripen- 
ing, and comb-building. 

THE FIRST POLLEN OF THE SEASON. 

When a bee comes in from the field with 
a load of pollen, she is often surrounded by 
other bees, all trying to get a bite of the 
coveted food. This is especially noticeable 
in the spring when fresh pollen first ap- 
pears. It is amusing to watch a pollen- 
laden bee sidestep, whirl, shake, and go 
thru all sorts of actions. 

THE UNLOADING OF THE POLLEN. 

On their return to the hive with their 
loads of pollen the bees differ widely in 
their behavior. A part walk slowly over 
the combs, while a part, presumably the 
younger bees, appear greatly excited, shak- 
ing their bodies and moving their wings. 
A cell may be selected with little hesitation 



BEE BEHAVIOR 



89 



or many may be examined before one is 
found satisfactory to the bee. The pollen 
may be stored in an empty cell, or in one 
already partly filled with pollen, either of 
the same kind or of different kinds: but 
drone comb is seldom used, altho this occa- 
sionally happens. 

The way in which the bee unloads the 
masses of pollen has been fully described 
by Casteel. Grasping one edge of the cell 
with its fore legs, it arches its abdomen so 
that its apex rests on the opposite side of 
the cell. The hind legs hang down fieely 
in the cell with the pollen masses about 
level with its edge. The planta (metatar- 
sus) of the middle leg on each side is then 
raised and thrust downward between tl:e 
pollen mass and the tibia so that the mass 
is shoved outward and falls into the cell. 
The middle legs are now rested on the edge 
of the cell. Casteel was unable to deter- 
mine definitely whether the spurs were oi 
any aid in dislodging the pollen, as asserted 
by Cheshire, or not. 

The bee usually departs without any fur- 
ther attention to the pollen masses, and 
another worker shortly aftei^ward attends 
to the packing. Entering the cell headfirst, 
the bee breaks up the pellets of pollen, 
mashes them down on the bottom of the 
cell, and adds sugar and perhaps other se- 
cretions which change the chemical consti- 
tution of the pollen. (See Pollex.) 

PROPOLIS HOW GATHERED AXD USED. 

Propolis is brought in on the pollen-bas- 
kets. VThen it is gathered fresh from the 
buds, it looks like a glistening bead in the 
pollen-baskets; but when it is gathered 
from old frames, hives, etc., the pellets are 
more irregular. Propolis is always packed 
while the bee is standing, while pollen 
which is packed and carried in the same 
baskets is adjusted while the bee is flying. 
This difference in the way of using the 
same limbs for different materials is very 
interesting. 

Propolis is taken from the legs of the 
field bees and stuck into all sorts of 
places and is moved and reworked as suits 
the vagaries of the bees. Much of the 
propolis is spread with the tongue. Wheth- 
er or not the bee varnishes the inside of 
brood-cells with propolis is unknown. Cer- 
tainly they spend much time polishing the 



inside of such cells, going over and over 
the surface wuth their tongues; and when 
they have finished, the cell walls sliine as if 
varnished. This is not done to new combs 
used for honey only; but let such be once 
used for brood, then it gets its polishing 
before being used for anything else. 

Comb-repairing and building seems to be 
a haphazard job, and the work of one bee 
is often at once undone by another. Pro- 
polis is used in the construction of new 
comb, sometimes as much as one-half to 
three-quarters of an ounce being added to 
a pound of wax. It adds to the strength of 
the comb and makes its fastening to the 
wood more secure. 

HOW BEES DEPOSIT THEIR LOADS OF NECTAR. 

The honey-laden bee on return from tl:e 
field is not in a hurry to get rid of her load, 
and it is not at all unusual for her to 
keep it for half an hour or more before 
depositing it. She may walk aimlessly 
about or settle quietly down somewhere 
and seemingly forget the world, or she 
may, after an extended journey over the 
combs, select a cell for her load. She en- 
ters the cell with her back down and feet 
up. If the cell has no honey in it, she goes 
in until her mandibles touch the upper and 
rearmost angle. The mouth and mandibles 
^re opened and a drop of nectar an] ears, 
welling up until it touches the cell wall. 
Slowly the bee turns her head from side to 
side, spreading the nectar against the up- 
per part of the cell. All this time the 
mandibles are kept in motion; and as the 
nectar covers their gland openings, it is 
possible that the secretion of those glands 
is being added to the nectar. 

When the bee is adding her load to honey 
already in a cell, the proceeding is the 
same, except that the mouth parts are sub- 
merged in the honey already there. The 
mandibles are kept in motion as before. 
The tongue in neither case takes any part 
in the proceeding, but is kept folded beliind 
the head. 

THE RESTING PERIODS OF BEES. 

When rid of her load, the worker may at 
once return to the field, but usually she 
loiters about the hive for anywhere from a 
few minutes to half a day. So commonly 
do such bees crawl into a cell and go to 



90 



BEE BEHAVIOR 



sleep for a lialf-hour or so that it is reason- 
able to assume that such is the customary 
proceeding. By sleeping is meant as nearly 
a complete suspension of movement as pos- 
sible. The customary pulsation of the ab- 
domen nearly, if not quite, ceases, or is 
suspended for minutes at a time, and the 
occasional pulsation is very slow. 

When the nap is over, the bee backs out, 
combs off her head just as if " scratching 
for a thought," and starts off in more or 
less of a hurry. 

Presumably, all the bees of a colony do 
some of this sleeping, and drones and 
queen are no exception; but in the case of 
the latter two, the sleeping is not usually 
done in cells. 

When bees are getting stolen sweets, a 
very different condition arises; a feverish 
excitement is noticeable in the returning 
workers, and it is not long before the whole 
colony is in a more or less disturbed state. 
Sleeping then is not in evidence. Why a 
load or several loads of honey should cause 
so marked a difference from several loads 
of nectar is imknown, and until we know 
more about the bee it is idle to speculate. 

HOW BEES RIPEN HONEY. 

The process by which the bees evaporate 
and gradually convert the thin nectar into 
thick honey is called ripening. 

Honey-ripening is a slow but interesting 
process. After the day's work is about 
over, almost the whole colony spreads out 
over all available surface, and nearly every 
bee has her sac full of honey. All the bees 
hang vertically with head up, and all seem 
to prefer not to be crowded too closely by 
the other bees. Then each bee opens her 
mandibles and mouth and forces up a drop 
of nectar. This drop fills the mouth and 
extends up over the upper lip and fills the 
space between the mandibles, covering the 
openings of the glands connected therewith. 
The tongue meantime is kept folded behind 
the head. Next, the bee begins a chewing 
motion with the lower " jaw " and this 
causes the drop to pulsate. The mandibles 
are held still. They are not moved as in de- 
positing nectar. 

For about ten minutes this operation is 
continued; then the drop is swallowed, and 
after a few moments' pause another drop 
appears, and the process is renewed. This 



is continued by the colony until about 11 
p. M., or sometimes later, and then work 
stops and all hands go to sleep. 

While the work is in process, the heavy 
hum so pleasant to the ears of beekeepers 
is continuous; but after the work ceases, 
the hive becomes almost silent. This varies 
with the amount of honey gathered during 
the day. Sometimes the humming lasts 
almost all night, and sometimes it ceases 
early in the evening. 

COMB-BUILDING AND ITS RELATION TO THE 
RIPENING OF HONEY, 

Comb-building is rapid when most of the 
bees are ripening nectar. If the flow is 
good and many bees have to retain their 
loads for awhile, as, with a recently hived 
swarm, wax secretion is rapid. Or if the 
flow is heavy and nearly all have to work 
at the ripening process, wax secretion is 
forced. The bees cannot help producing it 
then. Its production seems to be closely 
connected with the conversion of nectar in- 
to honey. If this view is correct, it affords 
an explanation of the failure to obtain 
satisfactory results in feeding back ripe 
honey to have sections completed. Honey 
extracted "raw" or "green" (that is before 
it is sufficiently ripened) and fed to comb- 
building colonies gives much better results. 

VARIATION IN COMB-BUILDING. 

No satisfactory explanation has been 
found to account for the construction of 
the two sizes of cells. Several theories have 
been advanced, but so far are only inter- 
esting. 

Great variation in comb work is found 
between bees of different strains or of dif- 
ferent colonies closely related. Some colo- 
nies build comb of wonderful smoothness 
and uniformity, and others never produce 
good combs. One will rarely use a brace- 
or a burr-comb, that is combs built irregu- 
larly on sides of hives or combs, while an- 
other sticks them everywhere. By selection 
the beekeeper can weed out the stock with 
undesirable traits and perpetuate the oth- 
ers. 

The difference in capping is well recog- 
nized, and selection is as effective in this 
case as in the former. The difference be- 
tween colonies in building out to frame or 
section sides and down to bottom-bars or of 



BEE BEHAVIOR 



91 



rounding off the edges has often been re- 
marked. It may be stated in a general way 
that the bees which build clear to the wood 
usually leave the outer cells unsealed, while 
those bees which round off the edges of the 
combs seal all cells. (This was first defined 
by Allen Latham.) Of course, there are all 
gradations, but fundamentally the law 
holds good. 

THE ARRANGEMENT OP BROOD^ POLLEN^ AND 
HONEY. 

The arrangement of brood, pollen, and 
boney, tlie first in the center, then the oth- 
ers in order about it, is interesting, and 
with rare exceptions is always the arrange- 
ment. As the brood increases in the spring, 
we may say the pollen is forced outward 
and the honey forced beyond that. In the 
closing of the season the process is revers- 
ed, and under what we may be permitted 
to call natural conditions, as in a tree, box, 
or undisturbed frame hive, the brood is 
slowly worked downward and forward, so 
that at the end of the season the cluster is 
down by the entrance with the stores at 
each side of, above, and behind it. This is 
not always the location of the cluster in our 
frame hives; but if man has not meddled 
after midsummer, it will generally be 
found to be so. 

THE QUEEN. 

This individual is unquestionably the 
most interesting member of the bee com- 
munity, and more talked of and written 
about than any other, and perhaps more 
misunderstood. From earliest infancy she 
is subject to more vagaries than any of the 
other bees. 

The presence or absence of the function- 
al odor may have something to do with the 
introduction of alien queens, or it may be 
wholly their behavior. 

After handling a laying queen, bees from 
any hive will run over one's hand, appar- 
ently eagerly seeking the queen, and the 
behavior of all workers is the same whether 
they are from the queen's hive or from 
another. 

There is much difference in the tempera- 
ment of queens. Some are very timid, and 
will run on the slightest disturbance, and, 
if handled or anointed with any foreign 
^ibstance, seem to become really frantic. 
Such queens are very apt to be balled or 



killed by the bees. Other queens will pas- 
sively submit to all sorts of treatment, and, 
as soon as let alone, will quietly resume 
their duties. 

Virgin queens are almost always nervous 
or timid; and if put into a strange colony, 
large or small, very often, or perhaps it 
would be more accurate to say generally, 
run out and fly away, by no means always 
returning. 

Before mating, a queen hunts up her own 
food from the combs; but after she begins 
to lay she turns to the workers for virtually 
all her food. Once in a great while she will 
dip her tongue into a cell of honey, but not 
often. As she passes about her duties, she 
from time to time crosses antennae with 
workers. Finally one is found with a sup- 
ply of food ; the worker's mouth opens and 
the queen inserts her tongue and begins to 
eat. The worker's tongue is kept folded 
behind the head. It is quite common to see 
several other workers extend their tongues 
and try to get a taste of the food, and 
sometimes one will succeed in putting her 
tongue in with the queen's. It is not at 
all unusual to see two workers getting food 
thus from another worker, and the drones 
obtain their food in the same way. 

Egg production is influenced by several 
factors. Queens differ in fecundity, and 
egg development is dependent on food. The 
food supply comes chiefly from the 
younger bees; and, if they are not numer- 
ous, the queen cannot produce eggs in 
abundance. If honey and pollen are scarce 
or temperature is low, food is not prepar- 
ed freely. 

If the queen is young and vigorous and 
the colony small, she may deposit several 
eggs in each cell. If comb surface is insuf- 
ficient and bees abundant, she will use cells 
of any shape, deep, shallow, or crooked, 
and will put in each one an egg which will 
produce a worker. It has been even claim- 
ed that under some conditions a normal 
queen may at times put into worker cell? 
eggs which will produce drones. 

So many are the vagaries of a queen that 
onlj' by observation and experience car 
most of them be learned, and the seasoned 
veteran not infrequently runs across some 
new peculiarity. 

A normal laying queen proceeds over the 
comb depositing drone eggs in drone cells 



92 



BEE-HUNTING 



and worker eggs in worker cells, apparent- 
ly being able to lay either drone or worker 
eggs at will. After an egg is put in a cell 
a worker is pretty sure to pop in and in- 
spect it, and it has been supposed that pos- 
sibly they did something to it. Inspection 
of thousands of bees occupied in examin- 
ing eggs has failed to find a single one that 
touches an egg in any way. Bees often 
take their nap in cells containing eggs or 
larv^ae. 

During a heavy flow of nectar, the bees 
often deposit it in cells containing eggs, 
sometimes filling the cells half full. Such 
nectar is removed within a few hours, and 
the eggs hatch as usual. 

DRONES. 

Drones have many interesting habits, and 
are well worth closer study than they have 
yet received. They are much slower to ma- 
ture after emergence from cells than the 
workers. They are very fond of warmth, 
and may often in cool weather be found 
massed shoulder to shoulder in outlying 
sealed brood. 

It seems to take a lot of preparation on 
the drone's part before he can take wing. 
Drones pay no attention to a virgin queen 
among them in the hive, no matter what 
her age. 

SWARMING. 

Swarming apparently starts with a bee 
here and there. Such a bee suddenly begins 
to run a few steps one way, then a few 
another, then spins around and finally ap- 
pears to work itself into a veritable frenzy. 
Other bees take it up and soon a rush is 
made, and is quite as apt to be from as 
toward the entrance. As soon, however, as 
part of the flood begins to emerge from 
the entrance the tide turns that way and the 
majority of the bees begin pouring from 
the hive by thousands until the air is filled 
with a great cloud of humming bees. Usu- 
ally they cluster on the branch of a tree 
not far from their hive, waiting to make 
certain that the queen is with them before 
leaving for their new home, which general- 
ly has been chosen by the scouts sent out 
several days before the swarm issues. (See 
Swarming.) 

For the behavior of bees during winter, 
see Temperature^ sub-head "Temperature 
of the Cluster in Winter." 



BEEBREAD. — A term in conuuon use, 
applied to pollen when stored in the combs. 
In olden times, when bees were killed with 
sulphur to get at the honey, more or less 
pollen was usually found mixed with the 
honey ; it has something of a " bready " 
taste, and hence, probably, came its name. 
Since the advent of the extractor and sec- 
tion boxes, it is very rare to find pollen in 
the honey designed for .table use. See 
Pollen. 

BEE-DRESS.— See Veils. 

BEE-ESCAPES.— See Comb Honey, al- 
so Extracting. 



BEE-HUNTING.— The reader is given 
tlie warning so often, against leaving 
sweets of anj^ kind about the apiary, and 
about being careful not to let the bees get 
to robbing each other, that it may seem 
strange for us to tell how best to encour- 
age and develop this very robbing propen- 
sity. 

The only season in which one can trap 
bees is when they will rob briskly at home ; 
for while honey is to be found in the flow- 
ers in plenty, they will hardly deign to no- 
tice bait of even honey in the comb. Be- 
fore starting out, if will be policy to learn 
if there are any bees kept in the vicinity, 
for one might otherwise waste much time 
in following lines that lead into the hives 
of his neighbors. The beekeeper should 
be at least a mile from any one who has 
a hive of bees when he commences opera- 
tions, and it is safer to be two miles. This 
does not mean that there are no bee-trees 
near large apiaries, for a number will often 
be found within half a mile of one's own; 
but those who are just learning would, very 
likely, be much perplexed and bothered by 
lining bees that proved to be his neighbor's. 

LINING THE BEES. 

Perhaps the readiest means of getting a 
line started is to catch bees that will be 
found on the flowers, especially in the early 
part of the day. They should be induced 
to take a sip of the honey brought for that 
purpose, and they will, true to their in- 
stinctive love of gain, speed homeward with 
their load, soon to return for another. To 
find the tree, it is necessary to watch and 
see where they go. 



BEE-HUNTING 



93 



The bee-hunter can get along with very 
simple implements; but, if time is valua- 
ble, it may pay to go out fully equipped. 
For instance, a small glass tumbler will an- 
swer to catch bees; and after one has been 
caught, the glass can be set over a piece 
of honeycomb. It should now be covered 
with a handkerchief to stop the bee's buz- 
zing against the glass, and it -will soon dis- 
cover the honey and load up. As soon as 
it is really at work on the honey, the glass 
should be raised and the bee-hunter should 
creep away where he may get a good view 
of the proceedings. As soon as it takes 
wing it will circle about the honey, as a 
young bee does in front of the hive, that 
it may know where to return; for a whole 
" chunk " of honey, during the dry autumn 
days, is apparently quite a little gold mine 
in its estimation. There may, perhaps, be 
a thousand or more hungry mouths to feed, 
away in the forest at its leafy home. 

If one is quick enough to keep track of 
the bee's eccentric circles and oscillations, 
he will see that these circles become larger 
and larger, and that each time the bee 
comes around it sways to one side; that is, 
instead of making the honey the center of 
its circles, it makes it almost on one edge, 
so that the last few times the bee comes 
around it simply comes back after it has 
started home, and throws a loop, as it were, 
about the honey to make sure of it for the 
last time. Now one can be pretty sure 
which way its home lies almost the very 
first circuit it makes, for it has its home in 
mind all the time, and bears more and more 
toward it. 

If the bee-hunter can keep his eye on it 
until it finally takes the " bee line " 
for home, he does pretty well, for a new 
hand can seldom do this. After the bee is 
out of sight, he has only to wait until it 
comes back, which it will surely do, if hon- 
ey is scarce. Of course, if its home is near 
by it will get back soon; and to determine 
how far it is by the length of time the bee 
is gone, brings in another very important 
point. The honey that bees get from flow- 
ers is very thin ; in fact, it is nearer sweet- 
ened water than honey, and if one wishes 
a bee to load up and fly at about a natural 
" gait," he should give it honey diluted 
with water to about this consistency. Un- 
less he does, it will not only take a great 



deal more time in loading up, but the thick 
honey is so much heavier the bees will very 
likely stagger under the load, and make a 
very crooked bee line of its homeward path. 
Besides it will take much more time to un- 
load. Sometimes, after circling about quite 
a time, the bee will stop to take breath be- 
fore going home, which is apt to mislead 
the hunter unless he is experienced; all 
this is avoided by filling the honeycomb 
with honey and water, instead of with hon- 
ey alone. 

It takes quite a little time to get a bee 
caught and started at work, and it is best 
to have several bees started at the same 
time. To do this expeditiously, a bee- 
hunting box made as in the following cut 
should be used. 

BOX FOR BEE-HUNTING. 

A suitable box for bee-hunting may easi- 
ly be made from an ordinary cigar box. 
But it should be well aired as bees do not 
like the odor of tobacco. In the lid should 
be cut a small hole, perhaps an inch square. 
Over this cover a tin slide should be ar- 
ranged so that the hole may be opened and 
closed as desired. On the cover of the cigar 
box, and covering this hole, should be at- 
tached a small box with a sliding glass top 
and no bottom. In the bottom of the 
cigar box a small feeder should be placed. 
One similar to the Simplicity feeder would 
do nicely. 

HOW TO USE THE HUNTING-BOX. 

The hunter should take with the box 
about a pint of diluted honey in a bottle. 
If he fills the bottle half full of thick hon- 
ey, and then fills it up with warm water, it 
will be about right. In the fall of the year 
one will be more likely to find bees on the 
flowers in the early part of the day. When 
he gets on the ground, near some forest, 
where he suspects the presence of wild bees, 
he should pour a little honey into the feed- 
er, and, with open box, cautiously approacli 
a bee feeding upon some flower. 

As soon as the box is near enough, the 
bee should be caught in the box and the 
lid quickly closed. In a short time, the bee 
will have sipped a load of honey and, see- 
ing the light thru the small hole above, will 
soon emerge into the upper box and buzz 
against the glass. The lower tin slide may 



94 



BEE-HUNTING 



then be closed and the box placed on some 
elevated point, such as the top of a stump 
in an open space in the field and the glass 
slide withdrawn. The hunter should stoop 
down now, and be ready to keep his eye 
on one bee whichever way it may turn. If 
he keeps his head low, he will be more like- 
ly to have the sky as a background. If 
he fails in following one, he must try an- 
other; and as soon as he gets a sure line 
on a bee as it bears finally for home, he 
should be sure to mark it by some object 
that he can remember. If he is curious to 




Improved liunting-box used by Mell Pritcliard, Medi- 
na, 0. The construction of the box is plainly shown in 
this illustration. 



know how long they are gone, he can, with 
some white paint and a pencil-brush, mark 
one of them on the back* or he may dust 
the entire bee with flour. This is quite a 
help where one has two or more lines work- 
ing from the same bait. When a bee comes 
back, it can be recognized by the peculiar 
inquiring hum, like robbers in front of a 
hive where they have once had a taste of 
spoils. If the tree is near by, each one will 
bring others along in its wake, and soon 
the box will be humming with a throng so 
eager that a further filling of the feeder 
from the bottle will be needed. As soon as 
the hunter is pretty well satisfied in which 
direction they are located, he can close the 
box and move along on the line, nearer the 
woods. After the box is again opened, 
the bees will soon be as busy as ever. To 

* Since this was written, an A B C scholar says : 
" Bees vary in their flight. But we have found that 
on an average they will fly a mile in five minutes, 
and spend about two minutes in the hive or tree. 
Of course, they will spend more time in a tree when 
they have to crawl a long distance to get to the 
brood-nest, hence we may deduce the rule : Subtract 
two from the number of minutes absent, and divide 
by ten. The quotiejit is the number of miles from 
the stand to the tree. This applies to partially 
wooded country. Perhaps in a clearing they could 
make better time. On a very windy day it takes 
them longer to make trips." 



aid in deciding just where they are, he 
can move off to one side and start a cross- 
line.* Of course the tree will be found 
just where these lines meet; when he gets 
where he thinks they should be, he should 
examine the trees carefully, especially all 
the knot-holes, or any place that might al- 
low bees to enter and find a cavity. If he 
places himself so that the bees will be be- 
tween him and the sun, he can see them 
plainly, even if they are among the highest 
branches. He should make a careful and 
minute examination of every tree, little and 
big, body and limbs, even if it does make 
his neck ache. If he does not find them 
by carefully looking the trees over, he 
should go back and get his hunting-box, 
bring it up to the spot, and give them feed 
until he gets a quart or more at work. He 
can then see pretty clearly where they en- 
ter. If he does not find them the first day, 
he can readily start them again almost any 
time, for they are very quick to start, when 
they have once been at work, even tho it is 
several days afterward. Bees are some- 
times started by burning what is called a 
" smudge." Some old bits of comb con- 
taining beebread as well as honey may be 
burned on a small tin plate sitting over a 
little fire. The bees will be attracted by the 
odor of the burning honey and comb, and, 
if near, will sometimes come in great num- 
bers. 

A telescope is very convenient in finding 
where the bees go in, especially if the tree 
is very tall; even the toy telescopes sold 
for 50 cents or a dollar are sometimes quite 
a help. The most serviceable, however, are 
the achromatic opera glasses that cost five 
or ten times this amount. With these, one 
can use both eyes, and the field is so broad 
that no time is lost in getting the glass in- 
stantly on the spot. He can, in fact, see 
bees with them in the tops of the tallest 
trees almost as clearly as he can see them 
going into hives placed on the ground. 

After one has found the tree, probably 
he will be in a hurry to get the bees that 

* The same writer says further : " It is a waste ot 
time to look for the bee-tree, or to make cross-lines, 
until you get beyond the tree. When the bees fly 
back on the line you may be rest assured that you are 
beyond the tree. Move your last two stands closer 
together (lining the bees carefully), so that they are 
only 10 or 15 rods apart. Now, as you have bees 
flying from two directions into the tree you will 
probably discover where they are immediately. But 
if you fail to find them easily, take a stand at one 
side, eight or ten rods, and cross-line. This is the 
only place that I find a cross-line of any advantage." 



BEE-HUNTING 



95 



he knows are there, and the honey that 
may be there. One should not put his ex- 
pectations too high, for he may not get a 
single pound of honey. Of two trees that 
the writer took a few years ago, one con- 
tained just about as much honey as he had 
fed the bees, and the other contained not 
one visible cell full. The former were fair 
hybrids, and the latter well-marked Ital- 
ians. If the tree is not a valuable one, and 
stands where timber is cheap and plentiful, 
perhaps the easiest way is to cut it down. 
This may result in a smashed heap of ruins, 
with combs, honey, and bees all mixed up 
with dirt and rubbish, or it may fall so as 
to strike on the limbs or small trees, and 
thus ease its fall in such a way as to do 
little injury to the tree or contents. The 
chances are rather in favor of the former, 
and on many accoimts it is safer to climb 
the tree and let the bees down with a rope. 
If the hollow is in the body of the tree, or 
so situated that it cannot be cut off above 
and below the bees, the combs may be tak- 
en out and let down in a pail or basket; 
for the brood-combs, and such as contain 
but little honey, the basket will be rather 
preferable. The first thing, however, will 
be to climb the tree; and as the writer 
would be very sorry to give any advice in 
this book that might in any way lead to 
loss of life, we shall, at the outset, ask you 
not to attempt climbing unless you are, or 
can be, a very careful person. An old gen- 
tleman who has been out with us remarked 
that he once knew a very expert climber 
who took all the bees out of the trees for 
miles around, but was finally killed instant- 
ly by letting his hands slip as he was get- 
ting above a large knot in the tree. We 
do not wish to rim any risks where human 
life is at stake. 

CLIMBERS FOR BEE-HUNTERS. 

For climbing trees 12 to 18 inches in 
diameter, a pair of climbers should be used, 
such as can be obtained at any telephone 
office. 

If the tree is large, the climber provides 
himself with a withe or whip of some tough 
gTeen bough, and bends this so it will go 
aroimd the trunk, while an end is held in 
each hand. As he climbs upward, this is 
hitched up the tree. If he keeps a siu^e and 
firm hold on this whip, and strikes his 




A bee-tree 11 feet in diameter climbed by Green 
Derrington. 

climbers into the trunk firmly, he can go 
up the most forbidding trees rapidly and 
safely. Some light cord, a clothesline, for 
instance, should be tied around his waist, 
so he can draw up such tools as he may 
need. Those needed are a sharp ax, a 



96 



BEE-HUNTING 



hatchet, saw, and an auger to bore in to see 
just Low far the hollow extends. If 
the bees are to be saved, the limb or tree 
should be cut off above the hollow, and al- 
lowed to fall. A stout rope can then be 
tied about the log hive, passed over some 
limb above, the end brought down and 
wrapped about a tree until the hive is cut 
off ready to lower. After it is down, it 
should stand an hour or two, or until sun- 
down, wlien all the bees will have found 
and entered the hive; then, the entrance 
having been covered with wire cloth, the 
hive may be taken home. 

There are some trees, indeed, so large 
that it would be impossible to climb them 
with the imj^lements already given. A very 
ingenious plan, however, has been put into 
execution by Green Derrington of Poplar 
Bluff, Mo. Here is given his description, 
together with an engraving made from a 
photograph which he sent. 

I send vou a photograph of a vei-}' large 
tree, which I climbed by means of spikes 
and staples. To prevent the possibility of 
falling I put a belt under my arms. To this 
I attached two chains. At the end of each 
chain is a snap. My m.ethod of climbing is 
as follows: After ascending the ladder as 
far as I can go, I drive into the side of the 
tree a large bridge spike, far enough into 
the wood to hold my weight. A little fur- 
ther up I drive another spike. In between 
the spikes I drive the first staple, and to 
this I attach the first chain by means of the 
snap, and ascend by the nails as far as the 
chain will allow me; I then drive another 
staple, and attach the other chain, and next 
loot;en tlie lower snap. After driving in 
n.ore spikes, I again ascend as high as the 
chain will allow me, and attach the other 
chain to another staple. In this manner I 
can make my ascent with perfect security. 

The tree stands close to the Black Eiver, 
in a graveyard, and from it I obtained 50 
lbs. of honey. Regular climbers are excel- 
lent for small trees, say from two to throe 
feet in diameter; but the tree illustrated has 
such a rough and uneven bark, and is so 
large that it would be diflScult to climb it 
without the aid of spikes and the staples I 
have mentioned. On account of the large 
knots it would be impossible to use a rope, 
or something similar, to hitch up by climb- 
ers. Knots are not in the way when I use 
spikes and staples. Green Derrington. 

now TO GET BEES OUT OF BEE-TREES OR FROM 
BETWEEN THE SIDINGS OF A HOUSE WITH- 
OUT MUTILATING EITHER THE TREE OR THE 
HOUSE. 

It sometimes happens that a colony of 



bees will take their abode in some fine shade 
tree in a park, which the authorities will 
not allow to be cut; or they will domicile 
in the woods o£ some farmer, who, while 
he will allow the bee-hunter to get the bees, 
will not let him cut the tree ; or, as it often 
happens, a colony will make its home be- 
tween the plaster and the clapboarding of 
a house. How, then, can such bees and their 




Two-foot los 



split 



open, exposini 
bees. 



lavsfe colony of 



honey be secured without doing any dam- 
age to the tree or the building that gives 
them a home and protection? The matter 
is made very easy by the use of the modern 
bee-escape. For particulars regarding this 
device, see Comb Honey and Extracted 
Honey. 

Having the bees located in the bee-tree, 
the hunter prepares a small colony of bees 
or a nucleus with a queen, putting it into 
a light hive or box, which can be carried to 
the scene of operations. He takes along 
with him a hammer, a saw, some nails, and 
lumber, with which he can make a tempo- 
rary platform. On arriving on the spot he 
lights his smoker and then prepares to set 




A dissected bee-tree. This shows ihe general arrangement of combs in the cavity. Fortunately in this 
case the swarm was accommodating enough to make the nest close to the ground where* it was easily captured. 



98 



BEE-HUNTING 



up his platform directly opposite to or in 
front of the flight-hole of the bee-tree, or 
the knot-hole of the dwelling. The platform 
he constructs out of the lumber he has 
brought. Before doing so it will be neces- 
sary for him to blow smoke into the flight- 
hole, in order to prevent bees from inter- 
fering with the building of the temporary 
hive-stand. He next puts a Porter bee-es- 
cape over the flight-hole of the tree or 
building, in such a way that the bees can 
come out but not go back in. Last of 
all he places his hive with the bees which 
he has brought, with its entrance as near 



brimstones the old colony, or what is left, 
which by this time is probably not more 
than a handful of bees with the queen. 

Again he leaves the scene of operation; 
but the bee-escape is not replaced. What 
happens now ? The bees in the hive, includ- 
ing those that were captured, rob all the 
honey out of the old nest in the tree or 
house in the course of three or four days, 
carrying it into the hive on the extempo- 
rized platform. 

The bee-himter now takes away the hive, 
removes the temporary hive-stand and car- 
ries the bees home. If they be taken a mile 




The largest bee-tree in the world 



as possible to the bee-escape (now placed 
over the old entrance). 

His work is now complete, and he leaves 
the bees to work out their own salvation. 

The bees from the tree, as fast as they 
come out, are, of course, unable to return. 
These, one by one, find their way into the 
hive on the temporary platform. At the 
end of four or five weeks the queen in the 
tree or dwelling will have very few bees 
left, and there will also be but little brood 
tor that matter, thru lack of bees to take 
care of it, for her subjects are nearly all 
in the hive on the outside. 

At this time. Mr. Bee-hunter appears on 
the scene. He loads his smoker with fuel 
(brimstone), removes the be€-escape and 



or a mile and a half, they will stay where 
placed. 

In the meantime, no damage has been 
done either to tree or building, as the case 
may be. All that will be left in the tree 
will be some old dry combs which, in the 
form of wax, probably would not amount 
to fifty cents, if the time of rendering be 
taken into account. 

This method of taking bees could not 
very well be practiced where the bees are 
located in inaccessible positions, as in high 
trees; but it will be found very useful 
where a colony is located in some building 
or shade tree in a park. 

We are indebted for the general princi- 
ples here set forth to Ralph Fisher of 



BEE-HUNTING 



99 




Closei' view of largest bee-tree in the world. Native children in foreground give an idea of its size. 



Great Meadows, N. J., who has practiced 
this plan with great success. 

DOES BEE-HUNTING PAYf 

If one can earn a dollar per day at some 
steady employment, bee-hunting, as a rule, 
would not pay ; yet, doubtless, there are lo- 
calities where an expert would make it pay 
well in the fall of the year. With present fa- 
cilities for rearing bees, a beekeeper could 
stock an apiary much quicker by rearing 
bees than he would by bringing them home 
from the woods, and transferring. In the 
former case he would have nice straight 
combs, especially if he used foundation; 
but the combs from the woods would re- 
quire a great deal of fussing, and even 
then would never be nearly as nice as those 
built on foundation. So much by way of 
discouragement. On the other hand, a 
ramble in the woods, such as bee-hunting 
furnishes, is one of the most healthful 
forms of recreation one can find, because 
it gives him a chance to study not only the 
habits of the bees but the flowers as well ; 



for in hunting for a bee to start with he 
finds many plants that are curious and 
many that he would not otherwise know 
to be frequented by bees. 



BEE-TREES MENACE TO QUEEN-BREEDERS. 

It may also be mentioned that if one is 
trying to Italianize his apiary the presence 
of black bees in the woods will seriously 
interfere with pure mating. When bees 
build tlieir combs naturally in trees they 
build an excessive amount of drone comb. 
The blacks will, therefore, raise drones out 
of all proportion to the number raised in 
hives of Italians where only combs from 
foundation are used. Indeed, it is not any 
exaggeration to say that one colony of 
blacks on natural combs will raise as many 
drones as 40 or 50 colonies of Italians 
whose combs are built from all-worker 
foundation. It would, therefore, pay and 
pay well to get all the bee-trees of blacks 
or hybrids, even if there were no financial 
gain In the honey or bees so secured. 



100 



BEEKEEPING FOR WOMEN 



BEEKEEPING AS A SPECIALTY.— 

See Beginning with Bees and Profits in 
Bees; also Specialty in Bees. 

BEEKEEPING FOR WOMEN. 



[It is presumed, of course, that no ordinary man 
would he entirrlij competent to write on a subject 
of this kind. In U)oking about for some woman to 
do this, the author could think of no one more able 
than Mrs. Anna B. Comstock, author of a charming 
work for beginners on " How to Keep Bees." Mrs. 
Comstock is the wife of Prof. J. Henry Comstock, 
of Cornell University, and both of them are ento- 
mologists. We engaged her to write the following 
article.] 



Two questions invariably pop up at us 
when this matter of feminine beekeeping 
is discussed : One is, "Why shouldn't a wo- 
man keep beesf and the other is, "Why 
should a woman keep bees?" Like most 
other questions these may be answered 
more or less rationally with proper consid- 
eration. 

Taking the " why shouldn't " question 
first, we are bound to confess that nowa- 
days there is no effective reason why a wo- 
man should not do almost any thing that 
she takes into her enterprising little head 
to do. But quite aside from the considera- 
tion of woman's prowess, there are one oi' 
two reasons that might deter some of the 
faint-hearted fair from undertaking bee- 
keeping. There is no use trying to gloss 
over the fact that there is a great deal of 
hard work and heavy lifting in the care of 
a profitable apiary. The hard work is real- 
ly no objection, as most women of whatever 
class are at it any way. But lifting heavy 
hives is certainly not particularly good ex- 
ercise for any woman, altho I must con- 
fess that I have never lifted half so strenu- 
ously when earing for the bees as I used to 
on the farm when we moved the cook-stove 
into the summer kitchen, accomplishing 
this feat by our feminine selves, rather 
than to bring to the surface any of the 
latent profanity which seems to be engen- 
dered in the masculine bosom when taking 
part in this seasonal pastime. 

There are at least two ways of obviating 
this feminine disability in beekeeping. 
One, practiced successfully by several wo- 
men, is thru the use of a light wheelbar- 
row, which almost solves the problem if 
the bees are wintered out of doors and do 
not have to be carried up and down cellar 
stairs; the other method is to get some nian 



to do the lifting and carrying.* It may be 
the husband, the father, the brother, the 
son, or the hired man; but as this work 
can be done at a time which can be planned 
for, it is not so difficult for the men of the 
establishment to give the help needed. I 
am sure my husband would say that I am 
quite enthusiastically in favor of the man 
solution of this problem; but his opinion 
does not count for much, because he loves 
the bees so enthusiastically I have to beg 
for a chance to work with them at all, al- 
tho he virtuously points out the hives to 
people as " Mrs. Comstock's bees." 

Another " shouldn't " reason might be 
that women are afraid of bee-stings. This 
falls flat, from the fact that women are not 
a bit more nervous than men in this respect. 
This year when I was struggling to hive a 
swarm from a most difficult position, an 
interested man stood off at a safe distance 
in a most pained state of mind. He was a 
courteous gentleman, and he felt that it was 
outrageous for me to have to do the work 
alone, but he did not dare to come to my 
aid, and L think he considered my temerity 
in dealing with the swarm as almost scan- 
dalous. 

Thus having disposed of all the reasons I 
can think of why women shouldn't keep 
bees, I turn gladly to the more interesting 
reasons why she should look upon the api- 
ary as one of her legitimate fields of labor. 
There are so many reasons for this that I 
could not enumerate them even if a com- 
plete number of a bee journal were given 
me for the purpose. So I shall speak of 
just a few of the most important reasons. 
I should put first of all, and as embracing 
all other reasons, that beekeeping may be 
made an interesting avocation which can 
be carried on coincidentally with other em- 
ployments; it is an interesting study in 
natural history; it cultivates calmness of 
spirit, self-control, and patience; it is a 
" heap " of fun ; incidentally it may sup- 
ply the home table with a real luxury ; and 
it may add a very considerable amount to 
any woman's spending-money. It can also 
be carried on as a regular business, to sup- 
port a family. 

But it is as an avocation that I am espe- 
cially interested in the apiary. Any woman 
who keeps house needs an avocation to take 

* Some frail women remove all honey, one comb 
at a time. 



BEEKEEPING FOR WOMEN 



101 



the mind and attention completely off her 
household cares at times. There is some- 
thing about the daily routine of housekeep- 
ing that wears mind and body full of ruts, 
even in the case of those who love to do 
housework better than anything else. Talk 
about the servant question! It is not the 
servant question, but the housework ques- 
tion. If some means could be devised by 
which housework could be performed with 
inspiration, zeal, and enthusiasm, the ser- 
vant problem would solve itself; but this 
ideal way of doing housework can be car- 
ried on only when th.e spirit is freed from 
the sense of eternal drudgery. I am not a 
wizard to bring about this change; but I 
know one^step toward it, and that is the 
establishment of some permanent interest 
for woman that will pull her out of the ruts 
and give her body and mind a complete 
change and rest. Embroidery, lace-making, 
weaving, painting, and several other like 
occupations, may serve this purpose in a 
measure; and, perhaps, if carried on in the 
right way, may achieve more in this line 
than they do at present. But these are all 
indoor occupations; and what a woman 
needs is something to take her out of doors 
where she can have fresh air. Excess of 
pei'spiration induced by the cook-stove is 
weakening ; but honest sweat chilled forth in 
the open air by the application of generous 
sunshine is a source of health and strength. 
Beekeeping is one of the best of these 
life-saving, nerve-healing avocations; it 
takes the mind from household cares as 
completely as would a trip to Europe, for 
one cannot work with bees and think of 
anything else. Some of the attributes which 
make beekeeping an interesting avocation I 
will mention: First of all, bees are such 
wonderful creatures, and so far beyond our 
comprehension, that they have for us al- 
ways the fascination of an unsolved prob- 
lem. I never pass our hive without mental- 
ly asking, " Well, you dear little rascals, 
what will you do next? " Bees are of par- 
ticular interest to every woman for several 
reasons: if she likes good housekeeping, 
then the bee is a model; if she likes a 
woman of business, again is the bee a shin- 
ing light ; if she is interested in the care of 
the young, then is the bee-nurse an example 
of perfection ; if she believes in the political 
rights of women, she will find the highest 
feminine political wisdom in the constitu- 



tion of the bee commune. In fact, it is only 
as a wife that the bee is a little too casual 
to pose as ideal, altho as a widow she is 
certainly remarkable and perhaps even no- 
torious. 

Another phase which makes beekeeping a 
pleasing avocation for women is that much 
of the work is interesting and attractive. I 
never sit down to the " job " of folding 
sections and putting in starters without ex- 
periencing joy at the prettiness of the 
work. And if there is any higher artistic 
happiness than comes from cleaning up a 
section holding a pound of well-capped 
amber honey and putting the same in a 
dainty carton for market, then I have never 
experienced it; and the making of pictures 
has been one of my regular avocations. By 
the way, woman has never used her artistic 
talent rightly in this matter of cartons. 
Each woman beekeeper ought to make her 
own colored design for the carton, thus 
securing something so individual and at- 
tractive as to catch at once the eye of the 
customer. 

As a means of cultivating calmness, pa- 
tience, and self-control the bee is a well- 
recognized factor. Bees can be, and often 
are, profoundly exasperating; and yet how 
worse than futile it is to evince that exas- 
peration by word or movement ! No crea- 
ture reacts more quickly against irritation 
than the bee. She cannot be kicked nor 
spanked ; and if we smoke her too much, we 
ourselves are the losers. There is only one 
way to manage exasperation with bees — 
that is, to control it; and this makes the 
apiary a means of grace. 

The money-making side of beekeeping is 
a very important phase in arousing and 
continuing the woman's interest in her 
work. I think woman is by birth and train- 
ing a natural gambler, and the uncertainty 
of the nectar supply and of the honey mar- 
ket adds to rather than detracts from her 
interest in her apiary. I know of several 
women who have made comfortable incomes 
and supported their families by beekeep- 
ing; but, as yet, I think such instances are 
few. However, I believe there are a large 
number of women who have added a good- 
ly sum yearly to their amount of spending 
money, and have found the work a joy 
instead of drudgery. Personally, I have 
had very little experience with the commer- 
cial side of beekeeping. Once when our 



102 



BEES AND FRUIT-GROWING 



maddeningly successful apiary grew to 40 
hives when we did not want more than a 
dozen at most, and the neighborhood was 
surfeited with our bounty, we were "just 
naturally " obliged to sell honey. We en- 
joyed greatly getting the product ready for 
market, and were somehow surprised that 
so much fun could be turned into ready 
cash. As a matter of fact, both my husband 
and myself have absorbing vocations and 
avocations in plenty, so that our sole reason 
for keeping bees is because we love the lit- 
tle creatures, and find them so interesting 
that we would not feel that home was 
really home without them ; the sight of our 
busy little co-workers adds daily to our 
psychic income. We are so very busy that 
we have but very little time to spend with 
them, and have finally formulated our ideal 
for oirr own beekeeping, and that is to 
keep bees for honey and for "fun." We 
shall have plenty of honey for our own 
table, and just enough to bestow on neigh- 
bors so they will not get tired of it; and 
fun enough to season life with an out-of- 
door interest and the feeling that no sum- 
mer day is likely to pass without a surprise. 
(See Veils.) 

BEE LEGISLATION.— See Laws Re- 
lating TO Bees. 

BEE MOTH.— See Moth Miller. 

BEE PARALYSIS.— See Diseases of 
Bees. 

BEE-SPACE.— This term is applied to 
spaces left by the bees both between combs 
they build and between the parts of the 
hive and the combs. It varies all the way 
from 3-16 to 3-8 ; but 5-16 is considered the 
correct average. But in hive-construction 
it has been found that a space of % inch 
will be more free from the building of bits 
of comb and the depositing of propolis 
than a little wider spacing. Any less space 
than 3-16 will be plugged up with propolis 
and wax. See FRAiiES. 

Father Langstroth, in the great inven- 
tion which he gave to the world — the first 
practical movable frame — made the dis- 
covery that bees recognize and protect pas- 
sageways which are now called bee-spaces. 
Taking advantage of this fact he made a 
frame (for holding comb) so that there 



would be a bee-space all around between it 
and the hive, and a bee-space between it 
and any other frame. All who preceded 
him had failed to grasp the fact that bees 
would leave such spaces unfilled with wax 
or propolis. Before Langstroth's time it 
w.as necessary to pull out frames stuck 
fast to the hives with propolis, or tear or 
cut loose the combs with a thin-bladed 
knife, before they could be removed for 
the purpose of inspection. 

By bringing out his bee-spaced frame the 
" father of modern apiculture " solved, 
with one great master stroke, a problem 
that had been puzzling the minds of bee- 
keepers for centuries. 

In later years, manufacturers of hives 
have been compelled to recognize this great 
principle, that there are certain parts in- 
side of the hive that must be bee-spaced 
from every' other part or else they will be 
stuck or glued together in a way that will 
make them practically inseparable. For 
example, the bottoms of supers containing 
the sections must be 5/16 inch above the 
tops of the brood-frames in the lower part 
of the hive. The sections themselves must 
be held a bee-space away from the sepa- 
rators or fences. It has come to be a gen- 
eral practice to put the bee-space in the 
bottom-board, leaving the bottoms of the 
frames in the brood-nest nearly flush wdth 
the bottom of the hive. This makes it 
necessary to have the sides and ends of the 
hive project above the general level of the 
frames about 5/16 inch. In the same way 
the supers have a bee-space on top but not 
on the bottom. If a super be removed, and 
a hive-cover be put in its place, there will 
still be a space between the cover and the 
brood-frames. 

BEES. — See Races of Bees; also Ital- 
ian Bees. 

BEES AND FRUIT-GROWING.— Un- 
der Fruit Blossoms and also under Pol- 
len it has been shown that beekeeping is 
very intimately related to fruit-gTOwing. 
The production of fruit by many trees and 
shrubs is dependent on the pollen being 
carried by bees to the bloom from different 
individuals or varieties of the same spe- 
cies, and almost invariably the quality of 
the fruit is improved by such cross-pol- 
lination. The two industries can, there- 



BEES AND POULTRY 



103 




Bees and chickens in the same back lot, Detroit, Mich. 



fore, be united with gTeat advantage. 
Fruit-growers have learned to appreciate 
the vahiable work performed by bees. As 
they became convinced that the services 
of these little friends were indispensable, 
from California and Wisconsin to New 
York and Florida, they not only began 
buying colonies of bees, but gradually in- 
creased their number until now it is not 
uncommon for a fruit-grower to own a 
large apiary. So far from adding to the 
expenses of fruit culture, the surplus of 
honey obtained has proved that beekeeping, 
in this connection, may prove to be a very 
profitable side line. One man, or force of 
men, can care for the bees a part of the 
time, and for the fruit trees the other part, 
and thus be able to furnish two of the 
finest sweets in the world — the sugar in 
fruit and the sugar in the nectar of the 
flowers. 

Within the last few years the citrus- 
growers of California and the Southern 
States, particularly Florida and the Isle 
of Pines, have in many instances increased 
the quantity of fruit produced by their 
groves by the introduction of the domestic 
bee. While the number of colonies re- 



quired has been estimated as low as one per 
acre, to pollinate the bloom thoroly four or 
five are desirable. A larger number of bees 
are necessary to cover a given acreage in 
the Northern States than in the South, 
since in the former section climatic con- 
ditions are far more unfavorable, and bees 
may be able to work on the flowers for 
only a short time. 

BEES AND POULTRY. — Under the 
head of Bees and Fruit-growing it is 
shown how beekeeping and fruit-growing 
go well together. If there is any industry, 
aside from that of growing fruit, that com- 
bines nicely with the keeping of bees, it is 
poultry. When the bees require the most 
attention, the poultry needs the least. 
When chickens demand the most time, the 
bees are taking their long winter sleep, and, 
of course, require no attention, or very lit- 
tle. In the more northern States, at least, 
the bees are put into winter quarters along 
in the fall, and require almost no attention 
until the following spring, along in April 
or May. During this time the chickens 
require considerable care. If one would 
have early broilers in the spring, he must 
start his incubator going early. He must 



104 



BEES AS A NUISANCE 



feed Lis chickens so that they will lay dui-- 
ing- the winter, and not only that, but give 
him fertile eggs so that he can start his 
incubator. Incubator work and the brood- 
ing of chickens take place in the spring. 
The bees at that time require a little atten- 
tion in the way of feeding and going over 
to see whether any of them need uniting; 
but, beyond that, they will not require very 
much care until about the middle of May 
or the first of June. In the mean time, 
the cleaning-out of the poultry-houses, 
gathering of eggs, marketing, all require 
considerable time on the part of the ownei' 
of the chickens. Just about the time the 
bees begin to require considerable atten- 
tion, the hens will begin to lessen their lay- 
ing, and the weather will be such that they 
will not require such careful feeding; for 
usually they can get a good deal of their 
green food directly from the ground. At 
that time the beekeeper will be either giv- 
ing his colonies more room or extracting. 
If the chickens require a good deal of his 
time then, he can simply put on extra su- 
pers, piling them one on top of the other, 
until he has the hives stacked up three or 
four stories high. If he practices swarm 
prevention by the methods given under the 
head of Swarming and Artificial Swarm- 
ing he will not have much trouble with 
swarms. Taking it all in all, he can post- 
pone the greater part of his bee work until 
his chickens do not require very much at- 
tention, and then he can take off his honey, 
scrape his sections, or extract if necessary 
The great majority of those who keep 
bees in the United States work them in 
connection with some profession or some 
other industry, like fruit-growing or poul- 
try-keeping, etc. Some localities do not 
make it feasible to make beekeeping tlie 
sole means of livelihood. While it is true 
there are a great many specialists, espe- 
cially in the West, they are in localities that 
are particularly favorable for the keeping 
of bees in a large way. One can scarcely 
make a living from one or two hundred 
colonies; but that number in connection 
with poultry-keeping or the growing of 
fruit helps to make up the general income 
of the family. For a further consideration 
of the question of whether bees can be 
made the sole means of livelihood, see 
Profits in Bees, Backlot Beekeeping, 
Specialty in Bees, and the Foreword. 



BEES AND TRUCK GARDENING.— 

Beekeeping can be managed in connection 
with truck gardening, but these do not 
make nearly as good a combination as bees 
and poultry. The difficulty in combining 
bees with gardening is that the latter re- 
quires its greatest attention when the bees 
also need a large amount of care. There 
are times and circumstances, however, when 
beekeei3ing, fruit-growing, and poultry- 
keeping might all three be worked together ; 
but in most cases, probably, the man who 
attempted this would be a " Jack of all 
trades and master of none." 

BEES AND FARMING.— See Farmer- 
Beekeeper. 

BEES AS A NUISANCE.— It would 
seem almost out of place to discuss this 
question in a work intended for perusal 
and study by those who believe (and right- 
ly, too) that bees are not a nuisance; but, 
as will be shown, there are very good rea- 
sons w4iy this question should be calmly 
discussed in order to avoid trouble that 
may arise in the future. Certain difficulties 
have arisen between the keepers of bees 
and their neighbors. Perhaps the bees, 
after a long winter confinement, or after 
several days' confinement at any time, have 
taken a flight and soiled the washing hung 
on a line in a neighbor's yard. Possibly, 
some of his children liave been stung, or 
there have been times when he has been 
greatly annoyed while in the peaceable pos- 
session of his own property by bees coming 
on his premises and smelling around, as 
they sometimes do during the fruit-can- 
ning season when the aroma of sugar and 
juicy fruits escapes thru the doors and 
windows of the kitchen. Possibly, the of- 
fended neighbor keeps chickens, and mem- 
bers of his feathered tribe have trespassed 
on the grounds of the beekeeper. The re- 
sult of all this is that bad feelings arise. 
Complaint is made to the village officers: 
an ordinance is proposed declaring bees 
within the limits of the corporation to be a 
nuisance, and requiring the keeper to re- 
move them at once or suffer the penalty of 
fine or imprisonment, or both. See Laws 
Relating to Bees. 

In some instances, live stock has been 
stung; a cow or a calf or a horse may get 
near the entrances of the hives, which, pos- 



BEES AS A NUISANCE 



105 



sibly, are within a foot of a dividing line 
between the two properties. Perhaps the 
stock is stung nearly to death. Damage is 
claimed and a lawsuit follows, with the re- 
sult that a feeling of resentment is stirred 
up against the beekeeper. 

Or again, the beekeeper may have an 
apiary in his front yard, bordering on the 
common highway. A nucleus is robbed out, 
with the result that the bees go on the 
warpath, and begin to sting passers-by. 
Perhaps a span of horses is attacked ; a 
runaway follows; damages are claimed, 
and another lawsuit is begun. 

In the foregoing, possible instances have 
been supposed. It is proper to state that 



position to make the matter good and takes 
pains to offer an apology before the 
woman makes complaint, trouble will in 
most cases be averted. And right here it 
should be said, if the bees are in the cellar 
they should not be set out on a wash-day; 
or if they are outdoors, and the sun comes 
out bright so they begin to fly strongly 
from the hives, one should send word to the 
neighbors and ask them not to hang out 
their washing, if it is a wash-day, for a few 
hours. It might be well also to send along 
a few boxes of honey, and keep the folks 
across the way "sweetened up." Ninety- 
nine neighbors out of a hundred will put 
up with a great deal of inconveniences, 




Sclieme for protecting horses while cultivating a field next to a bee-yard. 



they are only types of what has occurred 
and may occur again, so it behooves the 
beekeeper to be careful. 

In the first ease mentioned (the aggriev- 
ed neighbor's washing soiled by the stains 
from bees affected with dysentery), it is 
well for the beekeeper to send over several 
nice sections of honey, or to offer to pay 
for the damage done to the washing. Noth- 
ing makes a woman more angry than to 
have her nice clean white linen, after she 
has scrubbed, rinsed, and hung it out to 
dry, daubed with nasty, ill-smelling brown 
stains. But if the beekeeper shows a dis- 



and say, " Oh ! that is all right. It won't 
take long to rinse out the clothes again," 
We will now consider the more serious 
cases — those in which horses or cattle have 
been stung. If the beekeeper has been 
foolish enough to place hives near the high- 
way or near his neighbor's line fence where 
he has loose stock, such beekeeper may 
have to pay pretty dearly for it before he 
gets thru. The remedy is prevention. He 
should always put his bees in a back yard, 
and not too close to a neighbor's line fence. 
He should be careful, also, to prevent rob- 
binji'. He should see that there are no weak 



106 



BEES AS A NUISANCE 



nuclei with entrances too large. As soon 
as the honey flow stops, he should contract 
the entrances of all the weaker colonies. If 
extracting is done after the honey flow, 
great caution needs to be exercised. The 
extracting-room should be screened off, and 
no honey left exposed to the bees. When- 
ever possible, he should take off all surplus 
by the use of bee-escapes rather than by 
shaking. See Robbing and Extracting. 

Under the head of Anger of Bees^ in the 
latter part of the article, and under the 
head of Apiaries, emphasis is put upon the 
importance of placing the hives so that 
they shall be screened by shrubbery or 
small trees from other hives and objects in 



be much better. 

ING. 



See Backlot Beekeep- 



WHAT TO DO WHEN THE BEES ATTACK 
NEIGHBORS^ HORSES. 

But it sometimes happens that something 
must be done at once to avert an attack 
upon teams of horses working in fields ad- 
joining a bee-yard. We have one outyard 
located near a field where our neighbor's 
horses have been attacked by the bees on 
several occasions. We supplied our neigh- 
bor with clover seed for this field; and 
when he came to cut the crop the horses 
would occasionally be stung while drawing 
the mower. In one case there came very 




When tlie team was in the flight of the bees the smoker was held in readiness should the horses be stuag. 



the yard. Nothing is more conducive to 
insuring good temper on the part of bees 
than to place the individual hives so that 
the inmates cannot from their own door- 
steps see moving objects in the immediate 
vicinity. When the space where the apiary 
is located is open, without shrubbery or 
trees to screen the hives, the bees are much 
Grosser than when placed behind obstruct- 
ing objects. The average backlot bee- 
keeper will have much better bees to han- 
dle, and no trouble with neighbors, if he 
puts his hives among the bushes. If he 
has a high board fence, or a hedge of ever- 
greens to shut off the little apiary from 
passing teams, pedesti-ians, or children that 
play in the next yard, the conditions will 



near being a serious mixup, as the team 
nearly ran away with the mowing machine. 

Two years later corn was planted in this 
same field. When the horses were cultivat- 
ing up and down the rows they were at- 
tacked again by the bees, for they were 
going in great droves across this field to a 
patch of clover beyond. Notwithstanding 
we had a high board fence to raise the 
flight of the bees above the team when 
near our yard, there was more or less trou- 
ble. On one occasion the driver was stung 
pretty severely, and the horses became un- 
manageable. Fortunately, the driver got 
them under control without any serious 
consequences. 

Now, our neighbor is a kindly man ; and 



BE?]S ATTACKING FRUIT 



10^ 



when he telephoned what had happened we 
paw that something would have to be done. 
We told him to go to the harness-shop and 
secure some large horse-blankets that would 
cover the necks and backs of the horses, 
and we would pay the bill. We then di- 
rected him to secure some large squares 
of mosquito netting and fold this around 
the horses' heads. In the meantime we sup- 
plied him with veils for himself and man. 

When the next day came for cultivating, 
the blankets were put on and we went down 
to watch developments. We found that the 
blankets helped very materially, as they 
protected the horses from the onslaught 
of bees around their backs and necks where 
they could not brush or switch them off. 
Our neighbor did not think it was neces- 
sar}^ to put the mosquito netting over their 
heads, as he said his horses did not mind 
bees on the face, as they could be brushed 
off on the fore-legs. With these large 
blankets the horses went up and down the 
rows with vei*j' little trouble. 

We found upon investigation that the 
bees were not disposed to be cross, but in 
going to and from the fields in search of 
honey they were inteiTupted in their flight 
The switching of the tails of the horses an- 
gered them, wdth the result as stated. 

In cases of this kind it is an advantage 
to have an experienced beeman, and also 
an experienced horseman, if the tw^o can be 
combined in one person. We happened to 
have just such a man in our employ, and 
sent him along aroimd with the mower and 
reaper with a lighted smoker. If he found 
the bees were flying around the horses' 
heads, he used a little smoke and drove 
them away. It was not necessary for him 
to follow the machine clear around the 
field, but only along that side next to the 
flight of the bees. 

But suppose the neighbor is unreason- 
able and ugly, and he brings suit for dam- 
ages; or suppose that the bees are located 
in a city or village, and that the town coun- 
cil has declared bees a nuisance. 

Do not move the bees if reasonable pre- 
caution has been used, but write at once to 
the author. 

Suppose attorneys have been retained. 
Any number of decisions have been handed 
down to prove that bees are not a nuisance 
per se; that, when they are properly kept, 
and due precautions are used, they cannot 



be driven out of the corporation. There 
are several precedents from various courts, 
even from the Supreme Court of Arkansas, 
to show that bees have the right to be kept 
within a corporation like any live stock, so 
that any ordinance not in conformity with 
these decisions can be declared unconstitu- 
tional. Several ordinances declaring bees 
to be a nuisance have been repealed. See 
Laws Relating to Bees. 

BEES ATTACKING(?) FRUIT.— Oc- 
casionally complaints have been made that 
bees will attack and eat up fruit ; and to a 
casual observer, at least, they apparently 
do bite thru the skin and extract the juices 
until the specimen is shriveled up to a mere 
semblance of its former shape and size. 
However, careful investigation has shown 
repeatedly that bees never attack sound 




Grapes punctured by birds and despoiled by bees. 

fruit, no matter how soft the skin nor how 
juicy and pulpy the contents within the 
skin. 

We have attended various horticultural 
and pomological conventions, both state 
and national. Among the progressive 
fruit-gTOwers and horticulturists there is a 
general acknowledgment that bees do not 
attack soimd fruit; that the little harm 
they do to damaged fruit is conpensated 
for a hundred times over by the indispensa- 
ble senice they perform in pollinating 
fruit blossoms early in the season when no 
other insects or means of mingling the pol- 
len exists. Oiu' best fruit-gTOwers are now 
keeping a few hives of bees in each of their 



108 



BEES ATTACKING FRUIT 



orcliards. Often they invite beekeepers to 
locate yards of bees either in the orchards 
or as near as it is practicable to put them. 

Some years ago, Prof. N. W. McLain, 
then in the employ of the Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, D. C, conducted 
an elaborate series of experiments in which 
he placed sound fruit, consisting of grapes, 
peaches, apricots, and the like, in hives con- 
taining bees that were brought to the verge 
of starvation. This fruit was left in the 
hives day after day, but it was never once 
molested. Then he tried breaking some of 
the fruit, and in every case all such speci- 
mens were attacked by the bees sucking up 
the juices until nothing but a dried skin 
and the stones or seeds were left. 

Years later. Prof. H. A. Surface, eco- 
nomic zoologist at Han-isburg, Pa., tried a 
similar experiment, but in no case did the 
bees attack sound fruit, altho they par- 
took freely of that which he had broken. 

At the Wilmington State Fair, lield in 
September, 1918, in Delaware, Joel Gil- 
fiUan of Newark, Del., had on exhibition a 
three-story observation hive containing two 
combs of bees. In the third story were 
hung a peach, a pear, and a bunch of 
grapes. This hive was kept on exhibition 
during the entire fair where the general 
public could see it. As is shown, this fruit 
was never once visited by the bees. The 
general verdict of those who saw it, fruit- 
men and farmers alike, was that bees did 
not injure this fruit. 

We have had, during the past 30 years, 
between three and four hundred colonies 
lorated in a vineyard at our home apiary. 
^Notwithstanding hundreds and hundreds 
of pounds of gTapes are raised every year, 
the bunches hanging within three or four 
feet of the entrance of the hives, the sound 
fruit is never attacked; but, during a 
dearth of honey, a broken or otherwise 
bruised bunch of grapes will often be visit- 
ed by a few bees. 

Bat a casual observer might easily get 
the impression that bees not only suck 
damaged fruit dry, but actually puucture 
and eat up sound fruit. Some years ago a 
neighbor sent word that he would like to 
have us come to his vineyard and he would 
give us indisputable proof that our bees 
were actually puncturing his gi-apes and 
sucking out the juice. We looked at tlie 
luscious bunches as they were hanging 



down, and, sure enough, there were small 
needle-like holes in ahiiost every grape that 
the bees were working on. It looked like a 
clear case of " caught in the act " evidence 
against them. For the time being we were 
unable to offer a satisfactory explanation. 
We brought the matter to the attention of 
an old farmer who had been a beekeeper 
for many years. Finally one morning he 
sent word to us that he had found the cul- 
prit, and that if we would come down to 
his place early some morning he would 
point him out. This we did. He showed us 
a little bird, quick of flight, and almost 
never to be seen around the vines when 
any human being was present. This bird, 
about the size of a sparrow, striped, and 
called the Cape May warbler {Dendroica 
tigrina), has a long sharp needlelike beak. 
It would alight on a bunch, and about as 
fast as one could count them, would pune- 




One of the exhib'ts of lees at the Grunge Fair, in 
Wilmington, Del., held in September, 1908. A card 
in the hive read, " Bees do not injure sound fruit." 



ture grape after grape. After his birdship 
has done his mischief he leaves, and then 
come the innocent bees during the later 
hours of the day and finish the work 
of destruction by sucking the juices and 



BEES ATTACKING FRUIT 



109 




Apricots damaged by birds: fruits thus injured are sucked dry by bees, which store the juice as honey 



the pulp of the grape until it becomes a 
withered skin over a few seeds. Thus the 
grapes were punctured by the birds during 
the early hours of the day; but the bees, 
coming on later, received all the credit for 
the mischief. 

The Cape May warbler is not the only 
bird guilty of puncturing grapes. There 
are many other species of small birds that 
learn this habit, and among them may be 
named the ever present sparrow and the 
beautiful Baltimore oriole, the sweet singer 
that is sometimes called the swinging bird, 
from its habit of building its nest on some 
overhanging limb. 

Some seasons the bird visitors are much 
more numerous than others. Several j-ears 
may pass before any complaint is made, and 
then the beekeeper will have angTy people 
in the vicinity of his bees calling him up 
on the telephone, saying the bees are eating 
up their grapes. The thing to do is to call 
on each complainant, and prove that the 
birds are the ones that do the mischief in 
the first place, and that it is only by care- 
ful watching at intervals that they can be 
seen at their work. 

In order to determine their presence the 
observer should go away from the grape- 
vine about 50 or perhaps 100 feet. The 
early morning hours are the most favora- 
ble for catching the miscreant at work. 
The Cape May warbler is a shy little fel- 
low, and he will not usually show himself if 
any one is near the vines. It is for that 
reason that the bird is seen on the grapes 



only at brief intervals; and the bees, work- 
ing on the bunches all day, get the blame 
for all the damage. 

For further information regarding grape- 
puncturing birds, refer to bulletins by Dr. 
Merriam of the United States Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

V^HEN BEES MAY DAMAGE FRUIT. 

But there are times when bees are a nui- 
sance, and it is then that their owner should 
compromise; or, better still, seek means to 
avoid trouble in the first place. In the 
fruit-drying ranches of California, apri- 
cots and peaches are cut up into small 
pieces and laid upon trays exposed to the 
sun's rays. If there is a dearth of honey at 
this time, and a large number of bees in 
the locality, this fruit may be attacked. The 
bees may visit it in such large numbers that 
thej^ suck out the juices, leaving nothing 
but the shriveled form of the fruit. The 
property is, of course, damaged, and its 
sale ruined. Before anything of this kind 
can happen, the beekeeper should move his 
whole yard to a point three or four miles 
distant from any fruit-drying operations. 
Failing to do so the fruit-grower, if the 
bees caused trouble, might enter suit for 
damages, and possibly recover the value of 
his crop. 

Years ago we had trouble with a cider- 
maker. He claimed that our bees w^ould 
lick up the cider from the press as fast as 
he could make it. We easily adjusted this 



110 



BEES ON SHARES 



difficulty by screening his building with 
mosquito netting. 

In every case of this sort the owner of 
bees should avoid trouble. In the case of 
the fruit-drying ranches and the cider 
mills, the beekeeper had better err on the 
safe side by avoiding suit for damages, be- 
cause no lawyers would be able to give 
much assistance where it was clearly proven 
that the bees were doing an actual damage. 

BEES EXONERATED BY A JURY. 

In 1900, trouble arose at Amity, N. Y., 
between two brothers named Utter. One 
was a beekeeper and the other a fruit- 
grower. The latter averred that the for- 
mer's bees punctured his peaches, and, in 
consequence of their alleged damage, he 
claimed he was unable to raise any fruit. 
There had not been very good feeling be- 
tween the brothers for years. The fruit- 
grower brought suit against the beekeeper, 
and the case was tried on Dec. 17, 18, and 
19, 1899, at Goshen. There was no lack of 
legal talent on either side. The case w-as a 
very hard-fought one from beginning to 
end. Among some thirty odd witnesses ex- 
amined, the Government expert, Frank 
Benton, formerly of the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture, Washington, D. 
C, gave his testimony to the effect that 
bees never puncture sound fruit; that it is 
practically impossible for them to do so, 
owing to the fact that they have no cutting- 
jaws like those found in the wasp and other 
insects of that character. He also showed 
that wasps and birds will, under some con- 
ditions, puncture fruit; that these minute 
holes they make will, during a dearth of 
honey, be visited by bees. Other expert 
testimony w^as offered, nearly all of which 
exonerated the bees. After all the evidence 
was in and the arguments were made, the 
jurj^ returned a verdict for the defendant. 

For further particulars regarding this, 
the reader is referred to the publishers of 
this work. 

In case trouble arises, the owner of the 
bees will do well to read Bees as a ISTui- 
SANCE, and also the other subject found in 
its alphabetical order. Laws Relating to 
Bees. 

BEES, CROSS.— See Anger of Bees. 

BEES, CROSSES OF —See Hybrids. 



BEES, HANDLING.— See A B C of 

Beekeeping, Manipulation of Colonies; 
also Honey Exhibits. 

BEES ON SHARES.— In some localities, 
notably in California, Colorado, and' the 
great West, bees are often kept on shares. 
While this method of doing business has 
usually been conducted quite successfully 
and satisfactorily to both parties, yet nev- 
ertheless many disputes and troubles have 
arisen, perhaps because there was a lack 
of contract; or, if there was one, there was 
nothing in it to cover the point in dispute. 

The following form of contract w^as very 
carefully drawn by an attorney, and it is 
hoped it will meet every condition. 

ARTICLES or AGREEMENT. 

This agreement, made and entered into at 

, this day of , 19 — , by and 

between of , party of the first part, 

and hereinafter called the owner, and , 

of — , party of the second part, and herein- 
after called the employee, 

Witnesseth: First, that said owner has 
agreed, and in consideration of the cove- 
nants and agreements herein contained and 
to be performed by said employee, does here- 
by agree to provide a good location for keep- 
ing bees, at or near , and furnish and 

put thereon, on or before the day of 

, 19 — , not less than colonies of 

healthy bees, and then and thereafter at 
such times as needed during the continuance 
of this contract, to provide and furnish, at 
his own cost and expense, all hives, tools, 
implements, machinery, and buildings neces- 
sary to enable said employee to carry on 
successfully the business of producing and 
securing honey and wax from said bees; and 
further to pay one-half of the cost and ex- 
pense of all sections, cans, bottles, shipping 
cases, and packages that may be required to 
put the honey and wax into maiketable 
shape; and in case it shall be necessary to 
feed said bees, to provide and furnish feed- 
ers and sugar for making the syrup; and 
said owner further agrees to give and deliv- 
er on the said premises, to said employee, as 
and for his conpensation for labor done and 
provided by him in caring for said bees and 
securing honey and wax, the full one-half of 
all marketable honey and wax produced and 
secured from said bees. 

Second: In consideration of the above 

covenants and agreements, the said , 

employee, hereby agrees to enter the em- 
ploy of said owner on said day of • , 

19 — , and at once care for said bees in a 
proper manner; do, perform, and provide all 
labor necessary to carry on successfully the 
business of producing and securing honey 
and wax ready for market; pay one-half the 



BEES, STINGLESS. 



Ill 



cost and expense of all sections, cans, bot 
ties, shipping cases, and packages that may 
be required to put the honey and wax into 
marketable shape; feed the bees, when neces- 
sary that they shall be fed, and deliver on 
the premises to the said owner the full one- 
half of the marketable honey and wax 
produced and secured from said bees, and to 
accept the remaining half as and for his full 
compensation for labor done and provided 
by him in the care of said bees and the pro- 
duction and securing of honey and wax. 

Provided, and it is mutually agreed and 
understood by and between the parties here- 
to, that said employee shall double up all of 
said hives at the close of the season or leave 
them reasonably strong and well supplied 
with stores and prepared for the winter; and 
if any of said colonies of bees are lost thru 
the carelessness or negligence of said em- 
ployee, said owner may recover from said 
employee as damages an amount not greater 
than one-half what it would cost to replace 
said bees and queens; all increase of swarms 
(artificial or natural) to belong to said own- 
er. It is further mutually agreed and un- 
derstood that in case no honey is secured, or 
the amount runs below ten (10) pounds per 
colony, said owner shall pay to said em- 
ployee, as and for his compensation for all 
labor done and provided by him on and 
about said bees, an amount not exceeding — 
cents per hour for each and every hour of 
labor so performed, and provided by said 
employee on and about said bees, and in 
such case all honey to belong to said owner. 

Signed in duplicate by said parties, the 
day and year first above written. 

Signed in presence of 



The foregoing comprises the essential 
features of a contract; but local conditions 
may render it necessary to make some mod- 
ifications. 

The last clause in the contract is inserted 
as a matter of fairness to the employee. 
If no honey should be secured, he has per- 
formed his part of the contract in good 
faith, and, moreover, has improved the 
apiary — perhaps increased it — so that it 
will be in better condition the following- 
year for a honey crop. For this better- 
ment it is no more than right that the own- 
er should pay his man a reasonable sum, 
whatever amount may be agreed on; or, if 
preferred, a certain number of colonies. 
One can readily see that, in case the honey 
season was an absolute failure, the em- 
ployee would suffer a total loss except for 
a provision of this kind, and the owner 



would still have his bees, the increase, his 
implements, and everything necessary to 
carry on the business for another season. 

By the above contract it is to the interest 
of both parties to keep down increase. The 
employee must know, if he is a practical 
beekeeper, that, the greater the increase, 
the less the honey; and he will, therefore, 
bend all his efforts and skill to keep the 
colonies in the best condition to obtain a 
crop of honey. 

Keeping bees on shares is practiced quite 
extensively in Colorado and California. It 
very often happens that a beekeeper lately 
arrived from the East desires to try a local- 
ity to determine whether it will be suited to 
his health, and whether or not he can maki 
the keeping of bees a success. He accord- 
ingly finds a beekeeper whose other busi- 
ness leads him to desire some one compe- 
tent to manage his bees for him. But where 
one is well settled in a locality, and has the 
means whereby he can purchase the bees, 
he should do so. 

The business of keeping bees on shares 
has not always been an imqualified success ; 
and where one can buy bees outright, pay- 
ing for them out of his earnings, he would 
better do so. But the owner of the bees 
should, of course, be secured by a chattel 
mortgage until the last payment is made. 

BEES, STINGLESS.— Their habitat ex- 
tends from the boundary between the Unit- 
ed States and Mexico down to Buenos Aires 
in Argentina, embracing an area of 8,000,- 
000 square miles. One comparatively un- 
important species inhabits most of the 
West India islands. There are a few spe- 
cies in Asia and Africa. 

By entomologists these bees are usually 
classed under two gTeat genera — Melipona 
and Trigona; but some naturalists are dis- 
posed t-o add another, Tetrasoma. There is 
an extraordinary variety of these bees, 
which is supposed to embrace at least 100 
species, whereas there are not more than 8 
species of Apis. The variation in size is 
also great, for some are no larger than a 
mosquito, while others are considerably 
larger than the hive bee. A number of 
naturalists have studied them with a view 
to their proper classification and arrange- 
ment by species. 

There is an equal variation in the number 
of bees per colony, for some consist of only 



112 



BEES, STINGLESS. 



a few (100) individuals while others are 
supposed to contain not less than 100,000 
bees. 

Some build only small nests, not much 
larger than an orange; others construct a 
home as large as an ordinary flour-barrel. 
Some build in a hole in the ground ; others 
in the open air, as wasps and hornets do, 



history and habits. The work was left for 
the twentieth-century naturalists. Geoffrey 
St. Hilaire, a naturalist-explorer, did some- 
thing to awaken interest by his now classi- 
cal observations on honey-gathering wasps 
of Paraguay, of which he furnished a com- 
plete account in 1825 (Paris). Azara, a 
similar explorer, also called attention to 




Stingless Worker 



Italian Worker 

Magnified fvvo times. 



Italian Queen 



while quite a number build their nests in 
the hollows of forest trees. 

Early travelers in South and Central 
America did not fail to notice the stingless 
bees, and quite frequently referred to 
them. Capt. Basil Hall, in the 18th 




Italian Queen Stingless Queen 

Magnified two times. 

century, noticed apiaries of them in Peru; 
and Koster, in his Travels in Brazil, care- 
fully mentions them. Spanish writers on 
Central America casually noticed them in 
the 16th century; but no European seems 
to have been interested enough in them to 
make a comprehensive study of their life 



them in his travel thru Paraguay. He de- 
scribes a sijeeies twice as large as Apis 
mellifica. 

Other explorers have mentioned them 
from time to time, but nothing of real val- 
ue was elicited until lately. Their study 
has now been taken up in earnest. White 
men have been inclined to dismiss them as 
worthless for practical purposes; but the 
natives of South America are certainly not 
of that opinion. On the contrary, they re- 
gard them as superior to the " stinging 
fly " of the white man. In Southern Mex- 
ico, Central America, and South America, 
they are quite frequently kept in a domesti- 
cated state by the native inhabitants — that 
is to say, they have them in hollow logs 
which have been brought from the forests. 
These " hives " are generally hung up by 
ropes around their dwellings to protect the 
bees from their chief enemy, the lizard. 
The logs are robbed at stated intervals, the 
keeper being well satisfied if he can secure 
a gallon of honey per hive at a robbing, 
depending somewhat on the species used 
for domestication. 

Apparently no effort has ever been made 
to invent a hive suitable to their wants. It 
is noticeable that the natives use only those 
species whose homes are made in hollow 



BEGIXXING WITH BEES 



in 




Prof. H. A. Surface, Zooloprist. at Harrisburg, Pa., -with his beginners' class in beekeeping. 



trees, no effort being made to utilize the 
many other species whose nests are made 
in holes in the ground or on tree branches. 

The quality of the honey and wax varies 
very much, some of it being quite good and 
some quite the opposite. The wax is apt 
to be mixed with propolis to a great ex- 
tent ; but at least one species inhabiting the 
upper tributaries of the Orinoco, in Colom- 
bia, furnishes a desirable wax, which has 
been frequently sold in this country. 

While the stingiess bees cannot sting 
they bite and worry in a way to surpass 
bees possessed of a sting. At the Phila- 
delphia field-day meeting at which a thou- 
sand beekeepers were present, in June, 
1906, two colonies of a large species of 
stingiess bee were exhibited. A hive of 
them was torn apart and opened for in- 
spection. Did those stingiess bees take 
such intrusion without any objections'? 
Not at all. They attacked their despoilers 
in a way they will not soon forget. They 
would bite, grasp the hair and eyelashes, 
twist and pull, and even crawl into the ears 
and noses of their tormentors. So vicious 
was their onslaught that they drove one 



man, who had a hand in breaking up theii' 
home, from the scene of action. While the 
pain of their bite is infinitesimal, yet the 
high-note hissing sound, getting into the 
hair, pulling at the eyes and eyelashes, and 
crawling into the nostrils and ears, almost 
makes one crazy. 

It is fair to state that stingiess bees do 
not offer such attack unless provoked to 
fury; ordinarily they can be handled with- 
out any protection whatever. 

BEGINNING WITH BEES.— The be- 
ginner should, first of all, read the A I) C 
OF Beekeeping, the initial article of this 
work. He should also visit some well-known 
beekeeper. He will then find that he will be 
able to understand the articles and appli- 
ances in this work much more readily. If he 
can afford it, it would be well for him even 
to go some distance to see some progressive 
beekeeper, and spend a whole day where he 
will be able to pick up tricks of the trade, 
and a fund of information that might take 
him weeks or months to dig out of text- 
books. Such a beekeeper could very easily 
illustrate the proper manner of opening 



114 



BEGINNING WITH BEES 




A cvonp of boys -niio here found out that hees ran he " tamed. 



a hive and haudling the frames — in short, 
make a practical demonstration of many 
of the manipulations here explained. If 
there is no beekeeper he can visit, he 
should send to his nearest dealer and get 
a two- or three-frame nucleus with a queen. 
Let him follow carefully the directions on 
the outside of the shipping-box; then, with 
the bees before him, read and study his 
ABC. Having seen the bees and learned 
how to open a hive, what next? 

The importance of a small beginning 
with as little expense as possible cannot be 
urged too strongly, for nothing is more 
discouraging after having plunged into the 
business extensively than to lose a large 
portion of the bees, either thru bad winter- 
ing or from some other cause — all for the 
want of a little practical experience, oi 
even a theoretical knowledge. Many a per- 
son has met with disaster from starting- 
out with bees on altogether too large a 
scale. Sometimes one is offered a bargain 
of 50 or 100 colonies including hives, bees, 
implements, smokers, etc., and the tempta- 
tion becomes strong to buy. He had better 
not invest unless he has read the several 
articles indicated at the close of the Fore- 
word at the beginning. 

After investing $25.00, one should put 
no more into the business until the bees 



bring in some returns. In other words, 
make the bees pay their way. It is very 
easy to throw good money into the venture 
and get no returns; because beekeeping, 
perhaps as much as any business, depends 
greatly upon weather conditions. For this 
reason it is not advisable for any beginner 
to rely on bees as a sole means of liveli- 
hood. True it is that there are many 
beekeeping specialists; but they are men 
who have gradually grow^n into the busi- 
ness, and, as a general rule, have an espe- 
cially favorable location, keeping from 200 
to 1,000 or more colonies. 

The keeping of bees is generally more 
successfully carried on in connection with 
some other line of business. (See Bep:s 
AXD Fruit-growing; also Bees and Poul- 
try. Many a professional man desires 
some sort of light recreation, and a few 
bees will afford him just the diversion he 
needs. Farmers, fruit-growers, or horti- 
culturists, may keep from 50 to 100 colo- 
nies without gTeatly interfering with any 
other work; and nearly every one, as ex- 
plained imder Apiary, can keep a few colo- 
nies in his back yard. Ten or tsventy colo- 
nies will be almost certain to yield a much 
larger revenue, per colony, than ten times 
that number. See Backlot Beekeeping. 

Having considered some of the difficulties 
and uncertainties of beekeeping the ques- 



BEGINNING WITH BEES 



115 




116 



BEGINNING WITH BEES 



tion now arises whether one should go into 
the business at all. With the knowledge 
that from 10 to 20 colonies can usually be 
handled successfully, and at a good profit, 
the beginner will naturally desire to try 
his hand at it. How shall he make his 
start? Whenever possible he should pur- 
chase bees in his own vicinity, and should 
provide himself with a strong colony of 
Italian bees, with a tested queen, in a new 
standard hive, or in any modern hive. If 
bees are bought of a dealer from a distance 
it will cost more. Usually bees that are 
hybrids or blacks, in movable-frame hives, 
second hand, sell at a very low price. If 
there are no modern beekeepers in the vi- 
cinity, he may have to purchase a box hive 
or two with the combs all built solidly into 
the hive — see Box Hives. 

To move colonies in box hives, turn the 
hive upside down, and tie over the open 
side a piece of cheese-cloth. The moving 
should be done at night, or at least on a 
cool day, carrying them a distance of at 
least a mile and a half, otherwise many 
of the bees will return to their old location, 
unless they are much bumped and jounced 
in moving. See Moving Bees. 




In some localities it may not be possible 
to buy bees of any one. In such a case 
send to the nearest dealer in beekeepers' 
supplies for a beginner's outfit consisting 
of hives and general equipment that one 
will need. This will cost all the way from 
$25 to $50, according to the size of the 
outfit. The equipment will consist of one 
or more hives, a smoker, veil, and a book 
of instructions ; and last, but not least, two 
or three pounds of bees with queen or a 
nucleus of two or three frames of bees 
with brood and queen. Because of the 



danger of transmitting bee disease it is 
safer to buy the bees alone without any 
brood. 

The Postoffice Department now permits 
bees to be sent by parcel post. The Gov- 
ernment ruling is as follows: 

Office of the Postmaster-General, 
Washington, June 18, 1918. 

Order No. 1577. 

Amend paragraph 1, Section 476, Postal 
Laws and Regulations of 1913, by adding 
thereto the following as sub-paragraph a: 
a. Honeybees in quantities may be sent 
in the mail, without insurance or C. O. D. 
privileges, under the same conditions as are 
prescribed for queen -bees and their attend- 
ant bees when delivery can be made to tht- 
addressees within a period of five days. If 
the cages are wooden, the material of which 
they are constructed shall not be less than 
three-eighths of an inch thick, and the 
saw-cuts therein or spaces between slats shall 
not be over one-eighth of an inch wide. If 
wire screen is used for the sides of the 
cages there shall be two thicknesses of 
screen separated by slats at least three- 
eighths of an inch in thickness. The con- 
tainer shall be provided with a suitable 
handle, and no water or liquid food shall 
be placed therein. Such parcels shall be 
transported outside of mail-bags. 

A. S. BURLESON, 

Postmaster-General. 

Packages may be sent in this manner 
halfway across the country in lots of one- 
half pound, one, two, or three pounds per 
box, but we do not recommend to the be- 
ginner anything smaller than the two- 
l^ound size. In buying bees in this way it 
is necessary to select .^ome reliable dealer, 
as sometimes bees are dead on arrival. Any 
well-known breeder will make replacement 
free of cost. In larger lots it is advisable 
to get bees by express. It is customary to 
get ten or twelve two-pound packages of 
bees in a crate. The cost of transportation 
is relatively less. Moreover, the express 
company will assume the responsibility 
of safe arrival, while Uncle Sam makes no 
guarantees when bees are sent by mail. 

It has been learned that bees will ship 
better on frames of foundation. (See 
Comb Foundation.) When they are en 
route for four or five days they will draw 
this foundation into comb, and the queen 
will lay eggs. When bees are shipped 
without foundation or combs, the condition 



BEaiNNING WITH BEES 



117 



is abnormal, and the bees have a tendency 
to wori7 and die. 

When buying bees without combs, it is 
advisable to get them as early in the spring 
as possible. While bees can be shipped in 
extremely warm weather, they go thru in 
much better condition in cool weather. A 
two-pound package of bees received in the 
northern part of the United States by May 
1, will stand a good chance of paying all 
cost of outlay, and leave a nice little sur- 
plus besides. Bees received after July 15 
will not be able to get any honey except 
some fall flow, and usually will require 
sugar syrup. (See Feeding.) 

No beekeeper should make the mistake 
of buving bees without combs until he has 



As soon as the hives are received in the 
flat, they should be nailed up and painted. 
With every lot of hives there will be suffi- 
cient nails of the right kind to put them 
together. If one cannot afford to take the 
time himself, he should employ some car- 
penter, who, with the printed directions, 
will be able to put them together in a work- 
manlike manner. (A carpenter is not 
needed, however.) 

Having all the hives in readiness, five or 
ten, as the case may be, one can, with his 
two- or three-pound packages of bees or 
two- or three-frame nuclei with queens, 
build them up by feeding, and then divide. 
See Nucleus^ Increase, and Feeding. 

If the beginner is successful thus far, 
he may then, with some assurance, purchase 




Tlie postal authorities favor two types of cages, those with saw cut sides and those with sides con- 
structed of two tiiicknesses of wire scieen. This illustration shows the cage with saw-cut sides. Notice 
the frame of foundation in posilion in the second cage shown ahove. 



an equipment of hives and other acces- 
sories in readiness. Hives may be obtained 
cheaper if purchased in lots of five or ten, 
in the flat. When one buys a whole hive 
of bees he will not require any extras ex- 
cept upper stories or supers, a smoker, 
and a veil. As there are several diflier- 
ent kinds of hives on the market, all of 
them fairly good, the beginner may be at a 
loss to know which of them to choose. For 
comb honey the standard 10-frame hive is 
recommended. (For particulars see Hive.s.) 
It is sold by all the dealers; and as it 
is almost exclusively used by expert bee- 
keepers who cany on the business quite ex- 
tensively with good results, the novice will 
not go far astray by adopting it. 



of his dealer one or two Italian queens, 
which he can easily introduce to the nuclei. 
(See Introducing.) In dividing or form- 
ing nuclei, he should, of course, give the 
new queen he just purchased to the bees 
that are made queenless. After he has had 
a little more experience in watching and 
studying bees he may then be able to do 
something at queen-rearing. (See Queens 
and Queen-rearing.) To avoid trouble 
with robbers he should then read very care- 
fully the subject of Stings and Robbing. 
Toward the close of the season he should 
next take up Wintering, as found in its 
alphabetical order, reading this carefully; 
for more disasters in apiculture result from 
failure to winter bees properly than from 
anv other cause. 



118 



BORAGE 



BELLFLOWER.— See Campanilla. 
BLACK BROOD.— See Foul Brood. 
BLACK LOCUST.— See Locust. 

BLEACHING COMB HONEY.— Under 

head of Comb Honey, and Grading Comb 
Honey, will be found something concerning 
the fact that a good many sections have 
soiled surfaces. This discoloration of cap- 
pings may go clear thru, or it may be upon 
the surface itself. If the reader will look 




White's bleaching-house for soiled comb honey. 

over the unsold odds and ends of comb 
honey at the grocer's he wiU be able to 
find samples of such sections, and the fall 
of the year is a good time to find them, as 
they are the last to sell. 

A knowledge of how to make dark or 
soiled sections No. 1 white, thus putting 
them at the top of the market, may be 
worth hundreds of dollars to some beekeep- 
ers; and while it is probably not possible 
to make water-soaked and certain kinds of 
travel-stained sections white, there is a 
probability that a very large class of the 
soiled boxes can be rendered No. 1. 

The late Byron Walker, a honey mer- 
chant of Chicago, accidentally placed some 
yellow or pollen-stained sections in his 
show window, where they were subjected to 
the direct rays of sunlight. A short time 
after he noticed that the faces of these 
sections that were next to the light were 
bleached white, while those on the reverse 
side retained the old color. Instantly grasp- 
ing at the suggestion he placed other sec- 
tions of the same kind in the same window, 
and was gTatified to learn that these were 
likewise bleached as were the first; but, so 
far as known, Mr. Walker was successful 
in bleaching pollen-stained or yeUow-faced 
combs onlv. The real travel-stained and 



water-soaked ones he considered beyond re- 
demption. The time required to bleach the 
yellow sections was anywhere from two to 
three days, depending on weather and sun- 
light. 

A. E. White of Pala, Calif., apparently 
went one step further; for in connection 
with sunlight he used sulphur, which is 
known to be a powerful bleaching agent. 
His method is described as follows: 

" We first fumigate with sulphur, then 
place the combs where the sun will shine 
on them, and that is the whole process. 

" I build a frame on the south side of my 
honey-house, and cover the same with cot- 
ton cloth. A door opens from the honey- 
house into this room. I place shelves on 
the sides and ends of this room, the bottom 
shelf being a wide board to be used as a 
table. I place the combs on these shelves 
so that the sunlight will strike them. Dark 
combs will require several hours. This plan 
will whiten dark combs here in California. 
If you fumigate a few combs, and place 
them on a window sill where the sun will 
shine on them, you will be convinced. 

" In placing the sections on shelves in the 
morning, I find the following plan good: 
On the shelves at the east and west end of 
the room I place sections end to end leng-th- 
wise of the shelves, two rows on each shelf, 
one row on the outer and the other on the 




White sulphur-box for bleaching. 

inner edge. The morning sun strikes one 
side, and the afternoon sun the other side. 
On the front shelves, I set them crosswise 
of the shelf, far enough apart so as not to 
shade each other. 

" 1 pack them away every evening ; all 
not white I put out again next morning. 
Some of them will bleach quite slowly, but 
I have been able to whiten the worst ones 
by perseverance." 

BORAGE (Borago Officinalis L.).— The 
common borage, introduced from Europe, 



BORAGE 



119 



is cultivated as a honey plant and for or- 
nament. The rotate or wheel-shaped flow- 
ers are sky-blue with a black cone of an- 
thers in the center. Under the dome formed 
by the anthers nectar is freely secreted by 
the pale yellow base of the ovary. The 
more or less inverted position of the flow- 
ers which face the earth protects them 
from rain. The anthers matiu-e long be- 
fore the stiginas. Each anther contains 
about 120,000 grains of pollen. 

Honeybees constantly visit the flowers 
for both nectar and pollen. Two groups of 



between the stamens. The anthers open 
slowly and the free pollen falls out into the 
conical chamber between them. On each 
anther there is a tooth-like projection. 
V\ hen a bee gTasps with its claw the handle 
on the lower anther, it is pulled downward 
and the pollen is sprinkled over its body. 
As soon as released the anther springs back 
in place, and later more pollen collects in 
the conical chamber. The stigmas are at 
first concealed beneath the anthers; but 
after all the pollen has been removed they 
grow out and become receptive. The flow- 




Coiumoa boi'asre 



flowers, one containing five and the other 
four flowers, were watched for 10 minutes. 
The first received 15 and the second 13 
Wsits from honeybees. The value of the 
blue corollas in attracting bees was shown 
by the following experiment. When they 
were all removed from the flowers of the 
first group, the visits of the bees ceased 
entirely. To reach the nectar the bee hangs 
under the flower and inserts its tonaue 



ers are also visited by bumblebees and 
solitary bees. 

The eagerness with which bees visit the 
borage blossoms shows that it possesses a 
fine flavor, and the honey is reported to be 
excellent. The plants can be easily gTOwn 
from seed, and produce a profusion of 
flowers from midsummer until frost. In 
the extreme southern part of Australia, 
where there is abundant rain, borage has 



120 



BOTTLING HONEY 



spread sparingly, and is of medium value 
as a honey plant. It will not, however, be 
found profitable to cultivate borage for 
honey alone. The leaves are sometimes 
used in salads and in medicine. 

BOTTLING HONEY.— Under Barrels 
are given some general directions on how 
to put up honey in wood so that it may be 
sent to market. Under Extracted Honey 
are shown the styles of containers made of 
tin. Under Granulated Honey it is told 
how to liquefy; but here some details on 
putting up honey in glass ,will be given. 
One who can bottle honey and put it up in 
neat and attractive form, so it will not 
granulate for at least a year, can get good 
prices and do a good business. 

With one or two exceptions all extracted 
honey, unless especially treated, will granu- 
late toward the approach of cooler weather 
— especially when the temperature begins 
to vary from 70 or 80 to near freezing or 
below it. As a general thing, granulated 
honey in glass is unsalable; and it will, 
therefore be shown how to keep the honey 
liquid until it is sold. 

Two methods are used to accomplish this. 
One is, to heat the honey and seal it while 
liot ; and the other, to sterilize it by expos- 
ing it to the sun's rays. This will be dis- 
cussed later. 




heating tray. 

Instead of using a gasoline stove to heat the water 
in the tray, %-i»ch steam pipes connected as in the 
manner sho%vn can be used. The outside pipes should 
be perforated with holes that blow a jet of steam 
transversely across the bottom of the pan. The coil 
of steam pipes below serves no purpose but to keep 
the large filling tank of honey warm. 

Steam from a boiler is, of course, the 
most convenient of anything for heating 
that can be employed; but as the average 
reader of this work probably cannot get it 
he must use something else. While the 
ordinary cooking-range or ceol^-stove. us- 



ing either wood or coal, may be used for 
heating honey, a gas or gasoline stove with 
three burners is far better — better, because 
the heat can he perfectly controlled. A 
wood or coal fire is apt to burn too strongly 
at one time or go down at another. If the 
honey be overheated it will be injured, both 
in color and flavor. It may be scorched, or 
the flavor so impaired that it will sell at 
only a moderate price. 

There are two methods for heating honey 
to put in glass or tin. One is, to draw it 
off from a large can while cold, into bot- 
tles or tumblers, and, before they are seal- 
ed, heating the honey while the bottles are 
standing up to their necks in hot water. 
The other plan, and the one generally used, 
is to heat in bulk and then draw off into 
bottles w^hile hot, and seal. This method 
has the advantage that warm or hot honey 
flows more freely, and, of course, can be 
liandled more rapidly. On the other hand, 
heating honey in the retail glass packages 
has the advantage of being better adapted 
to a small business. 

HEATING HONEY IN BOTTLES^ OR BOTTLING 
FOR A LOCAIi TOWN TRADE. 

Provide a square or oblong galvanized- 
ii'on pan as large as the top of the stove, 
with perpendicular sides, and about six or 
seven inches deep. If a gasoline stove is 
used, the pan should be as long and as 
broad as the top ; and, if the three burners 
are on the same level, all the better. The 
pan should be just about the depth of an 
ordinary Mason jar, or, rather, a little 
deeper than the deepest package to be used. 
A false bottom of coarse wire cloth should 
be secured about half an inch above the 
bottom proper by means of proper stays. 
This is for the pui-pose of providing a cir- 
culation of water under the bottoms of the 
bottles, for otherwise they might break 
fi'om the direct heat of the stove. Fill the 
pan about half-full of water, and set it 
on the stove. 

When the water registers about 180 ac- 
cording to the thermometer, set the bottles 
of cold honey into the tray, on the false 
bottom of wire cloth. When the pan is full 
of bottles placed close together, the water 
should be raised within an inch of the 
top of the bottles. Let them stand in the 
hot water until the honey in one of the 



BOTTLING HONEY 



121 



bottles registers about 160. They may now 
be taken out and corked or sealed. A fresh 
supply of filled bottles of honey should 
next be put back to replace the first, and 
the operation of heating and sealing can be 
continued indefinitely. 

There are several advantages of this 
method, aside from the one of first cost for 
apparatus ; viz. : 

1. One can fill a small order at any time, 
and it is not necessary to heat a great bulk 
of honey in order to put up a dozen bottles 
or so of honey. In heating a large quantity 
of honey one necessarily has to keep, it hot 
for a considerable time. The longer the 
honey is kept hot, the greater the liability 
to discolor and impair its flavor. 

2. Bottles that are submerged in hot 
water can be easily wiped off with a cloth ; 
and as soon as they are corked or sealed 
they are ready for labeling. 

3. Any honey that has been poured from 
a honey-gate into the vessels cold will have 
a tendency to collect air bubbles, and form 
a froth on top of the honey. When the 
honey is heated gi^adually in the bottles 
after filling, the process expels the bub- 
bles; and by the time the honey is clear 
it is ready for sealing and labeling. 

4. If any honey should candy, one can 
unseal, and set tlie bottles in the tray of hot 
water, and reheat and seal without empty- 
ing. 

Honey bottled in this way will retain 
more of the original flavor than when it is 
heated in bulk and then bottled. 

Where one has a little larger trade, and 
takes care of one or two towns outside of 
his own community, the foregoing will be 
a little too slow; and, besides, it has the 
decided disadvantage that honey bottled in 
this way will granulate more quickly 
than honey heated in bulk and kept hot for 
a considerable length of time. A large 
quantity of honey in a tank can be kept hot 
for five or six hours at a temperature of 
130 degrees Fahr. This low temperature 
long continued will keep honey in a liquid 
condition longer than a higher temperature 
for a shorter period. But, as already stat- 
ed, a long-hot honey will not have quite 
as fine a flavor as the quicker-heated and 
quickly cooled article. But this difference 
will be noted, not by the ordinary consum- 
er, but by the bottler or honey connoisseur. 



Chalon Fowls of Oberlin, 0., has used 
a method of bottling that requires but very 
little outlay for apparatus, and is quite 
inexpensive. Outside of two large cans 
and a filling tank he utilizes only what can 
be found in the ordinary home. 

As stated, Mr. Fowls makoe use of a 
gasoline stove and a couple of large cans 
which he puts on each of the top burners. 
These are partially filled with w'ater, then 
a square can of honey is let down in each 
until it is completely submerged. After 
the contents are all melted, a thermometer 
is let down, as will be seen ; and when the 
mercury rises to about 150 (not higher than 
160), the honey is drawn off by means of 
a siphon into a filling tank that stands on 
a lower step of the stove. The siphon may 




Mr. Fowls' melting-tanks, siphon, and gasoline 
stove. 



be of glass or flexible tubing. The latter 
is to be preferred, because it is more con- 
venient to handle. While the honey is hot 
the tubing should be immersed in the honey 
until it is filled. To do this, attach a string 
at both ends, and submerge it. Draw out 
one end and run it over into the filling tank, 
which is lower down. The hot honey wiU 
now immediately run out : and as the can is 
emptied, the water surrounding the can 
should be drawn off or else the can will 
float and tip over. From the filling tank 
the honey is drawn off while hot, or about 
as near 140 as possible, into honey tum- 
blers. Mason jars, Muth jars, or any of the 
packages already described. When filled 
they should be sealed while hot; after 



122 



BOTTLING HONEY 



which, as soon as they are sponged off with 
warm water, they may be labeled, when 
they are ready for market. 

BOTTLING ON A LARGE SCALE. 

The Fowls plan will take care of several 
towns of tAvo or three thousand inhabitants 
each ; but it is not well adapted to a general 
business, taking a whole state or a series of 
them. An ordinary stove or a gas stove is 
not well adapted to take care of a large 
business ; hence it will be necessary to pur- 
chase a five- or ten-horse-power boiler and 
install it in a room or basement where the 
bottling is to be carried on. Steam is by 
all odds the best heating agent in a general 
bottling establishment. It is more conven- 
ient, cheaper, and there is not so much 
danger of overheating the honey. 

The great bulk of the honey for bottling 
purposes will come in 60-lb. square cans. 
While some of it may be secured in kegs 
or bariels, producers and buyers generally 
prefer to sell and buy honey in large 
square cans, even at an extra price of half 
a cent; so we may as well figure that in a 
bottling business the honey will be receiv- 
ed in the tin containers. Much of this 
honey will be granulated before the bot- 
tling season comes on. 

There are two ways of melting honey in 
square cans, pne is, to submerge them 
three-fourths their depth in a large tank of 
water heated by steam until all the honey is 
melted. But this is objectionable, in that 
the melted portion has to remain with the 
portion still granulated until the whole 
bulk has been brought to a liquid condition. 
This impairs the flavor, for the longer 
honey is kept hot, the more its delicate 
aroma and color are sacrificed. The plan 
also necessitates the lifting of heavy cans 
of honey out of their bath of hot water and 
emptying them into the filling tank. 

A far better plan is to heat these cans 
with hot air, while inverted, in a steam 
oven. The caps are, of course, removed, 
and as fast as the honey melts it runs out 
and is caught in a receiving trough beneath. 
Thence it flows immediately into another 
container, or is pumped out with an ordi- 
nary honey-pump, such as is used in con- 
nection with power-driven honey-extrac- 
tors. 

Illustrations showing a honey-heating 



oven will be found under Granulated 
Honey. See Figs. 1 and 2, Pouder's meth- 
od. 

While Mr. Pouder uses a gas jet, it is 
preferable to use steam pipes, so placed as 
to be out of the way of the honey that runs 
out of the screw tops into the bottom of 
the oven or tank. Enough steam radiation 
should be provided to bring the tempera- 
ture of the air in the oven up to 180 or 
190 degrees. 

When steam is used as a heating agent 
for these honey -melting ovens, it is not nec- 
essary to use a metal box, but a large 
double-walled wooden box with lid, with 
packing material between the walls, and a 
galvanized tray or trough in the bottom to 
catch the honey. The melted honey should 
not be allowed to accumulate in the oven, 
but should be drawn or pumped out into a 
receiving or filling tank immediately. This 
is important, as it is not practicable to have 
the oven placed on a level above the filling 
tank. A honey-pump to deliver the honey 
to the tank is much more satisfactory than 
a tank and honey -melting oven placed at 
different elevations. 

The receiving tank is made on the double- 
boiler principle — one tank inside of the 
other. The outer one should be at least 
two inches larger in diameter, and the space 
of about one inch between the tanks should 
be filled with water heated by steam. The 
inner tank to hold the honey should have a 
tube at the bottom, passing thru the hot 
water to the outer tank, to which is attach- 
ed a honey-gate. This gate may be used 
for filling the bottles direct, or the tank 
may be used for making up the blend re- 
ferred to further on, as practically all bot- 
tled honeys nowadays are made up of two 
or three different flavors. When a blend is 
used it is customary to run the honey from 
the receiving tank into a separate filling 
tank. From the filling tank there should 
be attached a three-quarter steam hose five 
or six feet long. On the end of this hose 
is attached a specially made honey-gate, 
with a spout long enough to reach down to 
the bottom of the bottles or glass jars. 
While packages can be filled from a honey- 
gate attached directly to the tank, it is 
much more convenient and better to use 
rubber hose with a gate on the end. The 
bottles should be placed in groups of one 



BOTTLING HONEY 



123 



or two dozen in a tray; and by means of 
the flexible hose and honey-filling gate, each 
package is filled without handling. More- 
over, a long snout on the gate enables one 
to direct the stream of honey clear down to 
the bottom of the jar, thus avoiding the 
accumulation of air bubbles that make the 
honey look frothy on top, and, besides, 
hasten granulation. In filling, the snout 
should be put clear to the bottom of the 
jar; and as the jar fills, the gate should be 
lifted slowly until the jar is full. This fea- 
ture is important. The process is repeated 
with the next jar until all are filled. An- 
other tray of jars is placed within reach of 
the rubber hose, and the process is repeat- 
ed. After the jars are filled they are sealed 
while hot, then labeled and wrapped, ready 
to be put in paper cartons. 

A BLEXD OF SEVERAL KINDS OF HOXEY FOR 
BOTTLING PURPOSES. 

The seasons for honey production are so 
uncertain at times that one finds himself 
imable to supply his trade with the honey 
he produces from his own yard. If, for 
example, his honey is almost exclusively 
from clover, with little or no basswood or 
fall flow, the trade will become educated to 
like that particular flavor, and will reject 
all other honeys of other flavors on the 
ground that they are impure. To provide 
? gainst a contingency of this kind it is ad- 
visable to use from the start for bottling 
purposes a honey that can always be fur- 
nished year after year. It is usually cus- 
tomary to make a blend of white clover, 
basswood, alfalfa, and mountain sage, and, 
if the trade is supplied with this blend 
from the very start, it will become accus- 
tomed to it. Such a blend can be made uj) 
of honeys that one can purchase when local 
honey fails; whereas if one puts up onlj^ 
white clover at the beginning, he will find 
it difficult to purchase a strictly pure clover 
except at highest prices. Where one lives 
in a clover locality he will do well to make 
up a blend of 50 per cent of clover, 25 per 
cent of sage, and 25 per cent of alfalfa. 
It may be assumed, for example, that he 
has a season of failure, and yet the bottling 
trade keeps up just the same. He usually 
buys a mixture of clover and basswood. His 
taste will become educated so he can deter- 
mine the percentage of the one to the other. 



Then by putting in a small amount of al- 
falfa, which he can always procure, he will 
be able to supply his trade with the proper 
blend. 

If one lives in a locality where alfalfa is 
jivoduced extensively, there will be no need 
of having a special blend, because the pure 
alfalfa can usually be obtained in sufficient 
quantity. 

In mixing the different flavors of honey 
it will be necessary, after putting into the 
tank the requisite amount of each kind, to 
stir them slightly while heating. This is to 
prevent overheating a part of the honey, 
and to bring about a thoro blend. The 
stirring may be done with a paddle; but a 
better arrangement is a sort of extractor- 
reel having blades that will thoroly mix the 
honey. The reel should revolve four or five 
times a minute. Faster than this will not 
be necessary. The little motor that is used 
to operate the honey-pump can also run a 
countershaft geared back so that the mix- 
ing reel inside of the blending tank will not 
revolve faster than the time stated. 

USING THE SUN-'S RAYS IN SOLAR WAX-EX- 
TRACTORS TO PREVENT HONEY IN BOT- 
TLES FROM GRANULATING. 

The late H. R. Boardman of Collins, 
Ohio; E. B. Rood of Bradentown, Florida, 
and some others, have been placing their 
bottled honey in solar wax-extractors, to 
'•' sterilize " the honey. See Wax, subhead, 
"' Solar Wax-extractor." Under some con- 
ditions the temperature would reach 150 de- 
grees Fahrenheit. When this is maintained 
for a large part of the day the heat alone, 
apparently to a great extent, tends to pre- 
vent granulation; but seemingly, at least, 
the actinic rays of the sun have some 
chemical effect, in addition to the heat. Mr. 
Boardman, who has been a pioneer in the 
art of sterilizing honey in bottles by the 
use of heat and light of the sun, wrote 
an article for Gleanings in Bee Culture, 
Vol. XXXVIL, page 769. This is what he 
says : 

During the last 10 years I have kept, 
perhaps, an average of 100 colonies of bees, 
and have run thera mostly for extracted 
honey. Nearly all of this I have put in 
glass packages, sterilized in my solar ster- 
ilizer, and furnished to the grocery trade or 
sold in my home market. So entirely satis- 
factory has this honey been found that I 



124 



BOTTLING HONEY 



now have very little, if any, other. 1 am se- 
riously contemplating cutting out comb-hon- 
ey production entirely in the near future. 

I started my experiments with the rays of 
the sun by placing granulated honey in a 
solar-extractor to restore it to the liquid 
state. So well pleased was I with the results 
that I continued the experiments further. 
In the mean time I discovered that there 
were some properties besides heat in the 
sun 's rays which were being imparted to my 
honey that made it act differently from any 
honey that I had warmed artificially. These 
results led me to treat liquid honey, as soon 
as I extracted it, in the same way, and I 
found that it came out bright and sparkling, 
with the delicate original flavor unimpaired. 

LAST YEARNS CROP. 

Some of my honey from last year I ear- 
ned over. It was in two-quart jars, and all 
that was thoroly treated to the sun I found 
remained bright and sparkling, and in per- 
fect condition in every way. Some that had 
been treated hurriedly, on account of a lack 
of capacity of my sterilizer, crystallized 
more or less, but I was not disappointed 
in this. Honey that is often disturbed will 
soon show a tendency to granulate. Moisture 
will cause honey to granulate. Some of the 
jars showed some granulation. A little water 
got into these jars after the honey was 
sterilized last year. This honey grained and 
settled down into the clear liquid, and re- 
m.ained suspended in fantastic shapes. 

In 1902 I sent the editor some samples of 
honey put up in jelly glasses, and taken 
from a lot prepared for market the year pre- 
vious. At that time, as it showed no signs 
of granulating, I supposed it would remain 
liquid indefinitely. This was put to a stren- 
uous test during the winter, and it granulat- 
ed, as reported at the time. I am entirely 
£<atisfied, however, from further experiments, 
that this granulating was caused by fre- 
quent handling and disturbing. I have some 
of this same lot of samples yet that have 
remained undisturbed, and there is no gran- 
ulation even tho seven years have elapsed. 

In the light of these experiments I think 
it is conservative to say that honey thoroly 
and properly sterilized will remain from 
year to year unchanged, and, under favor- 
able conditions, will remain indefinitely 
without gra^nulating. If, for any reason, the 
honey is not thoroly treated, it may sooner 
or later show a tendency to crystallize. 

In this connection I would say that I have 
found full sunshine absolutely essential to 
perfect sterilization. Unfortunately, this is 
a feature which we cannot control. In the 
sunny South I know of no reason why a so- 
lar sterilizer of honey should not be emi- 
nently successful, and, to some extent, be 
utilized in putting up bulk comb honey. 

The lioney to which Mr. Board man re- 
fers, and which he desired us to test, was 



placed on the window sill just outside of 
the office. This honey stood outdoors dur- 
ing the following winter, subject to ex- 
tremes of temperature; and if there is any 
thing that will make honey granulate, it is 
alternate warming and cooling. The tem- 
perature during the summer would proba- 
bly go up to 90 in the shade, and in winter 
anywhere from 50 degrees above to 10 be- 
low zero. Certainly the conditions were 
favorable for making this honey granulate; 
but it remained liquid thruout the winter 
and all the following summer; but by the 
middle of the following winter it began to 
show slight traces of granulation. Proba- 
bly, no honey that has been subjected to 
heat alone would have stood this extreme 
difference of temperature for so long a 
period, and it may be concluded that there 
must be something in the chemical effect 
of the sunlight itself. 

The question naturally arises why large 
bottlers of honey do not use the sun's rays 
rather than artificial heat alone. Principal- 
ly because the solar wax-extractor, for 
commercial purposes, is too slow; and be- 
cause, further, in the Northern States there 
are too many days without direct sunlight, 
especially at that time of the year when the 
bottling trade would be at its height. But 
for a local demand, the solar wax-extractor 
in the matter of convenience and effective- 
ness is probably much ahead of artificial 
heat alone. 

WASHING AND CLEANING BOTTLES. 

Prepare several tubs of water — one of 
them with strong suds — and then have on 
hand a few ounces of shot — No. 6 is about 
right. If particles of glass or dirt cling to 
the inside of the bottles, pour in four or 
five ounces of shot and give the bottle a 
shaking. This will dislodge all particles, 
when the shot may be poured into another 
bottle, to be similarly treated. In rinsing, 
use clear soft water. Hard water is liable 
to leave traces of sediment. Any glass pack- 
age used for honey designed for table pur 
poses should be spotlessly clean. 

HOW TO INSERT CORKS IN BOTTLES. 

Two or three methods are emplo3^ed. Ont 
is, to use a rubber mallet, which can be 
purchased at any of the rubber stores. 
The ends of the mallet being soft, a cork 



BOTTLING HONEY 



125 



ihat is barely entered can be driven into the 
bottle with a blow. 

Another plan is to use a lever, as shown 
at D, in cut. This lever should have a 
projection on the under side so the cork 
can be forced down into the bottle about a 
sixteenth of an inch. It is important, after 
corking', to pour a layer of paraffin or wax 
over the top of the cork. Some go so fai* 
as to dip the corks into hot paraffin, then 
pour a hot layer on top after they are in- 
serted in the bottles. Some go even fur- 
ther. After the corks have been paraffined 
they put on a neat tinfoil top. If the 
honey has been heated above 160, and seal- 
ed while hot, and the cork is made imper- 
vious, it will remain liquid for months. 
Samples of honey put up in Muth jars 
have been kept in a refrigerator six 
months, and yet would remain perfectly 
clear all the time. But the grocer's custo- 
mers should not be advised to put honey in 
a cold place. The bottles should not be 
handled more than is necessary, but be kept 
in a warm place at as uniform a tempera- 
ture as possible. 

Assuming that no directions are neces- 
sary for sealing packages using rubber 
rings, it is important that the sealing be 




made as tight as possible. In the case of 
Mason jars, the tops should be screwed 
down with a wrench, and screwed down 
tight. 



In sealing jelly tumblers, cut circles of 
paper (preferably paraffined paper) about 
the size of the top of the tumbler. When 
the jar is filled, put the paper on top of the 
jar, and squeeze the top down with the 
palm of the hand, putting a large part of 
the weight of the body on it. If the top 
goes down too easily, use thicker paper or 
two thicknesses. 

TEQUIREMEXTS OF THE LAW AS TO LABELS. 

The national pure-food law, and in some 
cases state laws, require that the label shall 
indicate the exact contents of a package; 
and iherefore it would not be advisable to 
call a blend, such as has been described, a 
pure clover. It will be perfectly proper to 
say " pure extracted honey bottled by John 
Jones;" but John Jones must not say 
" pure extracted honey from the apiary of 
John Jones " imless such honey did actual- 
ly come from his apiary. 

Allusion has already been made to the 
fact that the federal laws, and in some in- 
stances state laws, require that the exact 
quantity by weight or measure of the con- 
tents for retail purposes shall show on the 
label. It should be stated, in this connec- 
tion, that the Bureau of Chemistry has 
ruled that anything under one pound 
should be stated in oimces. Anything above 
a pound should be stated in terms of 
pounds and ounces. It is contrary to the 
ruling to make a label read " 36 ounces, net 
weight," when it should read " two pounds 
and four ounces, net weight." The purpose 
of this is to prevent confusing the con- 
sumer by making a statement which may 
be at the same time misleading. If the 
package states, for example, that the pack- 
age contains 60 ounces, the consumer has 
to make a mental calculation to determine 
how much honey or other food product he 
is getting. The purpose of the law is to 
give the consumer an opportunity to know 
just what he is getting, and the exact 
weight in terms that are the most easily 
understood. 

LABELING BOTTLED HONEY. 

As a general rule, small circular labels 
should be used. The big ones that cover up 
the whole jar do not usually afford as pret- 
ty an effect as the small, neat, tasty labels 
that give the customer an opportunity to 



126 



BOX HIVES 




A typical backlot box-hive apiary under a shed. 



see the honey. It is the honey that sells; 
and if it is a fine quality, the grocer should 
be induced to display it in such a way in 
his window that the light will sparkle thru 
it, and it will then readily sell itself. See 
Labels for Honey. 

For putting up in tin cans see Extract- 
ed Honey. 

BOX HIVES.— It seems as if any de- 
scription of box hives in a work to teach 
modern apiculture would be out of place; 
but the facts are, there are thousands upon 
thousands of colonies kept in these old 
gums in the South Atlantic States where 
there are more bees and beekeepers to the 
square mile than anywhere else in the Unit- 
ed States. 

These hives, as the name indicates, are 
merely boxes containing neither brood- 
frames nor movable fixtures. They usually 
consist of a rude, rough box about 12 or 
15 inches square, and from 18 to 24 inches 
high. Thru the center there are two cross- 



sticks, the purpose of which is to help sus- 
tain the weight of the combs built in ir- 
regular sheets within the hive. 

At the close of the season it was and is 
the custom for the owner of box hives to 
go around and " heft " his hives. Those 
that are heavy are marked to be brim- 
stoned; and those that are light are left to 
winter over for the next season if they can. 
The bees of the first named are destroyed 
with sulphur fumes, and then the beebread, 
honey, and everything are cut out. 

In the more modern box hives there are 
boxes with glass ends that can be drawn 
out from an upper part, leaving the lower 
intact. In this case the bees are not de- 
stroyed. In any case there is no oppor- 
tunity to inspect combs, hunt queens, di- 
vide, nor perform any of the hundred and 
one operations peculiar to modern apicul- 
ture. 

As stated at the outset, in some of the 
Southern States, particularly the South At- 
lantic — Virginia, North Carolina, South 



BOX HIVES 



127 



Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia — box 
hives or log gums are used very largely. 
Indeed, there are very few modern hives or 
modern beekeepers. The mountaineers in 
some of those States are of the purest of 
pure Anglo-Saxon blood. Their ancestors 
came from England 300 years ago. As 
their isolation up in the mountains shuts 
them out completely from the outside 
world, many of the old customs and modes 
of speech still cling to them. At all events, 
they appear to be keeping bees in box hives 
or gums just as it was done in England 300 



No matter what the season is, even tho 
the crop has been only half harvested, the 
colony must be brimstoned and the honey 
taken off at some particular phase of the 
moon. 

Whenever there is a death in the family, 
the bees must be notified by pounding on 
the gum and telling it that So and So is 
dead. On Washington's birthday, Feb. 22, 
the gums must be moved an inch or two or 
the bees will all die. If a visitor calls to see 
the bees, and the owner is asked how many 
gums he has, he always says he does not 




A TYPICAL LOG-GUM APIARY IN THE MOUNTAINS OF GEORGIA. 

There are many log apiaries all thru the South. The hollow logs are 
better because the walls are thicker than those of the regular box hives. 



years ago. They have no knowledge of 
modern methods. The moth miller, swarm- 
ing, and poor wintering are the handicaps 
that prevent them from getting much hon- 
ey. The most of them, for example, know 
nothmg of hiving the first swarms on the 
old stand, and placing the parent colony to 
one side or in an entirely new location in 
order to catch all the flying bees with the 
swarm. They leave the parent colony on 
the old stand, and, of course, it continues 
to swarm itself weak. In the mean time 
the moth miller and winter perform their 
destructive work. The result is that little 
or no increase is made, and the prime 
swarms are the only ones that yield any 
return. If foul brood ever gets a foothold 
here, the business, such as it is, will be 
wiped out. 



know exactly. If the visitor proceeds to 
count the colonies he is stopped immediate- 
ly; for to count the colonies and know the 
exact number would invite calamity; and 
so common superstition seems to have got- 
ten hold of these splendid highlanders, the 
purest of the pure descendants of our fore- 
fathers. 

Possibly, here is a ease showing that if 
ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise; but 
the United States evidently thinking other- 
wise, has recently been sending experts 
down into this country to teach modern 
methods; for statistics show that there 
are more bees and beekeepers in this South- 
land than in any other portion of the 
United States. The country is exceedingly 
favorable for the keeping of bees, and the 
day should not be far distant when modern 



128 



BOX HIVES 



apiculture will supplant the old box-hive Some of these people live in almost abso- 

system, coupled as it is with ignorance and lute poverty when they might just as well 

superstition. get a fair living, if they could but know of 

It is only fair to state, however, that the the modern methods of handling even box 

class of box-hive beekeepers here described hives. 



«.*^-*J^Si. : 




^W^,^^ 



3^^ 




Jf.^^W^^ >^ 




A TYPICAL BOX HIVE WITH AU EARTHEN CROCK FOR A C0M3- 
IIONEY SUPER 

These crocks would Le cold, but v.hen once filled would keep tie lioiuy 
£afe i'loin leakiug after taking off tl.e gum. 



does not represent all of this Southland; 
but there are enough of them to require the 
eai-nest attention of the extension workers 
or county agents sent out by the general 
Government. 



Moses Quinby, in the early '50's, handled 
box hives so that he made money; and if 
these people cannot afford movable- frame 
hives, they could, by the simple expedient 
of hiving a swarm back on the parent stand 



BREEDING STOCK 



129 



and removing the parent colony, vastly in- 
crease their resources. Father Qiiinby did 
not brimstone his bees: and neither will 
these purest of pure Anglo-Saxons up in 
the mountains of the South Atlantic States 
be compelled to do so. Quinby's old book 
of 1853 — a reprint of which has been made 
by the publishers of this volume — explains 



j^^^^S? 


Hi 


■ 


' 


1 




t 

j w 


■1 








•i 


■| 









A type of box hive largely used 50 years ago 
still found in old-fashioned apiaries. 



and 



how bees can be kept on the box-hive sys- 
tem without the use of brimstone. While 
the tricks of the trade taught in this old 
work of Quinby would enable the high- 
landers to increase their yields per colony, 
the modern hive with movable frames 
would enable them to do vastly better. 

BREEDING STOCK.— Everv^ well-regu- 
lated apiar}- or series of apiaries should 
have one or more choice queens from which 
to breed. Such queens should, of course, 
be the very best in the apiary, or, better 
still, the best out of a series of outyards 
including the home apiary. Such queens 
should not only be prolific but be the 
mothers of workers that are energetic and 
good workers — that is, bees that will store 
more honey than any others. It is impor- 
tant, also, that they be of pure stock in or- 
der that they may the better transmit their 
5 



qualities. While gentleness is desirable, it 
is sometimes necessary to sacrifice this de- 
sirable quality in order to get bees for 
business. 

When using Italian stock one should not 
be misled by the fad of a bright golden or 
yellow color. If it comes about accidental- 
ly without the sacrifice of business quali- 
ties, the beekeeper is that much ahead. As 
a rule, the darker strains of Italians will 
show more desirable points than the bright- 
colored ones. 

Ability to stand a severe winter is a 
necessary quality. It usually follows that 
bees that will breed up early in the spring, 
and prove to be good workers, are also 
good winterers. Bees that have difficulty in 
resisting the' winter will be too weak, if 
they survive, to be good for anything in 
the season. It follows as a natural infer- 
ence that a colony of bees that can pile up 
super after super of honey is also good 
for wintering. 

It has been proven that some strains of 
bees will resist disease much better than 
otliers. While no stock is immime, there 
are some that do not readily contract dis- 
ease, while others will fall easy victims. If 
possible a breeding queen should be one 
whose bees have demonstrated their ability 
to ward off disease, and there are some that 
have shown great superiority in this re- 
spect. 

In this connection, good breeding drones 
should not be forgotten. It is generally 
accepted that a male is more able to trans- 
mit his good" or bad qualities than the 
female; and the same rule holds good in 
bee culture. In selecting breeding queens 
one should not only select those that will 
produce good daughters but those that will 
beget good sons. It very often and gener- 
ally happens that, in order to prevent in- 
breeding, one must go to some other breed- 
er to get stock for crossing with his own. 

The average beginner should buy his 
breeding stock, especially if he has only a 
few colonies; and even after he becomes 
fairly expert, if he has only one apiary it 
will be ad\dsable for him to buy a breeding 
queen of two or three of the best breeders 
in the country. A good queen is worth 
from $5.00 to $10.00— usually the latter 
figure. Sometimes as much as $25.00 is 
paid. When one buys a breeder he should 



130 



BROOD AND BROOD-REARING 




ms^ 




Close view of eggs. Notice the cell in the lower left-hand corner contains two eggs, while that at the 
right-hand corner has a larva. 



always have her sent to him in a nucleus 
rather than thru the mails. Usually a 
breeding queen is not less than one year 
old, for it takes at least a year, unless the 
season is exceedingly favorable, to measure 
up her value. A queen one or two years 
old will not stand transmission thru the 
mails like^an untested queen that has just 
begun to lay. 

After one receives a breeder he should 
give her the utmost care, not expecting that 
she will live more than a year, especially if 
she is already two years old. He must keep 
her in a small nucleus, for no breeding- 
queen during the active season should be 
the mother of a powerful colony. She 
should be kept down, and given as little 
egg-laying to do as possible ; and then in the 
winter, when the active season is over, her 
colony should be gradually built up with 
combs of hatching brood. She should be 
given young brood in this way until she is 
the mother of a large colony, and then in 
addition she should be given every advan- 
tage by housing her colony in a large dou- 
ble-walled hive in a protected location. Or 
if one has a good cellar where he can con- 
trol conditions, her colony should be placed 
indoors. See Wintering Outdoors and 
Wintering in Cellars. 

The use of a good breeding queen may 



mean the difference between profit and loss 
in a year's business. It is folly to keep 
scrub cows on the farm when good cows on 
the same feed will furnish two or three 
times the milk. It is equally foolish to 
breed from anything but the best queen 
stock obtainable. A good strain of bees 
will produce anywhere from two to three 
times as much honey as a poor one. See 
Queens and Queen-rearing. 

BROOD AND BROOD - REARING. — 

" Brood " is a term commonly used to des- 
ignate the young of the bees in the cells 
that have not hatched out. It may be young- 
bees just before they have emerged from 
the cells, the laiTse in various stages of 
growth, or even the eggs. 

Very often the beginner is confused be- 
cause he is not able to distinguish capped 
honey from capped brood; nor does he 
know the difference between drone and 
worker brood. Sealed brood is of a light 
to dark-brown color, depending on the age 
and color of the comb itself. In ordinary 
worker brood, in cells five to the inch, the 
cappings are made up of wax and fibrous 
material, smooth and slightly convex if the 
brood is not diseased. Drone brood is the 
same in appearance except that the cap- 
pings are more convex with four cells to 



BROOD AND BROOD-REARING 



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131 






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132 



BROOD AND BROOD-REARING 



the inch. The cappings over honey are 
white, bluish-white, or yellow, are more or 
less irregular, and somewhat flattened. The 
honey may be in either worker- or drone- 
cells. By comparing the illustrations of 
brood shown on preceding page, together 
with the cappings of comb honey under 
Comb Honey^ the beginner will easily make 
the distinction. 

The average beginner may not be able 
to see eggs at first. One trouble is, he does 
not know where to look nor what to expect. 
When he peers down into the bottoms of 
the cells and sees tiny little objects stand- 
ing on end at an angle he hardly knows 
what they are. The accompanying photo 
shows the eggs in the bottoms of the cells, 
altho photography is not able to show the 
depth of the cell. The next view shows 
brood in various stages of development. 

HOW THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCT^ OF BROOD 

REVEALS THE REAL CONDITION OF THE 

COLONY. 

It is the presence of eggs or young larva) 
that shows that the bees have a queen and 
are beginning to rear brood. This may 
show even during midwinter if the weather 
has been warm for a few days; or it may 
occur, as it usually does, in early spring. 
Brood will be found in all stages of growth 
as the season progresses. 

On the other hand, the absence of unseal- 
ed brood, and especially the absence of 
eggs, may be an indication that the colony 
is queenless. During spring and early sum- 
mer there will be, or should be, brood in 
all stages, including eggs. Such a condition 
indicates general prosperity, and the bee- 
keeper can feel that his pets are doing well. 
But if there are no eggs nor young larvae, 
and the queen cannot be found; and if, 
also, there are initial queen-cells during 
spring and the fore part of summer, the 
strong probabilities are that the queen has 
recently died or that a swarm has issued. 
It may further be said that the absence of 
eggs and the presence of initial queen-cells 
during the active season is fairly good 
proof either that the queen is not in the 
hive, or that the one that is there is good 
for nothing and should be replaced. It will 
be seen, then, that the presence or absence 
of brood in various stages of growth, and 
especially young brood and eggs, gives one 



a pretty accurate idea of the condition of 
tiie colony. 

After the main honey flow, which usually 
occurs in the Northern States from July 1 
to August 1, the activity of the queen in 
egg-laying will decrease and the amount of 
brood, even in a normal colony, will be very 
much less than at any time preceding the 
honey flow. Sometimes there will be almost 
no larvae nor eggs, and but very little seal- 
ed brood. The beginner will be inclined to 
think the queen is failing, when, as a mat- 
ter of fact, she and her colony are pursu- 
ing a normal course. Nature evidently 
works on the plan that there is no use in 
producing a lot of worker bees and con- 
sumers when they can be of no possible 
help to the colony; so she husbands her 
forces until another honey flow comes on 
toward fall. At that time brood-rearing 
will start up again; and possibly the hives 
may have as much brood as at any time 
during spring or early summer. But if cool 
or frosty nights come on, the amount, prob- 
ably, will not go beyond one or two frames. 
If considerable brood is in the hive when 
a severe cool or cold spell comes on, it is 
apt to result in a lot of chilled brood. 

Sometimes during the flow, when aster 
and goldenrod are in bloom, the bees and 
queen apparently become excited and begin 
breeding heavily. A chilly, rainy spell 
may come on for four or five days, but not 
cold enough to kill the blossoms in the 
fields. During the interim the cluster con- 
tracts, especially at night. The young 
brood outside of the cluster chills and dies. 
In a day or two these larvae will be found 
scattered around the entrance of the hive, 
and the beginner is inclined to come to the 
conclusion that something is wrong — that 
some bee disease like foul brood is in the 
hives. 

The statement was made that egg-laying 
would begin to decrease after the main hon- 
ey flow. This is true with all except young 
laying queens. A queen reared in June 
will probably continue laying all thru the 
Slimmer, and the colony will contain brood 
in all stages. One reared in September will 
begin laying immediately, no matter what 
the conditions, and she will keep it up till 
cool or cold weather shuts it off. 

In some localities it is an advantage to 
use young queens in order that there may 



BROOD AND BROOD-REARING 



133 



be a large force of bees for the honey flow 
that will follow the main one. The second- 
ary flow, perhaps, will be from buckwheat, 
aster, goldenrod, or all of them. It is im- 
portant to have a strong force of bees for 
it. Brood-rearing should, therefore, he 
continued from the first flow either by 
having young queens or by stimulative 
feeding, if honey is not coming in from 
natural sources. (See Feeding, subhead 
" Feeding to Stimulate." 

''BY THEIR FRUITS YE SHALL KNOW THEM.''^ 



will depend on the clinuite and the winter. 
A mild winter or a mild climate will start 
breeding, especially if the bees can fly; 
but if a sharp cold snap follows, much of 
the brood will die, and the colony will 
suffer. In the South, brood-rearing on ac- 
count of the mildness of the climate may 
or may not progress every month in the 
year. Breeding always requires a large 
amount of stores, and this explains why 
bees in the Southern States consume more 
stores during winter than those in the 
North. 



The amount of brood, the manner in 
which the eggs are laid — whether in scat- 
tering or irregular patches — also give one 
a fair idea, even tho he has not seen her, of 
the kind of queen he has in the hive. If 
there is only a scant amount of brood, and 
eggs are scattering when other colonies are 
well supplied, the presumption is that the 
queen is poor, and that a better queen 
should be put in her place. After she is 
found, the probabilities are that she will be 
small, no larger than a worker. 

If, on the other hand, brood is found in 
six or seven frames, in all stages of growth 
from eggs to the hatching bees, in a ten- 
frame colony, the conclusion may be drawn 
that the queen is a good one, even tho she 
has not been seen. "By their fruits ye 
shall know them." When located, the queen 
will probably be discovered to be large, 
handsome, long or full-bodied. By wait- 
ing a moment, one may have the pleasure 
of seeing her lay an egg, for such a queen 
is usually on the job night and day. 

As already stated, after the main honey 
flow egg-laying may almost entirely cease. 
One is more apt to find this condition at 
the close of the general harvest where the 
queen is one or two years old. A young 
queen reared in spring will usually con- 
tinue to lay thruout the season. But usu- 
ally any queen will begin laying when new 
honey begins to come in or when the col- 
ony is given stimulative feeding. Brood- 
rearing late in the fall, however, should 
not be attempted since it does more harm 
than good. There should be no brood in 
the hives during winter in the North until 
about February or March, and then in 
only small patches and in outdoor colonies. 

Too early brood-rearing during winter 
may or may not be a good omen. Much 



BROOD-REARING DURING MIDWINTER. 

Mention has been made of the fact that 
brood may be found in the hive during 
midwinter, particularly with bees outdoors. 
If the weather is mild, or if bees are 
located in a southern climate, brood may 
be found in the hive every month in the 
year. Ordinarily, in the Northern States 
no brood will be found much before Feb- 
ruary; but breeding may be started either 
in the cellar or outdoors bj^ giving slabs 
of hard candy laid flat on top of the 
brood-nest with two %-inch cleats to 
hold it up from the top of the frames. 
(See Candy, particularly Hard Candy.) 
Disturbance of the brood-nest in or "out of 
the cellar will also often start breeding. 
The average beginner would do well not 
to hasten things before the bees themselves 
commence. If brood-rearing begins too 
early, there is danger of dysentery setting 
in. In order to maintain brood-rearing, the 
temperature of the colony must be up to 
about blood heat — 98. This stimulates the 
activities of the colony, causing a large 
consumption of stores; but if the bees 
are not able to make winter flights, the 
retention of the feces mRj cause dysentery. 
When this starts in January or February 
it will probably mean the loss of the colony 
before spring. (See Dysentery.) How- 
ever, an experienced beekeeper in the 
Northern States may start brood-rearing 
sometimes by giving slabs of candy, and 
the result w^ill be that the colony will be 
stronger by spring than in the fall. But 
the average beginner should let the bees 
severely alone, provided he is sure they 
have plenty of stores and are well housed. 

For a further discussion of brood and 
brood-rearing, see Feeding, subhead Feed- 



134 



BROOD AND BROOD-REARING 



ixG TO Stimulate; Caxdy; Spreading 
Brood; Queens and Queen-rearing. For 
a discussion of brood diseases, chilled 
brood, and neglected brood, see Foul 
Brood. 

DRONE brood. 

This has the general characteristics of 
worker brood, except that the cells are 
larger and the cappings more convex. 
While worker brood hatches out in from 
20 to 21 days from the laying of the egg, 
drone brood emerges in from 23 to 24 
days. See large half-tone plate. 

A drone-laying queen or a laying worker 
(see Laying Workers) may lay drone 
eggs in worker-cells. In that case the brood 
will be worker size, but the cappings will 
be more convex than ordinary worker. 

Drone brood will often die from neg- 
lect. It will smell like foul brood, but 
lack the characteristics of either European 
or American foul brood. Beginners some- 
times suppose it to be a disease. But 
dead drone brood usually means nothing 
serious, especially if the worker brood in 
the hive is normally healthy. 

Under the head of Bee Behavior and 
Develop:\ient op Bees^ the scientific side 
of the grov^ih of the bee from the egg to 
the tnlly developed worker has been dis- 
cussed; but, as there may be some who 
do not caref to go into the science of this, 
something here is presented that will en- 
able one to follow out for himself the 
entire development of the bee, from the 
egg up to the time that it hatches, and 
even after it begins to perform some of 
the duties of the hive. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OP BROOD.* 

During warm weather, while bees are 
gathering honey, open the hive about noon, 
and put in the center a frame containing 
a sheet of foundation. Examine it every 
morning, noon, and evening, until eggs 
can be seen in the cells. By inserting it 
between two combs already containiag 
brood, eggs will be found in the cells the 
next day. 

If one has never seen an egg that is to 
produce a bee, he may have to look very 
sharply the first time, for they are white 
like polished ivory, and scarcely larger 



than the letter "i" in this print. (See De- 
^'ELOPMENT OF Bees.) They will be seen 
m the center of the cells attached to the 
comb by one end. The egg under the 
microscope much resembles the cut. It is 
covered, as will be noted, with a sort of 
lacelike penciling, or network it might 
properly be called. Immediately on dis- 
covering eggs, the date should be marked. 




* See also Development of Bees, 



A queen's egg under the microscope. 

If the weather is favorable, these eggs 
will hatch out in about three days or a 
little more, when, in place of the egg, if 
one looks sharply enough, he will see a 
tiny white worm or grub floating in a 
minute drop of milky fluid. If he watches 
he will find bees incessantly poking their 
heads into these cells. Just before the 
inmate breaks its way out of the shell a 
milky food is placed on and about the egg. 
Experiments have proven this necessary 
to the development of the egg; for if 
eggs are removed from the hive and sub- 
jected to the proper temperature they will 
hatch if supplied with the milky food; 
otherwise not. These worms that hatch 
from the eggs are really young bees in 
their larval state, and we shall in the 
future call them larva. They thrive and 
grow very rapidly on their bread-and-milk 
diet, as can be seen if they are looked 
at very often. They will more than double 
in size in a single half-day. This seems 
almost incredible; but there they are, 
right before our eyes. Probably it is ow- 
ing to the highly concentrated nature of 
this bread-and-milk food that the workers 
are so constantly giving them that they 
grow so rapidly. If the comb is taken 
away from the bees for a little while, the 
larvag will be seen opening their mouths to 
be fed, like a nest of young birds. 

Figures under the cut represent the age 
in days from the laying of an egg. First, 
the larva just having broken the egg-shell 



BROOD AND BROOD-REARING 



135 



on the third da}-; next, a larva on the 
fourth day. During the fifth and the sixth 
daj^s they grow very rapidly, but it is 
difficult to fix any precise mark in regard 
to size. On the ninth day, the larva hav- 




The daily growth of larvx. 

ing straightened itself out, worker bees 
cap it over. (See Development of Bees.) 
We have made a pretty accurate experi- 
ment on this point, and it was just six 
days and seven hours after the first egg 
hatched that the bees completely capped it 
over. To determine when larvae begin to 
have legs and eyes, see DEVELOPisrEXT of 
Bees. The wings develop toward the last 
of the growth. 

After the larvae are 6 days old, or be- 
tween 9 and 10 days from the time the egg 
vras laid, one will find the bees sealing up 
some of the largest. This sealing is done 
u^th a porous-like substance in which are 
found wax shreds, old silk, bee hair, and 
sometimes pollen; and while it shuts the 
young bee up, it still allows it a chance to 
breathe thru the pores of the capping. It 
is given its last food, and the nurse bees 
seem to say, "There! you have been fed 
enough. Spin your cocoon, and take care 
of yourself." (See De\t:lopmext of 
Bees.) 

After this the young bee is generally 
left covered up until it gnaws off the cap- 
ping and comes out a perfect bee. This 
will be in about 21 days from the time the 
egg Avas laid, or it may be 20 if the 
weather is very favorable; therefore it is 
shut up 11 or 12 days. 

There is an exception to this last state- 
ment, and it has caused not a little trouble 
and solicitude to beginners. During very 
warm summer weather, the bees, for one 
reason or another, decide to let a part of 
their children go "bareheaded," and there- 
fore, on opening a hive, whole patches of 
immature bees will be found looking like 
silent corpses with their white heads in 
tiers just about on a level with the surface 



of the comb. This seems to be peculiar 
to the offspring of some queens or strains, 
and is sometimes so pronounced that al- 
most no brood is perfectly sealed at any 
season. At this stage of growth they are 
motionless, of course, and so the young 
beekeeper sends a postal card, saying the 
brood in his hive is all dead. Some have 
imagined that the extractor killed them, 
others that it was foul brood (see Foul 
Brood) ; and we often think, when read- 
ing these letters, of the family which 
moved from the city into the country. 
When their beans began to come up, they 
thought the poor things had made a mis- 
take by coming up wrong end first; so 
they pulled them all up, and replanted 
them with the bean part in the ground, 
leaving the proper roots sprawling in the 
air. One can rest assured that the bees 
always know when it is safe to let the 
children's heads go uncovered. 

It is very important, many times, to 
discover just when a queen was lost or a 
colony swarmed; hence one should learn 
these data thoroly: the development of a 
bee occupies 3 days in the egg, 6 in the 
larval state, and 12 days sealed up. 

The capping of worker-brood is nearly 
flat; that of the drones so much raised or 
convexed that we can at a glance tell when 
drones are reared in worker-cells, as is 
sometimes the case. See large plate. 

brood after it hatches. 

The young bee, when it gnaws its way 
out of the cell, commences to rub its own 
nose, straighten out its feathers, and then 
push its way among the busy throng, 
doubtless rejoicing to become one of that 
vast com.monwealth. Nobody says a word, 
nor, apparently, takes any notice of the 
youngster; but for all that, these young 
bees, as a whole, the author is well con- 
vinced, feel encouraged, and rejoice in 
their OAvn way at a house full of young 
folks. If a colony is kept without young 
bees for a time, one will see a new energy 
infused into all hands just as soon as 
young bees begin to gnaw out. 

If one should vary the experiment by 
putting a frame of Italian eggs into a 
colony of black bees, he will be better able 
to follow the newly emerged young bee 



136 



BUCKBUSH 



as it matures. The first day it does little 
but cT-awl around; but about the next day 
it will be found dipping greedily into the 
cells of unsealed honey. After about the first 
day it will begin to look after the wants 
of the unsealed larvae, and very soon assists 
in furnishing the milky food for them. 
While so doing, a large amount of pollen 
is used, and it is supposed that this larval 
food is pollen and honey, partially digested 
by these young nurses. Bees of this age 
or a little older supply royal jelly for the 
queen-cells, which is the same, probably, as 
the food given very small larvae. Just 
before they are sealed up, larvae to produce 
worker bees and drones are fed on a 
coarser, less perfectly digested mixture of 
honey and pollen. Very possibly the only 
difference in this food is the addition of 
honey with its contained pollen, to the food 
previously given by other and perhaps 
younger nurses. Young bees have a white 
doT^iiy look until they are a full week old. 
and continue a peculiar young aspect until 
they are quite two weeks old. At about 
this latter age they are generally active 
comb-builders of the hive. When a week 
or ten days old they take their first flight 
out of doors; there is no prettier sight in 
the apiary than a host of young Italians 
taking a playspell in the open air, in front 
of their hive. Their antics and gambols 
remind one of a lot of young lambs at 
play. See Play-spells, 

It is also very interesting to see these 
young bees bringing their first load of 
pollen from the fields. If there are plenty 
of other bees in the hive of the proper 
age, they will not usually take up this 
work until about two weeks old. The first 
load of pollen is to a young bee just about 
what the first pair of pants is to a boy 
baby. Instead of going straight into the 
hive with its load, as the veterans do, a 
vast amount of circling round the entrance 
must be done; and, even after the young 
bee has once alighted, it takes wing again, 
then returns and rushes all thru the hive, 
jostling nurses, drones, and perhaps the 
queen too, seeming to say as plainly as 
could words, "Look! Here am I. I gath- 
ered this, all myself. Is it not nice?" 

One might imagine some old veteran, 
who had brought thousands of such loads, 
answering gruffly, "Well, suppose you 



did; what of it? You had better put it 
in a cell and start off after more, instead 
of making all this row and wasting time, 
when there are so many mouths to feed." 
Yet, apparently, no one scolds or finds 
fault, and the children are never forced to 
work, unless they wish. If they are im- 
provident, and starvation comes, they all 
suffer alike, and, it is probable, without 
any hard feeling or censure toward any 
one. They all work together, just as the 
right hand assists the left; and if one 
would understand the economy of the bee- 
hive, it were well to bear this point in 
mind. 

Shortly following the impulse for pollen- 
collecting, comes that for honey-gathering; 
and the bee is probably in its prime as a 
worker when a month old. At this age it 
can, like a man of forty, "turn its hand" 
to almost any domestic duty; but if the 
hive is well supplied with workers of all 
ages, it now probably does most effective 
service in the fields. See Bee Behavior; 
also Age of Bees. 

When a colony is formed of young bees 
entirely, they will sometimes go out into 
the fields for pollen when but five or six 
days old. Also when a colony is formed 
wholly of adult bees they can build comb, 
feed the larvae, construct queen-cells, and 
perform work generally that is usually 
done by 3^ounger bees; yet it is probably 
better economy to have bees of all ages in 
the hive. 



BROOD, SPREADING. 

Brood. 



-See Spreading 



BUCKBUSH [Symphoricarpos occiden- 
talis). — Wolfberry. A branching shrub, 
three to five feet tall, common in Washing- 
ton and Idaho. In Idaho it is one of the 
most important honey plants yielding a 
surplus, on an average, of 25 pounds per 
colony. Near Fraser in the northern part 
of the State the honey is secured by the 
thousand pounds. The extracted honey is 
water-white with a very pleasant flavor 
and is slow to granulate, a bottle of it 
remaining liquid after three years. It 
blooms from June 15 to July 20. The 
small white flowers are white tinged with 
pink, bell-shaped, hairy within, and are in 
small clusters in the axils of the leaves. 
They secrete nectar freely, and are very at- 



BUCKWHEAT 



137 



tractive to wasps whence they have been 
called wasp-flowers. The fruit is a white 
berr}^, which is eaten by pheasants and 
cattle. 

This bush is also abundant in western 
Iowa, where it yields well in dry weather. 
The honey is white and very similar to 
that of white clover. In the Missouri River 
basin, especially on the loess bluffs, this 
is a very common species; but it ceases to 
be valuable east of Wisconsin and south of 
Nebraska. 

Coral-berry or Indian currant {S. orbi- 
culatus) extends southward from Iowa to 
Texas and is abundant along the Missouri 
River. The small berries are red resem- 
bling red currants. It blooms for two or 
three weeks and secretes a large quantity of 
nectar. 

Snowberry (»S'. racemosus) is a northern 
species found from Alaska to Nova Scotia, 
and southward on the east coast to 
Pennsylvania and on the west coast 
to California. In Iowa in summer 
a large am.ount of excellent honey 
is obtained from it. It is frequent- 
ly cultivated for ornament because 
of its large white berries. 

BUCKWHEAT {Fagoinjmm es- 
culentum Moeneh.). — The English 
name is derived from the German 
hucJiweizen (beechnut), so called 
from the close resemblance of the 
sharply three-angled seed to the 
beechnut. The generic name Fago- 
pijrum is Greek for beachwheat. 
The common species belongs to the 
buckwheat family, or PolygonacCcT, 
which likewise includes such famil- 
iar weeds as the sorrels, docks, and 
smartweeds. Heaitsease, an im- 
portant honey plant in the West, 
also belongs here.' There are about six 
species of buckwheat and they are all na- 
tivesof Asia. Besid-e# the common buck- 
wtf^^two other species are cultivated for 
grain. Tartary buckwheat {F. tataricum) 
endures the cold better, but the seeds are 
smaller. It is grown in the mountainous 
regions of Asia and to some extent in east- 
ern Canada and Maine. Notch-seeded 
buckwheat {F. emarginatum) is grown in 
the highlands of northeast India and the 
grain is used for food. 



HISTORY. 

The conmion species grows wild on the 
banks of the Amur River in Manchuria 
and near Lake Baikal, and possibly also 
in China and northern India. It was un- 
known to the Greeks and Romans, and its 
cultivation is first mentioned in China 
about the tenth century. It was intro- 
duced into Europe thru Russia and was 
grown in Germany in 1436. In the 16th 
century it was cultivated in both France 
and Italy. It was early brought to the 
American colonies where it was largely 
used as a substitute for wheat. 

POLLINATIOX. 

The plant is a nearly smooth annual, 
growing from one to four feet tall. The 
leaves are halbert-shaped. The small flow- 
ers are clustered and possess a strong fra- 
grance; the petals are wanting but the 
sej^als are white or rose-colored. The nec- 




Buck wheat blossom. 

tar is secreted by eight round yellow glands 
interposed between the same number of 
stamens. This species is dimorphic, that is 
there are two forms of flowers, one with 
long stamens and short styles and the other 
with short stamens and long styles. This 
arrangement promotes cross-pollination. In 
the long-stamened flowers most visitors 
touch the anthers with the under side of 
the body and the stigmas with the head; 
and the converse takes place in the short- 
stamened flowers. Each plant bears flowers 



138 



BUCKWHEAT 



of one form only, but the seed from 
either form will produce both forms in 
about equal numbers. The flowers ap- 
pear to be self -sterile, and thus the pro- 
duction of a crop of seed is dependent 
upon the visits of insects, chiefly honey- 
bees, which are estimated to make nine- 
tenths of the visits. There are planted in 



styles are also three in number. The food 
stoied ill the seed for the nourishment of 
the embryo, called the endosperm, is pure 
white. 

BUCKWHEAT AS A HONEY PLANT. 

Buckwheat can be cultivated thruout the 
North Tempeiate Zone. It is extensively 



.? ■'^^^■'- .f^.r&sC- 




Japanese Buckwheat. 



the United States annually 8,000,000 to 
10,000,000 acres of buckwheat, and yet the 
value of the services of the honeybee in 
pollinating this great expanse of bloom is 
almost wholly unknown. The outspread 
calyx is shallow; and, as the nectar is 
easily within the reach of short-lipped 
insects, some 40 species of flies and soli- 
tary bees have been recorded as visitors. 
The dark-brown seeds are three-sided; the 



grown in Asia, especially in Japan, and 
is also widely cultivated in Europe. An 
immense quantity of buckwheat honey is 
gathered in Russia. In North America 
while it is grown to some extent in Canada, 
it is chiefly valuable for grain in the 
United States. It is best adapted to New 
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wis- 
consin, and New England; and to the 
mountainous sections of Maryland, West 



BUCKWHEAT 



139 




Japanese buckwheat 34 incfies high in a little over three weeks from the tim*. the seed was planted. 



Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and 
Tennessee. About two-thirds of the crop 
is now raised in New York and Pennsyl- 
vania. In 1899 about 2,000,000 farms re- 
poT'ted an average acreage of four acres 
each. 

In New York and Pennsylvania there 
are thousands of acres of buckwheat with- 
in a radius of a few miles. On one hilltop 
in Schoharie County, N. Y., the bees were 
reported a few years ago to have access 
within a radius of three miles to 5,000 
acres of buckwheat, all of which was with- 
in range of the eye. So great is the 
acreage of it in New York that from 
2,000 to 3,000 colonies can be kept in some 
counties, and immense quantities of buck- 
wheat honey are stored annually. There 
are hundreds of farmers who keep a few- 
colonies in order that they may get the 
honey as well as the grain. One may ride 
for an entire day thruout the buckwheat 
region of this State without losing sight 
of the buckwheat fields. So immense is the 
area of bloom that the atmosphere is heav- 
ily charged with its odor. 

One beekeeper in the heart of the buck- 
wheat country, who lived near Cayuga 
Lake, harvested one year with 1,000 colo- 
nies 78,000 pounds of honey; another year 
50,000 pounds; for many years his crops, 
obtained chiefly from buckwheat, have been 
in carloads. E. W. Alexander of Delan- 
son, N. Y., also produced immense quanti- 
ties of this honey. His apiary consisted 
of 700 colonies, and from the top of the 



hill where it was located there were in 
sight 1,500 acres of buckwheat. Nowhere 
does buckwheat thrive better than on the 
hillsides of ea£tern New York, nor are the 
climate and the soil elsewhere more favor- 
able to a luxuriant growth. 

The flowers of buckwheat secrete neatar 
only in the morning; toward noon the 
flow lessens and ceases entirely during the 
afternoon, but begins again vigorously the 
next morning. The visits of the bees quick- 
ly decrease in number until they cease 
almost entirely, and they remain idle about 
the hives for the balance of the day. Thus 
in the afternoon, notwithstanding the great 
expanse of bloom and its strong fragrance, 
only a few bees can be found in the fields. 
Probably no beekeeper has ever had a 
more extended experience with buckwheat 
as a honey plant than E. W. Alexander. 
He observed that the secretion of nectar 
varied greatly with the te.r.perature and 
the condition of the weather. He says : 

"Several years ago I kept nearly 200 
colonies in a location where there were 
barely 100 acres of buckwheat within reach 
of my bees, that is, within four miles or in 
a circle eight miles in diameter. Still with 
this small acreage it was no uncommon 
thing to harvest a surplus of 15 to 20 
pounds of fine buckwheat section honey 
per colony. As a result I became very 
anxious to keep bees in a buckwheat loca- 
tion, where thousands of acres were raised 
annually, so I moved to Delanson, N. Y, 
But I soon found out to my sorrow that 



140 



BUCKWHEAT 




Honey for the bees, seed for harvest, fertilizer for the ground — buckwheat should be planted extensively. 



tlie aiiiouiit of bloom had but little beai'- 
iiig- on the amount of surplus I obtahied, 
and that hi this respect buckwheat was no 
exception to other flowers. It does its best 
when we have quite cool nights followed 
by a clear sky and a bright hot sun with 
little or no wind; then from about 9 
o'clock in the morning until 2 in the after- 
noon it secretes nectar very fast. We sel- 
dom find a bee on it much earlier or later 
in the day." 

'*A few years ago during our August 
harvest, when our bees had at least 1,500 
acres of buckwheat bloom to work on, and 
were bringing in honey very fast, a heavy 
shower came down from the north about 
2 P. M., w^hich caused the mercury to drop 
21 degrees in less than half an hour. Then 
this low temperature, with windy cloudy 
weather, lasted some 11 days, during which 
time the bees destroyed large quantities of 
brood, for there was no nectar in the flow- 
ers and they were ready to rob any hive 
that was opened." 

"I never saw the buckwheat harvest stop 
so suddenly, with so little cause, as it did 
in August, 1906. From the morning of 



the 21st to the night of the 24th, the bees 
brought in the honey very fast. Our hive 
on scales averaged a gain of about 8 
pounds a day, and we extracted a tankful 
of a little more than two tons each day for 
four consecutive days, and yet our men all 
agreed there was more honey in the apiary 
each night than there was in the morning. 
But on the night of the 24th we had a 
slight shower with a fall in temperatui'e 
of 11 degi'ees. The bees were very quiet 
the next morning until about noon; then 
when it warmed up a little they were ready 
to rob an^-thing they could get at, and 
there were thousands trying to get into 
our honey-house around the screened win- 
dows — and we knew from past experience 
that the honey season of 1906 had drawn 
to a close. The hive on scales did not gain 
one-half pound any day after that shower 
and fall in temperature, altho there w^as 
considerable buckwheat in bloom. At other 
times I have noticed that when the weather 
remains warm without any rain the flow 
of nectar would last until Sept. 5." 

In New York buckwheat can be de- 
pended upon almost every year to yield a 



~1 




i:W^ 



■?f!tt 



wm.€^^. 






y^'m 



>^*(»i** .",<« 



" 4lte||^ %. , # ^ .^ ^-- ■ "^ *^ 



r- ■ 



^^ 



%r4L^^lit 



,^rif^ ^wm ^ 






L^.*i 



■Ik^kf* 




A field of buckwheat in full bloom. 



142 



BUCKWHEAT 




Buckwheat in full bloom in Butler Co., Pa. 



crop of honey, but in the West it is more 
uncertain, some years yielding no honey 
and in others a fair amount. In Ohio the 
yield of nectar from buckwheat is so irreg- 
ular and scanty that there is seldom a 
season that much hone^^ is obtained from 
it. Since in the East it is almost always 
very reliable, when even basswood and 
clover fail as they do sometimes in every 
locality, the beekeeper is usually able to 
make his expenses and a fair profit. In 
New York it is seldom that he is not able 
to make a fair living from buckwheat 
alone. 

Among cultivated crops there are few 
which will afford a better artificial honey- 
pasture than buckwheat. The beekeeper 
who raises this cereal largely for honey 
should plant at three different times in 
order to prolong as much as possible the 
flow of nectar. On an average it will oc- 
cupy the land a little over 60 days. It will 
commence to yield nectar in 15 or 20 days 
from the time it is planted, and take about 
10 days to mature after the honey flow 
ceases. If the first crop is sown on the 
20th of June, the second crop oh the 4th 



of July, and the third about the 18th 
of this month, the beekeeper will be as- 
sured of a good bee-pasturage from the 
middle of July, when basswood and clover 
are past, to the middle of September, when 
the fall wild flowers begin to bloom. 

Buckwheat seed may sometimes be given 
away profitably to farmers in localities 
where this grain is not grow^i. By fur- 
nishing the seed free for one or two years 
farmers may perhaps be induced to grow 
this crop regularly in after years. It is 
not advisable to give the seed after the 
second year; during the third and the 
fourth 3^ears it should be furnished at half- 
price. It should not be supplied free to 
any one living more than a quarter of a 
mile from the bees. 

BUCKWHEAT HONEY. 

Buckwheat honey is of a dark-purplish 
color, and looks much like the old New 
Orleans or sorghum molasses. The flavor 
to one who is a lover of clover and bass- 
wood honey and is unaccustomed to that 
of buckwheat is more or less sickish; but 
those who have always eaten buckwheat 



BUCKWHEAT 



143 



honey, or at least many of them, prefer 
it even to that of clover or basswood. 

A lady from the East once called at our 
store and looked over our honey. We 
showed her several samples of choice clover 
and basswood honey. 

"I do not like this," she said. "It looks 
like manufactured sugar honey. Haven't 
you any buckwheat honey?" 

"Yes, but we did not suppose that you 
would like that, because such honey rarely 
sells in our locality." 

We then placed before her some sections 
of buckwheat honej^, and these suited her 
exactlj^ 

"That is real bee honey," said she, with 
a look of satisfaction, and she carried home 
several sections. 

Her father had been a beekeeper in a 
locality where buckwheat was abundant; 
and unless honey had the strong flavor 
and dark color of the honey with which 
she was familiar in her childhood days, it 
was not honey to her. There a-e thousands 
like her in the East who prefer buckvrheat 
honey; and this trade is so la^'ge in New 
York and Albany that it brings almost 
as high a price as the fancy grades of 
white. But in the western markets, prin- 
cipally in Chicago, it is without purchasers 
and sells as an offgrade honey. 

Notwithstanding the color of buckwheat 
honey itself is purplish, the comb honey is 
very attractive, since the cappings, espe- 
cially if made by black bees, are almost 
pearly white. 

Buckwheat honey occasionally contains 
33 per cent of water, and is, therefore, 
too thin, according to the formula of the 
national pure food law passed June 30, 
1906, which limits the amount of water 
in honey to 25 per cent. It is thus neces- 
sary to evaporate thin honey in order that 
it may conform to the laAv. This may be 
done by means of a honey evaporator, or 
by storing it for awhile in a hot dry room.. 
The quality of the honey is so greatly 
improved that it will fully conmpensate 
for the trouble involved. 

THE CULTURE OP BUCKWHEAT. 

Buckwheat is very sensitive to cold and 
is killed by the first heavy frost. It should 
not be sown too early in the spring since 
it is liable to be killed bv the frost after 



it has sprouted, or the very hot weather 
of midsummer may blast the flowers so 
that they will produce no seed. No other 
cereal crop requires so short a season to 
mature, and under the most favorable con- 
ditions a crop may be obtaisied in from 
S to 10 weeks, but the average time is 
about 12' weeks. As it fills best in cool 
weather, the time of seeding for any local- 
ity may be determined with a fair degree 
of accuracy by allowing a period of 12 
weeks for growth before the first killing 
frost is expected. When seeded the last 
week in June or the first week in July in 
New York and Pennsylvania, or about a 
week earlier in Michigan and Wisconsin, 
it is most liable to escape injury from hot 
weather. Over 40 bushels per acre of 
grain have been harvested from a crop 
drilled in with 300 pounds of phosphate 
as late as August 4. Buckwheat grows so 
quickly that it can succeed another crop, 
as barley, rye, or oats, or it may be sown 
where corn or some other crop has been 
planted but failed to grow. Such fields 
should be immediately ploughed and har- 
rowed. Buckwheat leaves the land ex- 
tremely mellow, which is an advantage in 
the case of heavy soils, but undesirable if 
the soil is light. With the exception of 
corn, the yield of which, it is claimed, is 
reduced, any crop may follow buckwheat 
with excellent results. It is subject to very 
little injurj' from insects or fungi. 

THE SEEDBED. 

There is probably no other crop that 
will yield better on infertile soil, such as 
old m.eadow and pasture lands, than will 
buckwheat. It is well suited to light, well- 
drained soils such as sandy loams and to 
the silt-loam soils. It will not grow on 
land that is wet and heavy, or where the 
water stands and dries up gradually, leav- 
ing the soil in a hard condition. It is very 
frequently grown on land which for some 
reason was not planted early, or on land 
on which some other crop has failed to 
grow. Altho the poorest soil may be used 
a fertile soil will, of course, give a larger 
yield of both grain and straw. In gen- 
eral, the land should be prepared as for 
any other grain. The best results are 
obtained when the land is plowed early 
and is well prepared, but good result? 



144 



BUCKWHEAT 



may be obtained by sowing iniinediately 
after plowing and harrowing. Buckwheat 
needs but little lime, growing well in an 
acid soil without lime, where alfalfa and 
red clover would not be a success. 

FERTILIZER. 

Where the soil is poor it is profitable to 
use fertilizer, but where good wheat and 
corn crops can be produced it is unneces- 
sary for the buckwheat crop. On the poor- 
est hill land a small application of nitrogen 
and phosphorus is advisable, but generally 
nitrogen is not needed. The plant, how- 
ever, responds very readily to applica- 
tions of phosphates. Low-grade fertilizers 
containing phosphates and a small amount 
of potash can be used to advantage on the 
crop where the land is poor. The use of 
100 to 150, to even 300 pounds of bone 
phosphate per acre has been recommended. 
Potash will usually produce a favorable 
effect on a sandy soil, altho it may not be 
required on heavier soils. 

VARIETIES. 

Three varieties of buckwheat are com- 
monly grown in the United States, the 
Japanese, Silver Hull, and Common Gray, 
the first two being most generally used. 
Japanese has a large dark-colored seed, 
while Silver Hull has a smaller seed, glossy 
or silvery in appearance. These two varie- 
ties are of about equal value when yields 
are considered. The plant of the Japanese 
variety has a larger stalk, and the flowers 
do not blast so readily from heat; but 
it is believed not to yield nectar as freely 
as the other two varieties. 

RATE OP SEEDING. 

Buckwheat should generally be seeded at 
the rate of 3 to 4 pecks to the acre. If the 
soil is fertile and a drill is used and the 
seed is of good vitality, as little as two 
pecks may be sufficient. As much as five 
pecks are sometimes used. It is best to 
use a grain drill, but this is not essential 
as the seed can be broadcasted and har- 
rowed in with satisfactory results. It 
should be sown from one-fifth of an inch 
to two inches deep, depending on the con- 
dition of the soil. It is better to sow 



while the land is dry, rather than imme- 
diately after rain. After sowing on such 
soil it should be immediately rolled to com- 
pact it, as the grain sprouts better and 
more quickly, sometimes making its ap- 
pearance in less than four days. 

HARVESTING. 

Buckwheat is usually harvested in Sep- 
tember as soon as the first blossoms have 
matured their seed, and before there has 
been a frost. The old-fashioned cradle will 
do the work well, or the drop reaper will 
prove a very satisfactory machine for this 
purpose. Many farmers use the ordinary 
binder, which practice is advisable where 
it can be follow^ed. The seed will mature 
in a few days if, after cutting, the crop is 
left in loose bundles where they are 
dropped from the cradle or reaper. After- 
wards they may be tied near the top with 
the straw and set up on end singly to dry. 
As the straw remains partially green and 
is liable to heat, these shocks are seldom 
stacked or stored in the barn. It should 
be thrashed either with the flail or thrash- 
ing machine on a dry windy day, and 
should be at once winnowed as the damp 
chaff may injure the grain. The grain 
should be stored in bags and not in large 
quantities in bins. 

THE YIELD PER ACRE. 

The average yield per acre in the United 
States is from 14 to 18 bushels, but it 
may vary from five to forty bushels. In 
Pennsylvania three fields were sown on 
July 6, 11, and 19 respectively, with buck- 
wheat, the seed being drilled in. The first 
yielded 16 bushels per acre with medium 
straw; the second 22 bushels with heavier 
straw than the first; the third 25 bushels 
Avith straw like that of the first field. As 
a rule, early sowing gives large straw and 
a poor yield of grain, w^hile late sowing 
gives the opposite. Twenty-five bushels 
per acre is considered a satisfactory crop. 

In Canada, Michigan, New York, and 
Pennsylvania the legal weight of a bushel 
of buckwheat is 48 pounds; in other 
States it is either more or less. 

USES OF BUCKWHEAT. 

Both in Europe and America the flour 
is widely used in making buckwheat cakes. 



BUILDINGS 



145 



In the Russian army buckwheat groats 
form a part of the soldiers' rations. Eaten 
too constantly it is said to produce a fever- 
ish condition. Poultry are very fond of 
the seeds, which are believed to stimulate 
egg production. When ground it makes 
an excellent feed for dairy cows, and a 
mixture of ground buckwheat, corn, and 
oats is highly recommended. 

Buckwheat is also often ploughed under 
for green manuring. It will pay for its 
cost as a fertilizer, and some buckwheat- 
growers make a practice of enriching their 
soil in this waj^, waiting, if beekeepers, 
until blooming is over in order to obtain 
the honey. Two or even three crops may 
be ploughed in, one after the other, when 
it is desired to get the ground in a high 
state of cultivation. A crop of buckwheat 
wdll help greatly in eradicating weeds and 
subduing rough land. 

Information in regard to the culture of 
buckwheat has been furnished by C. E. 
Leighty of the Department of Agriculture. 
Other articles on buckwheat culture will 
be found in "The Cereals in America" by 
Hunt, and "The Small Grains" by Carle- 
ton. 

BUILDINGS.— It is manifestly impossi- 
ble to recommend any standard design of 
buildings for beekeepers' use that would 
suit all requirements. Some beekeepers re- 
quire a room that can be used for extract- 
ing only; others several rooms for work- 
shop, storage room, and extracting. The 
same room may often be used for diiferent 
purposes at different times of the year, but, 
nevertheless, the purpose for which the 
building is to be used principally should 
be taken into consideration when it is 
planned. 

The construction and materials for these 
buildings also vary greatly from the light 
framework covered with canvas to the most 
substantial concrete structure. Except the 
buildings erected at home apiaries, tempo- 
rary or demountable or take-downable 
buildings are the rule for the reason 
that out-apiaries often have to be moved 
about. 

Some use small buildings that can be 
easily loaded on a low wagon and hauled 
about from place to place. Still others use 
buildings made in sections, bolted together. 



so that the various sections may be taken 
apart and loaded on a wagon in the flat. 
E. D. Townsend, of Michigan, has used 
such buildings for years. Such a construc- 
tion costs a little more than the usual typu 
built solid from the ground up, but tho 
convenience, provided there is a likelihood 
of fi'equent moves, more than offsets the 
extra cost. 

In order to make the various sections 
strong enough to hold together after being 
unbolted, 2x4 material is used for the 
framework. There are six sections in all — ■ 
not counting the floor — the two ends, the 
two sides, and the two halves of the roof. 
Before nailing on the siding of the sections 
Mr. Townsend tacks on a good grade of tar 
paper which is proof against depredations 
of mice, and makes the building more bee- 
proof as well, certainly an essential feature 
when extracting has to be done after 
the honey flow when bees are inclined to 
rob. 

In locating a building the place most 
convenient to the apiary must be taken into 
consideration ; but if the lay of the ground 
permits, a downhill grade to the building 
makes it much easier to wheel or cart stuft" 
to the building. In many instances it is of 
advantage to have a two-story building, the 
second floor, where the extracting is done, 
on a level with the apiary. The honey can 
then be piped into a tank in the lower 
story, the floor of which should be on a 
level, say, with the bed of a wagon on 
the ground at the lower end of the 
building. 

When there is no sidehill and the "grav- 
ity plan" is, therefore, impractical a honev- 
pump is a real necessity to elevate the 
honey so that the lifting and consequent 
loss of time are avoided. See Extracting. 
In hilly or mountainous countries, however, 
there is no difficulty in selecting a sidehill. 
If desired, as is the custom in many parts 
of California, large honey-tanks may be 
located out of doors on the lower side of 
the building, the honey running from the 
extracting-room direct to the tank. 

The late E. W. Alexander of Delanson, 
N. Y., a beekeeper who had 750 colonies all 
in one apiary, used for many years a small 
extracting-house just large enough to re- 
ceive an extractor, uncapping-box, and 
space to receive and pass out combs thru 
openings in the side of the building, ordi- 



BUILDINGS 




E. D. Townsend's Spring Brook Apiary and sectional extracting-housc. This building is made in six 
separate panels or sections, beside the floor, which bolt together at the corners, making it perfectly rigid. If 
desired, it may be quickly taken apart and moved on a wagon. 



BUILDINGS 



u: 



narily covered with sliding doors. A tin 
pipe conveyed the honey by gravity to a 
large tank in another building on lower 
ground. 

E. S. Miles of Dunlap, Iowa, has a very 
conveniently arranged building having two 
large rooms, the floors of which are on dif- 
ferent levels, the floor of the ell being 3^^ 
feet below^ that of the main room. Needless 
to say, Mr. Miles has room for a w^orkbeneh 
where he nails shipping cases, cases for 
comb honey, hives, and other stuff. Each 
room has an outer door wnth a platform 
just about the height of a wagon-bed. 
These two doors are on a side of the build- 
ing opposite from the bees so that there is 
little danger in driving right up with a 
team of horses. 




Typical sidehill California honey-house. The honey 
runs by gravity from the extractor thru pipes into the 
large tanlv's located below the building en the outside. 



The sides of the building are of 2 x 4 
studding, 24 inches apart, boarded with 
shiplap, then papered, and finally sided 
with regular 6-inch house siding. The roof 
is made of 2 x 4 rafters, 24 inches apart, 
covered with sheathing and shingled. The 
material for the whole building cost about 
$300. The main room is 16 x 48 feet ; the 
addition, or ell, 12 by 18 feet. A building 



of this size is ample for all the w^ork in con-, 
nection w^ith the handling of 300 colonies. 
By using a cheap shed for additional stor- 
age it would be large enough for 500 colo- 
nies. 

VENTILATION AND WINDOWS. 

A common fault of beekeepers' buildings 
is that the ceilings are too low and there 
is inadequate ventilation so that the tem- 
perature on a hot day becomes almost un- 
bearable. A ceiling three or four feet 
higher than it would actually have to be 
adds but very little to the general cost and 
at the same time permits a wide shelf, per- 
haps seven feet from the floor, running the 
entire length on either side of the build- 
ing. Such shelves not only help to keep 
the room cooler, but furnish much addi- 
tional space for temporary storage. 

For light and ventilation a very good 
plan is to cut out long horizontal windows 
in each side and perhaps in one end also, 
having hinged wooden shutters which can 
be lowered to keep out the storm in bad 
weather. A tight-fitting frame covered with 
galvanized wire cloth makes the opening 
bee-tight. There should be one or two 
glass windows as well to permit of interior 
work in stormy weather w^hen it would be 
best to have the shutters closed. All 
screened openings should be provided with 
several honey-house bee-escapes at the top 
to let out bees that are bound to get inside 
during extracting time. A screened door 
is a positive disadvantage for the bees 
keep hovering around the door, and when 
it is opened many of them get in. A solid 
door or one having glass in the upper part 
is to be preferred. 

During a time when robbers are bad, 
allowing the bees to escape to the outside 
as fast as they get in the room is bad 
practice. A number of large beekeepers, 
instead of using bee-escapes, have the win- 
dow screens removable or hinged at the 
bottom. The bees collect on the screens 
during the day; and after the work is 
finished, or late in the afternoon, the 
screens are removed or swmng out at the 
top so that all the bees escape at once to 
their hives. The building thus acts as a 
robber-trap until the bees are released 
when flying is nearly over for the day. 
By morning the excitement will be over. 



148 



BUILDINGS 




A small inexpensive extraeling'-rctiin ;i^ 
openings in the end of the building that cl 
the empty ones taken out the other one. 
building down the hill. 



iniiiurly used by K. W. Alexander of Delanson, N. Y. There are two 
>se with sliding doors. The full combs are put in thru one door, and 
A pipe conveys the honey from the extractor to a tank in another 




An inexpensive and quickly cou.slructed building that answers every requiicmcut. Walls and iloor of wood, 
roof of canvas. A good canvas roof gives a better light inside and is cooler than a solid roof. 



BUILDINGS 



1-^0 



C. F. Hochsteiii of Cuba leaves an open- 
ing three feet wide all around his building. 
This he covers with heavy galvanized wire 
cloth. Ingeniously made bee-escapes, con- 
structed of wedge-shaped blocks of wood 
between the wire cloth and the siding, 
are located along the upper edge. For a 
tropical climate this construction is all 
right, but in other localities smaller open- 
ings which can be entirely closed by means 
of hinged shutters are to be preferred. All 
honey-house bee-escapes which operate on 
the "cone" principle ought to be so con- 
structed that the openings can be entirely 
closed in case the bees should get to rob- 
bing and should find the small exits. 

A substantially constructed tent makes a 
light, cool, and easily moved structure. G. 
Frank Pease of Marshall, Mich., has a 
very comfortable four-room work tent. The 
floors and side walls are of wood, making 
a very substantial construction and yet 
inexpensive. 

EXTRACTIXG-HOUSES OX WHEELS. 

There are many ingenious portable ex- 
tracting-rooms consisting of a canvas or 
screen-covered framework on an extended 
wagon-bed. W. D. Jefferson of Safford, 
Ariz., uses a low wagon with small wide- 
tired wheels. The platform is wide enough 
to extend out even with the outer edges of 
the wheels and long enough to give suffi- 
cient room for extracting purposes. Un- 




Jefferson's portable extracting-house. A 200-gallon 
lioney-tank is located under the floor between the axles. 



der the platform is a shallow tank hanging 
between the front and rear axles which 
holds 200 gallons. The screen for the 
honey is in the floor over the tank where it 
can be changed easily as often as it be- 
comes clogged. The honey, of course, runs 
from the extractor on to the screen and 
then into the tank. 

This portable outfit is hauled from yard 



to yard, and the honey as fast as extracted 
is hauled home so that none of it is left at 
the outyard. 

THE AUTHOK^S PORTABLE EXTRACTING- 
HOUSE. 

For an extracting-house that may be 
easily moved from one apiary to another, 
the running gear of an old discarded out- 
of-date touring car can often be used to 
very good advantage, with a superstructure 
similar to that of the Jefferson outfit. 
These old automobiles can usually be 
bought for little more than scrap price — 
anywhere from $25 to $50. If there are 
not tires on the machine already, second- 
hand ones can be secured at a moderate 
price. The Avhole outfit will not have to 
make any considerable mileage — only short 
distances to outyards. Cheap tires that 
have seen their best days will answer a 
good purpose for an extracting-trailer. The 
illustrations show an outfit the author has 
been using with considerable satisfaction. 
The superstructure consists of two floors, 
one resting directh' upon the channel frame 
of the machine, and the other on two by 
twelve joists to clear the wheels. The 
lower floor is to hold tools, containers, and 
other equipment for general extracting. 

The room on top is made in six parts 
or panels held together by means of hooks 
or Van Deusen clamps. The two sides are 
screened so they can be opened up, while 
the rest of the panels are made of canvas. 
The power extracting engine and uncap- 
ping-box are arranged with the greatest 
economy of floor space, so that the opera- 
tor will have plenty of room for uncapping 
and extracting. The honey is pumped from 
the extractor into a receiving tank. From 
here it is di-awn by gravity into square 
tin cans by a pipe passing thru the floor. 

Whether it is better to have a central 
extracting plant and haul the combs into 
it from the yard, returning them after they 
are empty, or whether it is better to have 
a portable outfit that can be used at each 
yard, and thus do away with a long haul 
for all the combs, Avill depend on condi- 
tions. As a general thing, the majority 
are in favor of the portable outfit. AfteT" 
the extracting season is over, the extractuig 
equipment, together with the superstruc- 



150 



BUILDINGS 




C-anvas extracting- room built over an old touring-car converted into a trailer. There are two floors made 
of 11/^ -inch lumber, the lower one just the size of the frame of the chassis, and the upper one, twelve inches 
higlier, is six feet \\ide. The space between may be used for cai-rying supers, supplies, etc. 

ture, can be removed, leaving a first-class 
trailer that can be hitched to an automobile 
or horse-drawn wagon, and this trailer can 
be used for carrying any kind of loads, 
and will be specially serviceable in mov- 
ing a whole apiary from one yard to an- 
other. If the roads are not too hilly, a 
Ford or other light machine will pull this 
trailer around very easily. 



THE SUBSTANTIAL BUILDING FOR THE HOME 
YARD OR CENTRAL EXTRACTING-PLANT. 

As has been mentioned, the building suit- 
able for an out-apiary is usually inade- 
quate for the home yard where there must 
be room for considerable storage, for mak- 
ing supplies, and for all the inside work, 
in fact, in connection with the business. 
For this reason expensive conveniences are 
usually out of place in a buildmg in an 
outyard. At home it pays to erect a larger 
and more substantial building, including 
such conveniences as are time and labor 
savers. David Running of Filion, Mich., 




Interior of the 
capping-box stands 
empty space at the 



cxu-a 
near 
right 



cLiuj^-rooni on wliccls. 
the front on tlie left. 
is for the supers. 



The 
The 




W£ 



3 « 
l5^ 



avsj 



:5S 

•c o 
= 2 



152 



BUILDINGS 



FLOOR JOIST TREATMENT 




IQ'JI"- 

Sheet Iron Shield 
.,.. Stove\ I , 

c\j :'^ ^ Workroom 

"nl AND 



^ :w 



HONEy 



Room I y p 



BENCHs 



W v>/ 



/ ^^7>1/iJT^BUTT0r^ 

sii'^'irflrsiDiNG 

BATTEN 4 



-^ 



> 



r/.^^/? 



CM 



Neat design for both uorksliop and honey-room. 



\ 




B 



^m 



llli^ii 



.5QUTH 30':. /ELEVATION 



r 



WoRH Room 



^ 



Honey Tank 
V. Stora ge and Born md^ 
Room 




Garage and honey-house combined. The load may be taken off the auto and set directlv on to tlie platform 
in the work room thru an opening in the wall. 



HONEY ^o(/se^ 





sa^K 



ODD DSSrAX QQaaaadQCt 
CARR/£/f _ 

iS-s- im SL a a 



Very little carrying, lifting, or wheeling in this apiary. 



BUILDINGS 



153 




David Running's 16 x 4Ufoot concrete ln:ilding. There are two diiTcrent floors besides the cellar wliere the 
bees are wintered. The cellar has a cupacit\- for nearly 350 colonies. Where gravel. is cheap, concrete is cheaper 
than lumber in the long run. 



has one of the best and most completely 
equipped concrete buildings in the country. 
Concrete, so far as the cost of material is 
concerned, especially where gravel is cheap, 
often costs less than lumber. Mr. Run- 
ning's building is 16 x 40 feet, has two 
different floors besides the basement used 




as a bee-cellar, and yet the material cost 
only $206.75. A large number of stones, 
to save the cost of cement, were used and 
cost nothing but the labor of picking up. 



The walls, moreover, are only six inches 
thick. In most instances eight inches for 
solid concrete is thin enough. The lum- 
ber used for making the forms is not 
wasted, for it can all go into the roof. 

More and more beekeepers are using 
automobiles or auto trucks in their busi- 
ness. While it is not always 
possible nor desirable it is 
oftentimes couA'enient, if the 
honey-house and workshop 
includes also the garage. 
Henry Hograve of Wauketa, 
Wis., has such a building, which 
he finds a distinct advantage. 
Mr. Hograve has a driveway 
thru the center of his apiary, 
and he uses the auto for carry- 
ing full supers right into the 
garage. From there they are 
pushed thru an opening on to 
a platform in the extracting- 
room. It would doubtless fa- 
cilitate loading and unloading 
and save considerable lifting, if the floor 
of the garage could be two or three feet 
lower than the door of the adjoining 
room. 



151 



BUILDING UP COLONIES 




Louis Scholl's corrugated-iron honey-bouse and workshop. As shown in the sectional view (preceding page) 
there are four different floors in this building which are used for carpenter work, extracting honey, storage, etc. 



BUILDING UP COLONIES.— Under 

the heads of Increase^ Sprixg Dwind- 
ling^ Spring Management^ and Unit- 
ing^ will be found hints on building 
up colonies in the spring and fall; but 
this article will confine itself to the question 
of building up colonies so that they will be 
ready for the honey flow. 

There is no more important matter in 
this whole volume than having colonies 
ready for harvest — not only strong, but 
bees of the right flying age to secure a 
crop. Colonies of only half strength, or 
below par, will come far short of the 
strongest colonies in honey production. A 
beginner would naturally suppose that a 
half or two-thirds strength stock would 
gather proportionally as much honey as 
one of full strength. But this is far from 
being the case. In the production of comb 
honey, at least, the half and medium-sized 
colonies possibly might not go up into the 
supei's at all, while the full colonies might 
store 50, 100, or even 200 pounds each. In 
the production of extracted honey the rela- 
tive difference between the different sizes 
of colonies is not so marked, but great 
enough to make it very important that all 
colonies should be regular boomers in size, 
full to overflowing with bees. 



Different beekeepers have different meth- 
ods of building up colonies in the spring; 
and it is likewise true that methods must 
necessarity be modified according to the 
locality. In early spring there will usu- 
ally be colonies varying in strength from 
those that are extra good to those that are 
quite weak. There will be no trouble 
about the strong colonies being ready for 
the harvest. The problem is to bring the 
medium up to a point where they will be 
strong enough to do their part in secur- 
ing a crop of honey. Sometimes one can 
take hatching brood or near-hatching brood 
from the strong colonies and give to the 
medium. In doing this, care should be 
taken not to give more than one frame of 
brood at a time. Use sealed brood mainly 
in place of unsealed, and, as far as possi- 
ble, brood that is nearly ready to hatch. 
Generally brood can be given with adher- 
ing bees, without danger to the queen, altho 
it is usually ad\dsable for the beginner to 
brush or shake the bees off and then give 
the bare brood to the colony that needs 
building up. The danger of giving ad- 
hering bees is that they may attack 
the queen and kill her. However, the 
author has given brood and adhering bees 
hundreds of times without any bad results. 



BUILDING UP COLONIES 



155 



While it is generally considered that a 
colony can not be too strong when run for 
extracted honey, yet there are many good 
beekeeiDers in some localities who hold that 
their medium colonies are less inclined 
to swarm than those that are extra strong 
at the beginning of the honey harvest. If 
so, it is advisable in the spring to draw 
from extra-strong colonies hatching brood 
or near-hatching brood, and give to the 
medium. 

A weak colony should be united with a 
medium colony — if possible, with its neigh- 
bor. The two lots of bees should be put 
into a hive located just halfway between 
where the two stood. If the colonies are 
in the same yard, but some distance apart, 
they may still be united if the newspaper 
plan is used. (See Uniting.) If this 
policy of eliminating the weak colonies and 
building up the medium is pursued, all 
colonies in the apiary will be of honey- 
gathering strength when the honey flow 
opens. 

Very often the Alexander plan, as given 
under Uniting^ is employed to very good 
advantage; but with any of the schemes 
for uniting, hatching brood can very often 
be obtained from the extra strong and 
given to the weaker to very good advan- 
tage. Unsealed brood should never be 
moved, for the simple reason that fair, 
medium, or weak colonies will have no 
more bees than are necessary to cover the 
brood. When unsealed brood is given, there 
is great danger that it may be neglected 
on account of the insufficient number of 
bees; but when hatching brood is given 
it does not require the attention of nurse 
bees, and, moreover, sealed brood ready 
to hatch has a great deal of animal heat 
of its own. Soon after giving hatching 
brood there will be a force of young bees 
large enough to give a wonderful impetus 
to the colony. 

The beginner should understand that no 
colony can build up in the spring to good 
advantage unless it is warmly housed — 
preferably in double-walled hives or hives 
in winter packing cases. The packing 
should not be removed in the spring until 
settled warm weather comes on. A colony 
in a single-walled hive without protection 
can not take care of its brood to the best 
advantage. Much of it chills and dies 
during chilly nights. The importance of 



packing in building up colonies can not be 
emphasized too strongly. See Spring 
Management. 

Unless there is a large reserve of stores 
in the combs in early spring a colony will 
be slow in building up. Good beekeepers 
see to it that the colonies are well sup- 
plied either with natural stores or sugar 
syrup in the fall. Unless there is a large 
reserve of stores there will be limited 
brood-rearing in March or April, and the 
colony will begin to spring dwindle on 
account of the old bees dying off. (See 
Spring Dwindling.) 

If for any reason the colony is short 
of stores in the spring it should be fed 
combs of sealed stores or candy. Good 
beekeepers should always lay aside a re- 
serve of combs of honey to give in the 
spring. One or two of these placed next 
to the brood will put a colony in good 
condition to build up. Some beekeepers 
have successfully fed warm syrup, placing 
it in the upper story and covering with 
packing. (See Feeding.) But it is a poor 
plan for beginners to try this early in the 
spring, as it has a tendency to overstimu- 
late and cause the bees to rush out of the 
hives and become chilled. Sometimes the 
beginner, in his eagerness to feed, will lose 
more bees by their flying out on chilly days 
than he will gain in the brood-rearing that 
results from the feeding. See Feeding to 
Stimulate. 

Feeding sugar syrup in the spring should 
always be avoided if possible. Where there 
are no sealed combs available, use cakes of 
candy. These can be laid right on top of 
the brood-frames, and then covered with 
packing. Candy does not cause the bees 
to rush out, and it is nearly the equal of 
natural stores for building up colonies. 
See Candy. 

It is important that bees in early spring 
should have reserve combs of pollen. These 
are almost as important as combs of sealed 
stores. In some localities when there is 
no natural pollen in the hive the bees will 
rush out in the early spring, go to some 
barn searching for feeding-troughs in sta- 
bles, and helping themselves to the ground 
feed; for brood can not be reared without 
something besides mere honey or syrup. 
See Pollen; read as to the necessity of 
pollen for brood-rearing. Of course, after 



156 



BUMBLEBEES 



bees can get natural pollen from the fields 
during warm weather there is no danger 
that they will run out of pollen. 

There is one more important requisite: 
No colony will build up with all the help 
that can be given unless it has a good 
queen, and that often means one not more 
than a year old. A really good queen, 
generally, will have a good colony by 
spring. But it sometimes happens that a 
good queen in late fall has a light force of 
bees on account of the eagerness on the 
part of the beginner to increase. Such a 
queen will build up very quickly if given 
half a chance. As a rule, the strong to 
good colonies in the apiary will have good 
queens, while the medium and the weak 
will have inferior ones. It is not always 
possible to requeen such colonies, as new 
stock can not always be had. And even 
if it could be obtained, it would hardly 
be advisable, since it sometimes happens 
that an inferior queen when given a little 
encouragement will speed up in egg-laying. 
So, as explained at the outset, it is a good 
plan to help the medium from the weak 
and strong. To recapitulate : 

There are several important requisites 
in building up a colony; viz., warm hous- 
ing or packing, plenty of stores, a reserve 
of natural pollen, and a good queen. Where 
any or all of these conditions are lacking, 
the beekeeper can help out by removing 
hatching brood from strong colonies and 
giving to the weaker. 

Under Pollen it is explained how arti- 
ficial substitutes can be given; and while 
these answer the purpose to a limited ex- 
tent they by no means take the place of 
the natural article, for the simple reason 
that the nitrogenous food element that 
the bees so urgently need is not supplied 
in proper form. 

For particulars on how to unite flying 
bees with a colony on another stand, see 
Uniting. Also read carefully the article 
on Spring Management as well as Spring 
Dwindling^ and Feeding. 

BULK COMB HONEY.— See Comb 
Honey. 

BUMBLEBEES.— The bumblebee famHy, 
or Bomhidae, includes only two genera, 
Bomhus, or the nest-building bumblebees, 
and Psithynis, or the parasitic bumblebees. 
About 234 species and varieties of Bomhus 



have been described in the world and 57 of 
Psitliyrus. Bumblebees are found thruout 
North and South America, extending north- 
ward to McCormack Bay 77 degrees north 
latitude, Greenland, and to an altitude of 
13,600 feet at Cuzco, Peru. They are also 
widely distributed in Europe, Asia, and 
North Africa, but the great Saharan deserts 
offer an effectual barrier to their south- 
ward extension. Australia and New Zea- 
land have no native species, but three 
species were introduced into New Zealand 
from England in 1884. 

bumblebees and flow^er pollination. 

As agents in the pollination of flowers 
bumblebees are second in importance only 
to honeybees. Many flowers are adapted 
wholly to their visits and are called bum- 
blebee flowers, as the larkspurs, aconites, 
columbines, red clover, jewelweed, turtle- 
head, Linaria, snapdragon, the closed and 
fringed gentians, besides a number of 
orchids. While they generally avoid very 
small flowers with a scanty supply of nec- 
tar, they resort to a great variety of blos- 
soms, many of which yield valuable fruits. 
Altho seldom seen on the inflorescence of 
the pear, they seek the apple bloom in 
large numbers. They are likewise very 
helpful in pollinating many blueberries, 
cranberries, gooseberries, and currants. 
AVhile leaf-cutting bees (Megachile) are 
the chief pollinators of alfalfa, many flow- 
ers are tripped by bumblebees. The flow- 
ers of the squash, cucumber, and pumpkin 
are also verj^ attractive to them. As in 
these plants the stamens and pistils are in 
separate blossoms, their productiveness is 
largely dependent upon bees. 

But their numbers, wide distribution, 
and industry enable the bumblebees to 
perform a service of the greatest value in 
the pollination of red clover, one of the 
most important of fodder plants. As there 
were no native bumblebees in New Zealand 
red-clover seed could not be profitably 
raised for market until after the introduc- 
tion of European species. They now an- 
nually benefit these islands to the extent of 
thousands of dollars. In one province 
alone, in 1912, 6610 acres were sown with 
red clover, which, it is estimated, yielded 
an average of 158 pounds to the acre. 



BUMBLEBEES 



157 




Fig. 1. — Two views of honey-pot of IJ . .,. . 

Fields which were almost barren in the 
absence of bumblebees produced a perfect 
mass of seed after theii' advent. At Can- 
terbury 26 acres of red clover was the 
resort of thousands of bumblebees and 
yielded 400 to 500 pounds of seed to the 
acre. The Bureau of Plant Industry re- 
ports that from 757 heads of red clover, 
covered with tarlatan to exclude insects, an 
average of only one-tenth of a seed per 
head was obtained; while from 311 heads 
visited by bumblebees there was an average 
of 30 seeds per head. Bumblebees visit as 
many as 30 to 35 flowers a min- 
ute. They are less abundant in 
the great central plain of the 
United States than in the At- 
lantic and Pacific highlands. 

LIFE HISTORY AXD HABITS. 

In midsummer or early autumn 
a bumblebee colony produces 
males and queens. The males, 
which are about the size of the 
workers, are pleasantly scented 
and make long flights over the 
meadows and the open lands in 
search of the less active females. 
Before leaving the nest, to which 
they seldom return, the virgin 
queens fill the honey-sac with 
honey; and very soon after im- 
pregnation conceal themselves in 
moss or leaves, or burrow in the 
ground, where they remain till 
the following season. The period 
of hibernation is about nine 
months, species which begin 
sleeping in July awakening in 
March, while later species do 
not fly until May or June. The 



economy of Ameri- 
can bumblebees is lit- 
tle known, and this 
account is based 
largely on Sladeu's 
observations of the 
English species. 

Soon after the 
warmer weather of 
spring permits the 
queen to leave per- 
manently her place 
of hibernat:o:i she 
begins to search for 
t;\:L.; s;..;.r,.) the nest of a mouse 

or mole in which to 
rear her colony. A mouse nest consists usu- 
ally of a mass of soft dried grass with a hol- 
low in the center. jNIany species of bumble- 
bees prefer nests which are underground, 
while others select those which are on the sur- 
face. Access to the subterranean nests is 
gained thru a tunnel usually not far from two 
feet in length and about an inch in diameter. 
Queens may often be seen examining the 
ground in fields in search of the openings 
to these tunnels. Before she departs for 
the field, the queen forms a memory picture 
of the location bv describins: above it a 




FfG. 2. — -Nest of Bombus terrestris showing cluster of cocoons 
with srrnove in tlie center in which the queen sits, and honey-pot. 
(After Sladen.) 



158 



BUMBLEBEES 



series of gradually widening circles. In 
the center of the nest a small cavity is 
formed about an inch in diameter and a lit- 
tle less in height, with an entrance about 
the size of the queen's body. 

On the center of the floor of this cavity 
she stores a small mass of pollen gathered 
from flowers and moistened with honey. 
In a round cell of wax about the size of a 
pea, built on top of the pollen, from six to 
twelve eggs are laid, and the top of the cell 
is then sealed over. According to Sladen 
the wax is much softer than that of the 
honeybee, and exudes from between the 
segments on the upper side of the abdomen 
instead of being excreted in little pockets 
on the ventral side of the abdomen as in 
the honej'bee. A honej^-pot is built in the 
entrance to the cavity and filled with honey, 
which the queen uses in the night time and 
in rainy weather. It is about the size and 
shape of a small marble, with open mouth, 
and, altho very thin and fragile, it remains 
intact for a month, which is as long as it is 
needed (Fig. 1). The supply of honey is 
frequently consumed and renewed and is, 
consequently, much thinner than that of 
the honeybee.* In large colonies additional 
honey-pots are built near the edge of the 
comb, and many of the cocoons are filled 
with honey, the number of which may 
amount to three or four hundred. 

Except when she leaves the nest to pro- 
cure food the queen incubates the cell con- 
stantly to keep the eggs warm. They hatch 
in four days. The larvae feed on the mass 
of pollen and also on a milky food of par- 
tially digested pollen and honey prepared 
by the queen. This liquid is injected into 
the wax cell thru a minute hole in the top. 
At first the larvae are provided with a com- 
mon supply, but later each is fed separate 
ly. When the larvae are five days old they 
begin to grow very rapidly, and the cell 
expands into a large globular bunch or 
bag, in w^hich the position of each can 
easily be discerned. On the eleventh day 
they reach their full size, and each larva 
spins about itself a thin papery but very 
tough cocoon. The cocoons stand upright 
and form a compact cluster with a smooth 
concave groove in the center, in which the 

* Tlie queen's honey-pot in a nest of /?. fervidus 
examined at Ottawa, Canada, in 1915, was found to be 
completely closed, possibly a provision of nature, pre- 
venting ants, etc., from discvoering the honey when the 
queen is absent from the nest. — F. W. L. S. 



queen sits to furnish the warmth needed to 
mature the first brood of workers (Fig. 2), 
On the 22d or 23d day the perfect workers 
emerge from the cocoons by cutting a hole 
in the top either alone or with the aid of 
the queen. The newly hatched bees are a 
dull gray and move about very feebly, but by 
the third day they have acquired their natu- 
ral colors and strength and are ready to de- 
part for the field. The life of a worker bum- 
blebee in midsummer is about four weeks. 

As soon as the larvae of the first brood 
spin their cocoons, the queen begins to 
build a row of cells along the outer edge of 
one side of this cluster parallel with the 
central groove, and later a second row on 
the other side of the cluster. She then lays 
a variable number of eggs, but usually 
from six to twelve in each cell. As soon 
as the workers become sufficiently numer- 
ous to provide supplies for the colony the 
queen no longer leaves the nest and may 
lay a new lot of eggs daily. The history of 
the eggs in the later cells is similar to those 
in the first cell except that the larvae are 
fed largely or wholly by the workers, and 
the cluster of cocoons is convex without a 
central groove. The structure of the cocoon 
clusters varies with different species. Those 
of the English Bombus terrestris are loose 
and irregular, while those of B. agrorum 
are compact and globular and are arranged 
symmetrically in a ring around the nest 
(Fig. 3). Underground species may pro- 
tect the top of the comb by a roof of wax ; 
but this in surface dwellers is reduced to a 
mere disc or is entirely wanting. On very 
hot days the nest is ventilated by one or 
more workers standing on the comb or in 
the entrance and rapidly fanning with their 
wings. Night brings no rest to the colony. 
Its activity even increases, for now the 
entire population are at home and busily 
engaged in caring for the brood and comb 
(Fig. 4). 

Pollen is never put in cells containing 
honey, but is stored in empty cocoons or in 
tall colunmar cells, which may be over an 
inch high and half an inch in diameter, 
near the center of the nest. A few species 
store it in little pockets on the side of the 
wax-covered bunches of larvii}, called by 
Sladen pocket-makers to distinguish them 
from the poUen-storers. The workers 
gather the pollen and load it in the pollen- 



BUMBLEBEES 



159 



baskets in the 
same manner as 
described for the 
honeybee. 

The cuhninat- 
ing event in the 
history of a bum- 
blebee colony is 
the production of 
males and queens, 
for it is upon this 
act that the life 
of the species de- 
pends. This is not 
undertaken until 
the old queen has 
laid from 200 to 
400 worker eggs, 
according to the 
species, and the 
colony is in a 
high state of pros- 
perity. Both sexes 
may occur in the 

same cluster of cocoons, or it may consist 
wholly of males or females. In exceptional 
cases a colony produces exclusively males 
or queens. The males appear earlier and 
are about twice as numerous as the females. 
One hundred to five hundred males and 
queens may be raised, according to the 
strength of the colony. As in the case of 
the honeybee the bumblebee queens are 




bunch cf 
L/C ung La ruse 
broken open- 



Fig. 3. — Xest of Bombus afjrorum, showing symmetrical arrangement of comb ; 
a, polltn-pockets. (After Sladen.) 

probably fed on a different kind of food 
than the workers, altho no difference has 
j-et been observed. The males live for about 
three weeks, and, like the queens, after once 
leaving the nest seldom return. 

TTith the departure of the males and vii'- 
gin queens from the nest, the purpose of 
the colony has been attained in providing 
for the continuance of the species another 
3'ear, and the clos- 
ing days of its ex- 
istence are now 
fast approaching. 
The old queen be- 
gins to fail, her 
body becomes de- 
nuded of hair, and 
her productive- 
ness decreases. 
There are not 
sufficient eggs to 
!:eep the colo- 
ny busy, and lay- 
ing workers ap- 
pear, v>hieh, how- 
ever, produces 
only males. Fi- 
nally brood-rear- 
ing ceases, and 
the comb begins 
to mold. There 
is no longer an 

Fig. 4. — Nest of Bombus lapidarius. (After Sladen.) 




160 



BUMBLEBEES 




l''iG. 5. — Bombus ainoicanontni ; a, quoon ; b, worker. 




Fig. 6. — Bombus fervidiif; a, male; b, queen; c, worker. 




Fig. 7.- — Bombus impatiens j a, male; bj queen; c, worker. 







r-^ 


^J 


1^^ 


._ A .--- 


/^ 


■p '' ~ 


w < 




a 


^^ 



Fig. 8. — Psithyrus laboriosus ; a. queen; b, male. 



BUMBLEBEES 



101 



al)uiiclance of flowers, and the surplus of 
honey is consumed; then the older workers 
die one by one and the dozen or more re- 
maining become idle. "One night, a little 
cooler than usual," says Sladen, "finding 
her food supply exhausted, the queen 
grows torpid, as she has done many a time 
before in the early part of her career, but 
on this occasion, her life work finished, 
there is no awakening." 

There are 47 species of bumblebees 
known in America north of Mexico, and 40 
species in America south of Mexico, one 
species [B. dahlhomii) being common on 
the Straits of Magellan. A large and com- 
mon species east of the Rocky Mountains is 
Bomhus americanorum, which has a tongue 
14 mm. long, (Fig. 5). The colonies live in 
deserted mouse-nests both underground and 
on the surface. B. fervidus is another 
common species found in nearly every 
State in the Union and in Canada (Fig. 6). 
This species is a surface dweller, and its 
nests may be found in a variety of loca- 
tions. Putnam found on July 27 a nest of 
paper and rags under the floor of a shed, 
which contained 70 bees, 150 cells with 
brood, and 200 larvas in various stages of 
growth in the pollen masses, besides 50 cells 
of honey. B. impatiens occurs thruout the 
eastern United States (Fig. 7). It is a 
subterranean species. A nest taken by 
Franklin, Aug. 31, contained 340 bees, of 
which 4 were queens and 15 males. It was 
2^/2 feet below the surface of the ground. 
There were 330 unbroken cells, the major- 
ity of which were queen-cells. Another 
very common species of bumblebee, east 
of the Rocky Mountains, and from coast 
to coast in Canada is B. vagans. Accord- 
ing to Franklin the honey-pots of Ameri- 
can species appear to be made not of wax 
but of pollen grains cemented with propolis. 

THE PARASITIC BUMBLEBEES. 

Many bumblebee colonies are destroyed 
by parasitic or false bumblebees belonging 
to the genus Psithyrus. They are also called 
inquiline or guest bumblebees. They closely 
resemble bumblebees in appearance and are 
no doubt descended from common ances- 
tors. About ten species are known in 
America north of Mexico, and three or 
four miOre in Mexico and Central America. 
It is a singular fact that not a single 
6 



species is certainly known from South 
America. A common species widely dis- 
tributed in the United States is Ps. labor- 
iosus (Fig. 8). The worker caste is entire- 
ly absent and only males and females are 
produced. They do not build combs nor 
gather pollen and nectar for their young, 
but live in the nests of the true bumble- 
bees, at whose expense their brood is reared. 

They were long supposed to be commen- 
sals living with the bumblebees but doing 
little harm or possibly some benefit; but 
much information in regard to the habits 
of two English species has been gained 
thru the observations of Sladen.* Like the 
bumblebees they hibernate during the win- 
ter, but begin to fly a little later in the 
spring. A Psithyrus queen seeks to enter 
the nest of the host bumblebee soon after 
the first brood of workers have appeared. 
Little opposition is then offered by the 
doomed colony, which soon becomes accus- 
tomed to her presence. So long as the 
workers are too few to provide ample food 
supplies the intruder with instinctive cun- 
ning waits until they have become numer- 
ous enough to care for herself and her 
brood. As soon as the nest has become 
populous a crisis is precipitated by the 
Psithyrus queen preparing to lay eggs. 
Aroused by this invasion of her rights, the 
bumblebee queen apparently attacks the 
usurper, altho she is doomed beforehand to 
defeat. Protected by a thick tough integu- 
ment and armed with a larger and more 
curved sting, the parasitic queen invariably 
kills the bumblebee queen. The Psithyrus 
queen is at first compelled to protect her eggs 
from the Bomhus w^orkers, but they soon 
care for her brood as faithfully as for 
their own. In Austria two species of 
Psithyrus \ are reported to live amicably 
with their hosts, both producing males 
and females. 

If the Psithyrus queen waits too long 
and then enters a colony of the host bum- 
blebee which has a strong company of 
workers, she is at once furiously assailed 
by overpowering numbers; and, altho 
fighting valiantly, is finally slain. Before 
she is destroyed, however, a dozen or more 



* One of these is Ps. vestalis, which dwells in the 
nest of B. terrestris. Ps. ashtoni, the representative of 
Ps. vestalis in Eastern Canada, possiblv associates in 
the same way with B. terrirola. — F. W. L. S. 

t Represented in North America bv Px. lahnrioaus 
Ps. insularis, and Ps. fernaldae. — F. AV. L. S. 



162 



BUMBLEBEES 



of her assailants are sometimes killed. If 
two Psithyrus queens enter the same nest 
they seem never to fight with each other, 
but one soon goes away. The parasitic 
bumblebees visit a variety of flowers, but 
they show a preference for Composites 
like the thoroughwort and goldenrod which 
are rich in nectar. Their visits are made 
in a leisurely way very unlike those of the 
bumblebees. 

The two genera, Bombus and Psithyrus, 
have doubtless been derived from a com- 
mon stock. Psithyrus shows evidence of 
degeneration in the loss of the pollen- 
baskets, the smaller eyes, and the untoothed 
mandibles. In explanation of the origin 
of the parasitic habit Sladen points out 
that the queens of several common species 
of Bombus often enter the nests of their 
own species, fight a duel to the death with 
the queen, and, if successful (which is 
unusual) lay their eggs and assume the 
duties of the foundress of the colony. B. 
terrestris behaves in this way in the nest 
of the nearly-related species B. lucorum, 
but with the difference that she usually 
succeeds by means of her greater alertness 
and ferocity in killing the lucorum queen, 



and, lucorum being an early species, she 
frequently does not enter the lucorum nest 
until the first workers are beginning to 
emerge. If this practice were to become 
habitual, an inquiline bee similar to Psi- 
thyrus would be likely to result. 

Bumblebee nests are destroyed by mice, 
and Darwin suggested that in the vicinity 
of towns their numbers were partly deter- 
mined by the number of cats. The comb 
and brood are devoured by the larvae of 
wax moths and of several species of flies. 
Ants destroy nests in the early stages. 
Among other insects found in the nests are 
flies belonging to the genus Volucella, 
which mimic bumblebees in their appear- 
ance and habits of flight so closely that 
they are often mistaken for them. Two of 
these flies were collected and sent to the 
writer as bumblebees by an entomologist of 
great experience. Like the bumblebees they 
visit flowers for pollen and nectar. 

For further information on bumblebees 
see "Habits of Some Species of Humble 
Bees," F. W. Putnam; "The Bombid« of 
the New World," H. J. Franklin; and 
"The Humble-bee," F. W. L. Sladen, Mac- 
millan & Co. 



CAGES FOR QUEENS.— See Intro- 
ducing. 

CAMPANILLA. — There are two species 
of Convolvulaceae, or morning-glorv' fam- 
ily, which are of great importance to the 
beekeepers of Cuba as honey plants ; name- 
ly, Ipomoea sidaefolia Choisy, and I. tri- 
loba L. Popular English and Spanish 
names of I. sidaefolia are white bellflower, 
campanilla blanca, campanilla, Christmas 
pop, and aguinaldo de pascuas. It is a 
perennial, the vines sometimes obtaining 
the size of from two to three inches in 
diameter, and is generally found growing 
among trees and shrubs or along fences and 



One day every vine is in full bloom; the 
next day not a single vine is to be seen in 
bloom in miles of travel. 



PINK CAMPANILLA. 

The pink campanilla, I. triloba, is also 
known as campanilla morada, aguinaldo 
rosado, and marrullero. It blooms during 
the months of October and November. It 
is found principally in western Cuba, in 
the region knowTi as the "vuelta abaja," 
the great tobacco region; and it is the 
growing of tobacco that makes possible the 
great amount of this particular variety of 




Campanilla. 



stone walks. The height of bloom is about 
Christmas, for which reason it is also called 
the "aguinaldo de pascuas," and at this 
season of the year it is a common sight to 
see almost every tree, shrub, and fence 
along the road one solid mass of white 
aguinaldo bloom. The odd feature about 
this plant is its irregular blooming. It will 
bloom only every other day, and then, 
again, several days in succession. The 
days of blooming are always universal. 



the campanilla, for tobacco seed is, as a 
rule, always sown on virgin soil. Large 
tracts of land, on both mountain and coast, 
are cleared every year, just to grow one 
crop of tobacco plants. When the plants 
are big enough to be transplanted they are 
pulled and shipped by railroad, ox-cart, or 
mule-train, to where the tobacco is to be 
grown. These tobacco-seed beds are, by 
the next year, and for years to come, cov- 
ered by the vines of the campanilla mora- 



IM 



CANDY FOR BEES 



da, which in western Cuba; springs up 
wherever the hand has been cultivated. 

The honey from the campanilla, in color 
and flavor, is equal to alfalfa or sage. The 
comb built during the campanilla flow is 
pearly white, and when melted it produces 
wax as white as tallow. 



ever, first made by a German named 
Scholz, many years before. See "Lang- 
stroth on the Honeybee," p. 274, 1875 edi- 
tion. By Europeans it is, therefore, called 
the Scholz candy. 



HOW TO MAKE. 



CAMPECHE.— See Logwood. 

CANADA THISTLE {Cirsiiun arvense 
(L.) Scop.). — Altho this troublesome weed, 
naturalized from Europe, is condemned by 
agriculturists and is outlawed everywhere, 
it is a source of a small quantity of honey 
in parts of Canada. Like most pernicious 
weeds it belongs to the family Compositae. 
The heads are small but very numerous, 
each head composed of about 100 rose-pur- 
ple tubular florets. The nectar is secreted 
so freely that it rises in the corolla tubes 
to a point where it can be reached by near- 
ly all insects. Honeybees gather both nec- 
tar and pollen. The honey is light colored, 
of very fine quality with a delightful flavor, 
and is fully equal to the best clover or 
basswood honey in the market. 

Canada thistles will live in a great variety 
of conditions, but they luxuriate in rich 
bottom lands where they take almost com- 
plete possession of the soil. It is a com--^ 
mercial asset to the beekeeper chiefly in 
those localities where it has become a pest 
to farmers who would gladly exterminate 
it root and branch. Beekeepers should also 
do everything in their power to destroy it; 
but the Canada thistle is difficult to eradi- 
cate since it multiplies by imderground 
creeping roofstocks, a small fragment of 
which, if left in the soil, will give rise to a 
new plant. 

CANDIED HONEY.— See Granulated 

HOXEY. 

CANDY FOR BEES.— There is just one 
kind of candy that is used universally by 
beekeepers for queen-cages. While excel- 
lent for this purpose it should not be used 
as winter food unless in pans, where, if it 
becomes soft, it will not run down and kill 
the bees. 

It is none other than what is popularly 
termed the "Good" candy, after I. R. 
Good, of Nappanee, Indiana, who intro- 
duced it into this country. It was, how- 



It is made of a stiff dough with a first 
quality of extracted hone^' or invert sugar 
and powdered sugar. A thick, well-ripened 
clover should be used when it can be ob- 
tained. The powdered sugar must have no 
starch in it. There are two kinds of frost- 
ing sugar — one with starch and the other 
without. The latter should be specified, 
and to determine whether the right article 
has been secured, a small particle should 
be rubbed between the fingers. If it has 
a granular feeling it probably contains no 
starch. If, on the other hand, it contains 
starch, the sugar will have a smooth, soft 
touch. While starch is not necessarily 
fatal to queen-cage candy, experience 
shows that queens can be sent only short 
distances on a food containing it. 

Having secured the right ingredients, 
the honey should be heated to a tempera- 
ture of 140 degrees F. The pulverized 
sugar should then be stirred in with a big 
strong spoon or stick, adding all that it is 
possible for the honey to absorb, and when 
the stick or spoon cannot stir any more, 
some x^owdered sugar should be spread 
on a molding-board. Next the mixture 
should be removed from the pan to the 
board and the dough kneaded the same 
as ordinary bread dough, adding sugar to 
prevent sticking. The candy should be 
worked until all the sugar has been incor- 
porated that it is possible to get in, and yet 
not have it too stiff nor too soft and moist. 
Right here is a very nice point: If too 
much sugar is worked in, the candy will 
become dry and hard; if not enough, it 
will be soft, sticky, and shiny. If the 
candy has been handled properly it should 
hold its shape or form and not become 
sticky at a temperature of 90 degrees. 
Summer temperature will seldom exceed 
this and if the candy holds its shape at this 
temperature it will do so when it is colder. 
It may then be set away in a closed tin 
pan and used as a food to fill cages. 

During very hot moist .\^e^.ther, it may 



CANDY FOR BEES 



165 



be uecessary, before filling the cages, to 
knead in a little more sugar. 

The holes for holding the candy in 
queen-cages should be lined with paraffin 
or beeswax. The object of this is to pre- 
vent the moisture of the candy from being 
absorbed into the wood. This absorption 
would make the bee-feed dr^' and hard. It 
should be maintained not sticky but slight- 
ly moist and soft, to the journey's end. 

If it is impossible to make Good candy 
by following these directions, either the 
honey or invert sugar is wrong or the pul- 
verized sugar. And this suggests the wis- 
dom of trying a few pounds of the sugar 
before making a large batch of candy. 

Recent postal regulations in the United 
States require on the part of every queen- 
breeder who sends queens by mail one of 
two things — a certificate of inspection from 
a duly authorized bee inspector certif^'ing 
that no bee disease has been discovered in 
the yard in which the queens are reared, 
a copy of this to go on every package; 
or in the event that there is no bee-inspection 
law, and, of course, no inspector, the postal 
authorities require a statement, duly at- 
tested before a notary, that the honey of 
which the candy has been made has been 
boiled 20 minutes in a closed vessel, or 
else that invert sugar is used. 

But experience shows that boiled honey 
does not make good queen-cage candy. The 
character of the honey is so changed by 
boiling that the queens die on it in the 
space of a short time. 

The real intent of the regulation, which 
is to prevent the dissemination of bee dis- 
ease, can be subserved by using invert 
sugar in place of honey. See Invert 
Sugar. This is a syrup having a good 
many of the chemical characteristics of 
honey, but it lacks some of the food ele- 
ments of nature's product. However, it 
makes a better candy and is safer. Of 
course, invert sugar could not contain 
disease of any kind, as it has not been in 
contact Tvath bees. 

Invert sugar can usually be obtained of 
any large cand^'-maker. A very good arti- 
cle is sold under the name of nullomoline 
by the Nullomoline Co., of New York. 

Some queen-breeders have been very suc- 
cessful in the use of fondant, such as is 
used for filling the inside of ordinary 



chocolate cand3\ Inasnnich as the ingredi- 
ents do not involve the use of honey, some 
may prefer it. 

HOW TO MAKE FONDANT.' 

The ingredients are as follows : granu- 
lated sugar 12 lbs.; glucose, such as the 
candy-makers use, 1^/2 lbs.; water, 1^ 
quarts; cream of tartar, % teaspoonful. 
The cream of tartar, w^ater, and glucose 
are put together in a kettle and heated. 
As soon as the mixture comes to a boil, 
the sugar is added little by little until it is 
all incorporated. During the process of 
adding the sugar the candy is continually 
stirred. When the boiling point is reached 
again, the stirring is discontinued. When 
the temperature reaches 238 degrees F. by 
a candy-mixer's thermometer, the mixture 
is removed from the stove and allowed to 
cool. When it cools to 120 it is stirred 
again until it begins to "cream." As soon 
as it looks like paste or starch, it is ready 
to use. 

This candy has been used quite success- 
fully as a winter food. It is put in shallow 
trays, and placed over the top of a cluster 
of bees. It has also been used for supplying 
queen-cages. 

HARD CANDY FOR WINTER AND SPRING 

feeding; HOW to make IT. 

Into a dish of hot water on the stove is 
slowly poured granulated sugar, which 
should be stirred constantly. The syrup 
should be very thick and the sugar all dis- 
solved before boiling commences. If this 
precaution is not observed, some of the un- 
dissolved sugar is likely to bum, injuring 
the flavor of the candy and almost surely 
causing trouble with the bees later. If 
one has a candy thermometer, he should 
watch the temperature, and not let it go 
above 275 to 280 degrees F. Tests should 
frequently be made by dropping a very lit- 
tle of the syrup into cold water (about 50 
to 55 degrees F.). When the boiling has 
continued long enough the drop of candy, 
having been cooled in the water, should be 
hard and brittle when taken out ; but when 
placed in the mouth it should soften slight- 
ly, and become tough. When this time has 
arrived, the sj-rup should immediately be 
poured on to paraffined or waxed paper on 



166 



CARPET GRASS 



a table. The table should be perfectly 
level, and around the outside of the paper 
should be placed wooden sticks ^ inch 
high to confine the syrup and prevent it 
from running off. When the candy is 
nearly hard, it may be creased or cut with 
a heavy knife so that it can be broken up 
into right-sized squares when hard. 

The color of the candy when cold should 
be about that of light basswood honey. If 
it is darkened very much, it is scorched and 
unfit for the bees. To prevent the scorch- 
ing, the fire toward the last should be re- 
duced so that the syrup will boil but 
slowly. 

When the candy is first made, it is hard 
and glassy, and perfectly transparent ; but 
after it stands for a little time it becomes 
somewhat watery and crystalline; but this 
is all the better so far as the bees are con- 
cerned, for they are enabled to take it more 
easily. 

The thin cakes of candy being only 14 
inch thick may be placed over the frames 
and under the regular cover, and in this 
way a colonj'' may be saved that would 
otherwise be lost. The feeding of syrup, 
especially in the spring, is apt to cause 
great excitement and possibly robbing, and 
for this reason the candy is safer as it is 
taken slowly. 

Caution. — Whoever makes the candy 
should clearly understand that if the mix- 
ture is scorched, even the slightest, it will 
make unfit food for spring or winter feed- 
ing. When the syrup is cooked nearly 
enough, there is great danger of burning, 
and it is then that the greatest care should 
be exercised. 

CANE SUGAR.— This is the common 
name applied to the sugar-sucrose. Sucrose 
is made from the sugar cane and also from 
the sugar beet. When derived from the beet 
it should go under the name of beet sugar. 
Sucrose is found in pure honey in amounts 
varying from nothing up to 8 per cent. 
Only in a very few cases has pure honey 
been found which showed the higher fig- 
ures. The standards for pure honey allow 
8 per cent to be present. New honey gen- 
erally contains more sucrose than old 
honey. There are present in honey before 
heating some enzry^mes (unorganized fer- 
ments) which have the power to invert the 
sucrose. Hence on aging, if heat has not 



been applied to kill this action, the per 
cent of sucrose decreases. Sucrose on 
hydrolysis or inversion forms equal parts 
of dextrose and levulose, these latter being 
the predominant sugars of honey. See 
Sugar; Invert Sugar; also Honey^ 
Analysis op. 

CANS FOR HONEY.— See Extracted 
Honey. 

CARNIOLANS.— See Races of Bees. 



CARPENTER BEES. 

Bees. 



See Solitary 



CARPET GRASS {Lippia nodiflora (L.) 
Miehx.). — Other vernacular names are fog- 
fruit and mat grass — a prostrate, creeping, 
herbaceous perennial, only a few inches 
high, w^hich forms dense mats in damp soil 
and on river banks. It is of great value in 
preventing the erosion of sandy land and is 
in consequence known as a "sand-binder." 
In Florida it would be a boon for that 
purpose alone. Stock will eat it; and it 
holds up its head when everything else is 
burned up by the sun. The flowers are 
small, white, resembling those of the sweet- 
scented garden verbena from China, which 
belongs to the same genus. Both species 
belong to the Verhenaceae, or Verbena 
family. Common carpet grass is widely 
distributed in the warmer regions of North 
America, extending from Central America 
and the West Indies to Florida, Georgia, 
and Texas. It is very abundant in Sutter 
County and in the Sacramento Valley, Cal- 
ifornia, carpeting the slopes of the Sacra- 
mento River, where it produces a large 
amount of honey. It blooms from May 
until September. The honey is white, of 
the mildest flavor, and crystallizes with a 
very fine grain. In Texas carpet grass 
grows along rivers and small streams, but 
is of little importance as a honey plant. 

other species of carpet grass. 

The carpet grasses, of which there are 
about 100 species, belong chiefly to the 
warmer regions of the Old and New 
Worlds; but are most abundant in tropical 
and subtropical America. They yield much 
nectar in Central America and are also 
valuable honey plants in the West Indies 



CATCLAW 



167 



and the Bermudas. There are about nine 
species in the United States distributed over 
an area extending from New Jersey to 
Nebraska and Kansas, southward to 
Georgia and Texas, and west to Arizona 
and California. 

In 1900 Lippia repens Hort. was in- 
troduced from Italy into California, where 
it now covers thousands of acres. Because 
of its thickly matted growth it is widely 
used for covering laT\Tis and tennis courts. 
Only one or two cuttings are required dur- 
ing the summer. It thrives in the poorest 
soils, smothers weeds, requires but little 
water, and looks as weU as any grass; but 




C'iiteli 



Ifaf, twi 



and lilosionis ; life-size. 



during two or three months it turns brown 
and ceases to grow, when its appearance is 
less pleasing. A new growth appears in 
early spring. The small flowers are visited 



by many honeybees and probably the honey 
does not differ from that of the common 
carpet grass. 

Lippia lanceolata Michx. grows in New 
Jersey, Texas, Mexico, and California, and 
is also valued as a honey plant. 

CATCLAW {Acacia Greggii, Gray).— 
Kuo^^^l also as paradise flower and devil's 
claws. The acacia trees are most abundant 
in Australia and Africa; but 16 species 
occur in the Southern States, chiefly in 
Texas. Several species are valuable for 
both honey and pollen: A. Greggii Gray 
and A. Berlandiera Benth. are two of the 
most important honey plants of Texas, and 
yield immense quantities of excellent honey 
that ranks with the best white honey of the 
North. Several species of acacia are culti- 
vated in California, and yield much honey. 
While possibly it would not sell alongside 
of our clovers, yet in localities where it is 
produced it is praised very highly for table 
use, no honey being classed higher except 
that from the "huajilla." See Huajilla. 

The catclaw is a bushy tree with low- 
spreading branches, attaining a height of 
anywhere from 15 to 20 feet. It derives its 
name from the bushy and fuzzy blossoms 
suggestive of the furry coat of a cat, and 
the peculiar kind of claws or hooks, shaped 
very much like the claw of a common house 
cat. If one tries to push thru the bushes 
or among the branches he vtdll conclude 
that, unless he "backs up," he may "re- 
main hooked." Perhaps he will anyhow. 

The illustration in the column opposite 
shows a small twig, life size. The leaves 
are small and in clusters while the blossoms 
have a cottony or downy look. One of the 
seed pods, after the blossoms have been cast 
off, is shown at the upper left-hand corner 
of the plate. 

The tree comes into bloom about the first 
of May, and yields honey for a considerable 
length of time before going out of bloom. 
In July there is a second crop. 

Like the huajilla and mesquite it grows 
in the semi-desert regions of Texas and 
Arizona where it would be impossible to 
carry on farming without in'igation. There 
are vast areas in both States mentioned 
that will probably never be used for any- 
thin <]: p-iore useful to man than catclaw, 
huajilla, and mesquite; so that the onward 



168 



CATNIP 



march of civilization will not displace these 
honey trees with more profitable farm 
crops. We may reasonably conclude that 
catclaw will remain one of the permanent 
sources of honey supply. 

We are not sure but it would pay to in- 
troduce these valuable honey-bearing trees 
in other semi-arid regions. It has been in- 
troduced into Southern Europe, whence 
large quantities of its flowers are exported 
to France and England. It is there known 
as mimosa. 



and very likely he was not far from right. 
But as there has never been any definite 
report from a sufficient field of it to test it 
alone, either as to quality or quantity of the 
honey, there is almost as much doubt in re- 
gard to it as there was at the time Quinby 
made the statement many years ago. Sev- 
eral have cultivated it in small patches, and 
have reported that in a state of cultivation 
it apparently yielded more honey than in 
its wild state, for bees were found on it 
almost constantly, during several months 




Catnip. 



CATNIP {Nepeta Cataria L.).— Often 
called catmint. Flowers bilabiate, nearly 
white spotted with purple. Moses Quinby 
(see Quinby) once said that, if he were to 
grow any plant extensively for the honey 



in the year, but rarely one gets a full load. 
It has been called the ''bees' bar-room," as 
they are so constantly hanging around it. 
Yet no one is prepared to say positively 
that it would pay to cultivate it for honey 



it produces, that plant would be catnip; onl; 



CLOVER 



169 



CAUCASIANS.— See Races of Bees. 



CELLAR WINTERING.- 

IXG IX CeLLAKS. 



-See Winter- 



cells, QUEEN. 

QUEEN-REARIXG. 



See Queens and 



CHUNK HONEY.— See "Bulk Comb 
Honey/' under head of Comb Honey. 

CLIPPING.— See Queens. 

CLOVER ('Trifolium).— No group of 
plants yields more or better honey than the 
clovers. About 250 species belong to the 
genus Trifolium; but only a few of them, 
as white clover, alsike clover, red clover, 
and crimson clover, are of great import- 
ance to bee culture. Under the general 
term "clover" alfalfa, sweet clover, sainfoin 
clover, and pin clover are sometimes in- 
cluded; but they belong to different genera, 
and, in the ease of pin clover also to a dif- 
ferent family. So broad a license in the 
use of the word "clover" is not admissible. 
Clover, alfalfa, sweet clover, and sainfoin 
all belong to the pulse family {Legumi- 
nosae), a very extensive family, which con- 
tains many other valuable honey plants. 

Some 30 or 40 years ago a failure to ob- 
tain a crop of clover honey was almost 
unknown. In moi'e recent years intensive 
agriculture has tended to exclude white 
clover from cultivated fields and to confine 
it to the roadsides, hedgerows, and un- 
ploughed pastures. Its place was taken 
by red clover and alsike clover, but these 
species in turn have lately begun to disap- 
pear. Lands that formerly yielded clover 
in abundance, now produce it only spar- 
ingly, or not at all, and are called by the 
farmers "clover-sick." The cause of this 
difficulty was soon discovered to be an in- 
sufficient amount of lime in the soil. The 
clovers will not grow on an acid soil. 
Alsike requires less lime than red clover, 
but the time finally comes when the land 
will not support alsike. When the land was 
new, or before it was tilled, it contained a 
larger amount of lime; but constant crop- 
ping has largely exhausted the natural 
supply. Hence the soil is "clover-sick," or 
requires lime. 

If sorrel is growing on the land, or blue 
litmus paper placed in damp soil turns red. 



it may be assumed safely that there is a 
lack of lime. Beekeepers should carefully 
inform themselves as to whether the clover 
fields in their locality are deficient in lime 
or not, and should endeavor to induce the 
farmers to get in touch with the nearest 
experiment station and seek advice in re- 
gard to this matter. From 500 to 2,000 or 
3,000 pounds of ground limerock may be 
required. 




What is sweeter than honey ? 

The attention of farmers should also be 
called to the part clover plays in increas- 
ing the nitrogen in the soil. On the roots 
of the clovers there are little nodules or 
tubercles, from the size of a pin head to 
that of a pea, in which there live multi- 
tudes of bacteria. These bacteria are able 
to fix the free nitrogen of the air in nitro- 
genous compounds, which after the death 
of the bacteria the clover plants are able 
to obtain. The fixation of nitrogen is 
aided by lime and humus in the soil, and 
is retarded by an acid soil or one which 
is compact and not well aerated. The 
tubercules do not survive the winter, but 
are formed anew each season. 

Since alsike clover requires less lime 
than red clover, the gradual decrease of 
lime in the soil has in many localities led 
to its substitution for the latter. While 



170 



CLOVER 



g^' 



•^^^t 




A fine field of white clover in Iowa. 



this has been a great advantage to bee- 
keepers temporarily, it will not prove a 
permanent one unless lime is applied, 
since finally the soil will become so acid 
that alsike will not grow^ in it. White 
clover, likewise, is largely dependent on a 
soil rich in lime, and it has been disappear- 
ing not alone because of intensive agri- 
culture, but also because of the increasing 
acidity of the land. Years ago there was 
no difficulty in getting annually a surplus 
of honey from white clover. But in later 
years white clover has failed again and 
again, even when the season was favorable. 
The chief cause has undoubtedly been the 
need of more lime. Since, therefore, the 
clovers are the main dependence of many 
beekeepers for honey a special effort should 
be made by them to extend the knowledge 
that a well-limed soil is a necessity both 
for growing the true clovers and also 
alfalfa and sweet clover. Both by lectures 
and the distribution of literature this in- 
formation, which is so vitally important 
for their success, should be made widely 
known. 

The inference must not be drawn, from 
what has been said, that the land is too 
acid in every case. There are certain sec- 
tions in this country where it has been dis- 
covered that the clovers will not grow well 



altho there is an abundance of lime in the 
soil. 

WHITE CLOVER {Trifolium repens 
L.). — In the Central and Eastern states no 
other honey plant is so universally known 
as white clover, and white-clover honey is 
the hone}^ 2^^^ excellence — the honey with 
which all other honeys are compared. It 
is a delicious white honey of the finest 
quality. While not so thick and heavy as 
goldenrod nor so pronounced in flavor as 
buckwheat or basswood, it yet possesses the 
qualities which satisfj^ the largest number 
of consumers and fills most perfectly the 
demand for a table honey of the highest 
grade. It is given the preference by most 
purchasers, and the highest praise which 
can be bestowed on any honey is to pro- 
nounce it equal to that of white clover. As 
a confectionery its appearance is most at- 
tractive, while for medicinal purposes it is 
unsurpassed. 

In general in America where it is suffi- 
ciently abundant white clover usually yields 
excellent honey harvests, which are not far 
from surpassing all records. In 1913, at 
Marengo, 111., Dr. C. C. Miller obtained 
from 72 colonies, spring count, 19,186 sec- 
tions of chiefly white-clover honey, or an 
average of 266.47 sections per colony. The 
three best colonies yielded 390, 395, and 



CLOVER 



171 



402 sections respectively. This phenomenal 
surplus was largely due to a most favorable 
season consisting of a succession of hot 
humid days, altho the strain of bees and the 
care the}' received were important factors. 
The flow began about June 1 and continued 
until the last of August, the bees then grad- 
ually changing to sweet clover and hearts- 
ease. During this long even flow there were 
up to Sept. 1 only two rainy days. At 
other times the rain came during the night, 
the weather becoming clear again before the 
bees were readv to begin work in the morn- 



paths and roads, and is common in the 
fields and pastui'es. There are in each 
head or flower-cluster fi'oni 57 to 89 small 
florets. At tir^^t all the florets stand erect, 
but as the marginal ones are pollinated 
they cease to secrete nectar and are bent 
backward and douniward against the stem. 
By preventing useless visits this change 
in position is ber.eficial to both flowers and 
insects. When they expand the flowers are 
white, but they often turn reddish after 
they are reflexed. The calyx is only three 
millimeters long so that not onlv honeybees, 




White-clover blossom — first stage. 



ing. In central Kentucky, m 1906, 115 col- 
onies stored 12,000 pounds of white-clover 
honey and increased to 240 colonies. From 
the same apiary in the following year the 
product was 30,000 pounds, while in 1908 
drouth reduced the crop to 15,000 pounds. 
The flowers of white clover are familiar 
to every one since the plant flnds a conge- 
nial habitat in the vicinity of human dwell- 
ings. It carpets the lawns, fringes the 



but many other insects ai"e able to reach the 
nectar. Honeybees also often gather loads 
of 3-ellow pollen, altho this is not abundant. 

THE POLLIXATIOX OF WHITE CLOVER. 

There are flve petals. The upper petal, 
called the standard, is much the largest. 
The two lower petals partly cohere to form 
a sac termed, from its form, a carina or 



172 



CLOVER 



keel. The two lateral petals, called the 
alae, or wings, are attached to the keel, and 
act as levers to depress it. The stamens 
and pistil are completely inclosed in the 
keel, and ordinarily are not visible. A bee 
can not collect pollen from white clover as 
it does from a rose, because there is none 
in sight, and it is not directly accessible. 
Bees never visit the flowers for the purpose 
of gathering only pollen, and one has never 
been observed trying to open the keel. 

There are 10 anthers, each of which pro- 
duces a small amount of pollen. The fila- 



only its head rests on the flower from which 
it is sucking nectar. When a bee pushes its 
head beneath the standard, the keel and 
wings are forced downward, the anthers 
and stigma emerge, and a little pollen is 
deposited on the under or inner side of the 
head, which may be covered with a layer 
of moist pollen. If a pointed pencil be 
thrust into a mature flower, when it is 
withdrawn a little mass of pollen will be 
found on the other side. As soon as the 
bee moves to another flower the elastic pet- 
als cause the anthers to return again with- 




White-clover blossom — second stage. 



ments unite to form a tube, at the bottom 
of which the nectar is secreted. But the 
superior stamen is free, leaving two small 
openings at the base of the staminal tube 
thru which a bee may insert its tongue to 
obtain the nectar. 

It is manifest at a glance that the indi- 
vidual flowers of a white-clover head are 
far too small to hold a honeybee. The bee 
clings w^ith its legs to several flowers, and 



in the keel. The collection of pollen is, 
therefore, an incidental result over which 
the bee has no control. While it is visit- 
ing white-clover flowers, more or less pol- 
len is necessarily rubbed on the under side 
of the head: but a part of it is again 
rubbed off on the stigmas of the flowers 
subsequently visited, effecting cross-pollin- 
ation, for the stigma stands slightly in 
advance of the anthers. A part of thi«! 



CLOVER 



173 



polJen may also be transferred to the pollen- 
baskets, where it appears as little brown 
balls varying from the size of a shot to an 
almost inappreciable quantity. 

The pollen grains, when examined under 
a high magnifying power, appear oblong, 
cylindrical, i-ounded at each end, with three 
longitudinal slits or grooves on the sides, 
and the bands or spaces between the slits 
finely roughened with many shallow pits 
or depressions. A knowledge of the form 
of the pollen is essential in order that it 
mav be recognized with certaintv either in 



in the north temperate zone of both hem- 
ispheres. The factors controlling the secre- 
tion of nectar are very imperfectly under- 
stood. While in the United States and 
England it is usually a good honey plant, in 
France and Switzerland, in fact, thruout 
continental Europe, one may travel for 
several kilometers and not see a bee on it. 
At Rouen, France, during one day of white- 
clover bloom a hive on scales actually lost 
300 grams in weight. In various localities 
in the United States it is also reported to 
be an almost total failure. At Plainfield, 




White-clover blossom — third st:i;re. 



the hive or in the honey. The little balls of 
pollen in the pollen-baskets appear brown 
instead of yellow (the color of the pollen 
in the anthers) because they are composed 
of a moist compact mass of grams which 
have been manipulated by the bees' legs. 

According to Darwin, when insects were 
excluded from white clover by a fine net 
the clover was only one-tenth as produc- 
tive as when they were freely admitted. 

DTSTRIBITIOX OF WHITE CLOVER. 

White clover is verv widelv distributed 



X. J., altho the ground is often white with 
the bloom a good flow is obtained only 
ajiout once in ten years. One beekeeper 
says: "As an actual fact, the amount of 
clover hone^' is not measured by the quan- 
tity of bloom ; for I have seen the fields 
white with an abundance of it, but only a 
fair crop. I can remember one j'ear when 
we had a great scarcity of bloom, and yet 
we had a good crop of clover honey. I 
have also seen fields white with clover but 
no honey." In the Southern and extreme 
Western States white clover is of little im- 



174 



CLOVER 



portance to the beekeeper, not so much be- 
cause it does not secrete nectar as because 
it is not sufficiently common. In many dis- 
tricts the climate is too dry. The nectar 
secretion also varies greatly from day to 
day acording to weather conditions. 

White clover is at its maximum as a 
honey plant in what is known as the "white- 
clover belt" — that is, in the blue-grass re- 
gion of Kentucky, in Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
New York, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 
Iowa, southern Minnesota, and southern 
Wisconsin, Iowa and southern Illinois be- 
ing in the heart of the belt. Even here the 
nectar yield is often very variable. In 
some years it is enormous. In others no 
surplus is stored. At Richmond, Ky., ac- 
cording to Virgil Weaver, a normal year 
comes only once in every five years, viz., 
1897, 1902, 1906, and 1910. Two full crops 
obtained in succession are often followed 
by several years when the yield is less sat- 
isfactory. This difference is largely deter- 
mined b}^ soil and climate. In wet clay 
ground in regions where the winters are 
severe the roots may be much broken and 
drawn out upon the surface, or the plants 
killed outright by repeated "lifting" caused 
by the alternate thawing and freezing of 
the soil. The destructive work of the frost, 
however, is much lessened by the natural 
mulch afforded by the dead vegetation 
found in waSte places and in meadows, 
which have not been cropped too closely. 
Snow also offers excellent protection, and, 
when it covers the ground for the most of 
the winter clover suffers little or no dam- 
age. Winter-killing from freezing in well- 
drained sandy soils or in warmer climates 
is practically unknown. 

In Kentucky, Iowa, and the surrounding 
territory, where there are light soils, it 
seems to be well established that there will 
be a very small honey flow if the preceding 
season has been very dry. If there is no 
rain after July 1, the drouth destroys the 
old plants of feeble vitality, checks the 
growth of offshoots, prevents the germina- 
tion of seedlings, and retards the formation 
of an extensive root system with the result 
that there are few blossoms and little nec- 
tar the following season. This statement 
does not call for discussion since all herba- 
ceous plants growing in porous sandy soil 
suffer, if there is a large decrease in the 
normal rainfall. Altho the injury wrought 



by tho drouth does not become apparent 
until the next season, it should not be at- 
tributed to winter-killing, but to the correct 
cause — the absence of sufficient moisture in 
the soil. But if there is a good stand of 
white clover in early spring, a drouth in 
May or June, if copious rains follow, will 
only retard the bloom and delay the har- 
vest. I have seen clover parched by drouth 
in June, says a beekeeper, and not a blos- 
som in sight. Then came a succession of 
soaking rains, and, presto ! bloom and a 
crop of honey. Similar results have been 
described at London, Canada. An excep- 
tionally dry fall after August 15 was fol- 
lowed by a dry spring until the last of 
May, when a series of warm rains com- 
menced which continued almost daily until 
about the 20th of June. The effect was 
marvelous. July found the fields and road- 
sides a beautiful mass of white and alsike 
clover, and the honey crop was the best that 
memory can recall. A very cold spring 
may also cause failure, even if there is a 
normal rainfall. In 1907 in parts of New 
York the average temperature of April, 
May, and June vv^as four degrees below the 
respective means for these months in other 
years, and there was no white-clover honey. 
Cold or rainy weather during the honey 
flow will both lessen the quantity of nectar 
and prevent the bees from working on the 
bloom ; for the best results there must be a 
series of warm humid days. Finally, where 
Avhite clover has been grown indefinitely in 
the same fields the soil conditions may be- 
come deleterious. Microscopic protozoa may 
multiply until they destroy a large part of 
the beneficial bacteria, or the soil may be- 
come acid and require a liberal application 
of lime. Such land is said to be "clover- 
sick," as explained at the beginning of the 
general article on Clover. Nearly all of 
northeastern Ohio and the major part of 
Pennsylvania show a deficiency of lime. 
This is also true of Massachusetts where 
very little white-clover honey is produced. 
The remedy, of course, is to apply lime as 
previously explained. 

WHITE CLOVER^ HOW PROPAGATED. 

There is no more important or interest- 
ing subject to the beekeepers of "the white- 
clover belt" than the life history of white 
clover and its problems. The plant is prop- 



CLOVER 



175 



agated both by seeds and runners which 
root at the nodes and finally become inde- 
pendent stocks. As in the case of the straw- 
berry, a single plant may in a favorable 
season cover with its runners a circle of 
ground one or two feet in diameter. If 
these new plants winter uninjured they will 
bloom the following season in the same 
manner as strawberry runners. The older 
plants, as is again true of the strawberry, 
exhausted by multiplying both sexually and 
vegetatively, are easily killed by drouth or 
cold. When the ground is densely covered 
with an old growth there will be little op- 
portunity for runners to root or seed to 
germinate. Consequently there m.ay come 
years when there are few new plants to 
bloom. 

White clover seeded in the spring will 
produce, if there is sufficient rain, a heavy 
crop of bloom in July and a fair amount of 
seed. Much depends upon locality. Clover 
raised from seed is more valuable for nec- 
tar the second season than during the first. 

ALSIKE CLOVER {Trifolium hyhridum 
L.). — This species was called liyhridurn 
by Linnfeus since he supposed it to be a 
hybrid between white and red clover, but 
it is now believed to be a distinct species. 
It was named alsike clover from the parish 
of Alsike in Upland, Sweden, where it was 
first discovered and where it grows abun- 
dantly. It is now known as alsike or 
Swedish clover in Scotland, England, Den- 
mark, Germany, France, and America. It 
was introduced into England in 183 i and 
later into this country. It is a very hardy 
perennial plant adapted to cultivation in a 
cold climate. 

POLLINATION. 

The branching leaf y stems of alsike clover 
are 1 to 3 feet long, erect or ascending, not 
creeping and rooting at the nodes like 
white clover. The small fragrant flowers 
are in heads and at first point upward and 
are pink or reddish; but after pollination 
they bend downward and turn brown (see 
figure). The mechanism of the flower is 
the same as that of white clover. (See 
White Clover). The nectar is secreted 
inside of the staminate tube, and is acces- 
sible to short-tongued insects. As the in- 
dividual flowers are small only the head of 
the honeybee rests on the flower, from 



which it is sucking nectar, and comes in 
contact with the pollen. Few honey plants 
yield nectar in larger quantities. 

alsike clover as a honey plant. 

Alsike clover is far more hardy than 
red clover and will grow on damp or wet 
land on which the latter will not grow. 
It is adapted to moist clay soils and sandy, 
loam soils rich in humus, but it will not 
thrive in dry sandy or gravelly land. Lime 
is essential but less is required than by 
either white or red clover. In Ontario, 
Canada, it is regarded as the foremost 
honey plant, and m many localities it is the 
only source of honey in quantities. Hun- 
dreds of acres are grown in this province 
exclusively for seed; but there is probably 
no region in this country, in which it pro- 
duces larger yields than in that of the 
Great Lakes. From Michigan southward 
to Ohio there has been an immense increase 
in the acreage. Within 10 years it has 
been estimated that the area of alsike 
clover under cultivation has increased ten 
to twentj'-fold. In perhaps one-half of 
the fields alsike is mixed with timothy, in 
one-quarter with red clover, and in the re- 
maining quarter alsike is grown by itself. 
In Michigan and some other States there 
w^ould be no clover honey if it were not for 
alsike, since white clover has disappeared 
to a great extent. In the Eastern States 
the culture of alsike has also spread very 
rapidly; for instance, in Lancaster County, 
Pa., about 10 years ago the hay crop con- 
sisted chiefly of alsil^e mixed wnth timothy; 
to-day three-fourths of the hay is alsike, as 
it is almost impossible to get a stand with 
red clover. Beekeeping is greatly benefited 
by the change, as there are practically no 
other honey plants of importance in this 
locality ; and beekeepers declare that if the 
farmers should stop sowing alsike they 
would be compelled to stop keeping bees. 
Here the seed dealers are all encouraging 
the sale of alsike seed to the exclusion of 
that of red clover. In Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee it is highly prized for hay and pas- 
turage and its cultivation is steadily in- 
creasing. In Tennessee it is replacing red 
clover since there is a greater certainty of 
getting a good stand. While it will grow 
with less lime in the soil than red clover, 
it responds favorably to the addition of 



176 



CLOVER 



lime both in g"i-owth and in the secretion of 
nectar. In Virginia alsike is growing, too, 
in favor with the farmers. There it endures 
well adverse conditions of weather, and is 
so mucli better adapted for grazing purposes 
that it should be a constituent part of all 
grazing mixtures. In the West alsike is very 
successful in the irrigated valleys of the 
Rocky Mountains and in the regions of the 
Pacific Ocean. 



localities. The honey is so simihir that it 
is doubtful if one can be distinguished from 
the other. It has been observed over and 
over again that apiaries in the immediate 
vicinity of alsike clover will yield more 
honey per colony than those having access 
to only white clover even in great abun- 
dance. A field of 20 acres of alsike will 
take care of 50 colonies of bees very well, 
providing it is supplemented by white 




Alsike clover. 



It is generally conceded that alsike clover 
yields nectar more freely, and is a more 
reliable honey plant than white clover. An 
acre of alsike has been estimated to be 
worth two or three of white clover, but 
this does not appear to hold true in all 



clover in the vicinity. The period of bloom 
of alsike is also much longer than that of 
white clover, lasting when pastured, nearly 
all summer. While alsike, as a rule, does 
not yield a heavy second crop, the late 
bloom is of great value. During the first 



CLOVER 



177 



year it seldom makes a heavy j^rowth, not 
attaining its full luxuriance until the sec- 
ond and third year. 

The fact that alsike clover is replacing 
the red species in so many localities is of 
much importance to American beekeepers. 
Consider how many localities would be lit- 
erally transformed if red clover were re- 
placed by alsike. Beekeepers should take 
advantage of this steady movement in the 
right direction, and, in addition to preach- 
ing the gospel of sowing alsike, should offer 
to pay a part of the cost of the seed. At 
Medina, Ohio, it has been the practice for 
some years to furnish seed to farmers at 
half price provided that the fields, where 
it Avas sown, were within half a mile of one 
of the bee-yards; while it has been sup- 
plied free to those Avho would sow it only 
a few rods away. As a result of this pol- 
icy the acreage within half a mile of the 
apiaries has been very greatly increased. 
The amount of clover honey obtained has 
become noticeably larger, and less feeding 
of sugar in the fall has been found neces- 
sary. After alsike has once been intro- 
duced it is self-sowing, and springs up 
where the other clovers fail to make a 
satisfactory gi'o^i;h. It is soon widely 
scattered through the fields, improving the 
quality of the hay and increasing the quan- 
tity of honey. After a few years it will 
not be necessary to supply the seed free, 
for the farmers will have learned from ex- 
perience that the crop is so valuable that 
they will be willing to buy the seed for 
themselves. Care should be taken to ascer- 
tain that the land on which the seed is to 
be sown is suitable for the growth of this 
clover. The honey flow will be much pro- 
longed if the alsike is sown with timothy 
or some other forage crop, since when sown 
alone it is often cut two weeks before other 
hay and before the larger part of the nee- 
tar, which it is possible to obtain, has been 
gathered. 

THE CULTL'RE 01' ALSIKE CI.OVEK. 

A loamy soil containing sufficient lime, 
phosphates, and vegetable matter or humus 
is best adapted to growing alsike clover. 
The ground should be thoroly ploughed, 
turning under carefully all weeds and 
grass. "The application of manures for 
the clovers in any considerable amount is 



unnecessary. If clovers are grown on 
manures they will feed on the nitrogen in 
the manure; they will not draw from the 
air for that element. Growing clover on 
manures, therefore, is not the best econ- 
omy." Moreover, the grasses, such as tim- 
othy and redtop, with which clover is usu- 
ally sown, will make a vigorous growth 
and crowd out the clover so that the hay 
will contain little cf it. On eastern soils 
400 to 600 pounds of a fertilizer, contain- 
ing a moderate percentage of nitrogen and 
phosphoric acid but rich in potash, may be 
used. In the West less potash is needed. 
All the clovers require lime, but alsike will 
succeed with a less amount than the other 
cultivated species. The bacteria, which live 
on the roots and appropriate the nitrogen 
from the air, will die in an acid soil. The 
presence of sorrel indicates an acid condi- 
tion; or, if a piece of blue litmus paper 
placed in damp soil turns red, lime is re- 
quired. It may be applied in various 
forms, such as air-slacked lime or ground 
limestone; but the latter is advised as it 
is equally effisient and cheaper in price. 
From 2,000 to 4,000 pounds to the acre 
ma\' be used to advantage. After the lime 
has been distributed by hand or a manure 
spreader, the soil should be thoroly har- 
rowed and leveled. 

SEEDING. 

Alsike clover may be seeded with the 
cereals, or with various kinds of grasses 
and fodder plants, or alone. As when 
fully grown it is liable to lodge and rot, it 
is advisable to sow with grass, as redtop or 
orchard grass on wet land, and timothy on 
drier land. When used w^th cereals, it 
may be sown either in the fall or eai'ly in 
the spring when the ground is soft a!id 
wet. It may be seeded with oats altho bar- 
ley is preferred, while with wheat it may 
prove an entire failure. If a heavy crop 
of grain is raised, the clover will suffer 
from want of water and a poor stand will 
be obtained. If the clover is the first con- 
sideration, the seeding of the nurse crop of 
grain must be very light. From three to 
four-fold as many pounds of clover can 
be obtained when it is sown alone as with 
oats. 

Alsike clover seed is about half the size 
of that of red clover, and it may be easily 



178 



CLOVER 



separated from the latter by means of a 
sieve with meshes of the proper size. It is 
desirable that the seed should be tested, as 
much inferior seed containing a great quan- 
tity of weed seed is placed on the market. 
When alsike is sown alone 12 to 16 pounds 
to the acre are recommended. If, however, 
it is sown with timothy or redtop, as ad- 
vised above, from 2 to 5 pounds of alsike, 
12 pounds of timothy, or 10 pounds of red- 
top, may be used. These numbers are only 
approximate and will vary according to 
conditions. Red clover is sometimes seeded 
with alsike, as it increases the crop the first 
year or two and disappears later. It is 
desirable that the seed should be lightly 
covered with a smoothing harrow. 

CURING ALSIKE FOR HAY. 

In curing alsike for hay great care 
should be taken to prevent the leaves and 
smaller stems, which contain the larger 
portion of the protein, from being lost; 
and to protect it as much as possible from 
exposure to rain or dew, or to the sun. It 
should not be cut before it is in full bloom 
and the blossoms are beginning to turn 
brown ; but, if permitted to stand too long, 
the stems will become woody. It is usually 
cured in the windrow, avoiding any un- 
necessary exposure to the sun, which causes 
the leaves to bleach and become brittle. If 
raked into windrows, or bunched, or placed 
in the mow when wet with either dew or 
rain, it will be injured. It should never 
be stored in stacks outdoors, if this can be 
avoided. As a forage plant it is equal or 
superior to red clover or timothy, produc- 
ing a large flow of very rich milk. 

n.-.TilKKIXG THE SEED. 

The seed is always saved from the first 
crop of blossoms, and it should be allowed 
to stand about two weeks longer than when 
cut for hay. It should always be mowed 
either early in the morning, or late in the 
evening, when it is wet with dew, other- 
wise the riper pods with the best seed will 
fall off and be lost. After mowing it is 
turned once or twice and housed as soon 
as dry. It is thrashed with a clover-huUer 
made expressly for clover seed, and then 
cleaned with a fanning mill with appro- 
priate sieves, In sm^ll quantities it may 



be more satisfactorily thrashed with the 
flail. Timothy seed is very nearly the 
same size and for its removal a fanning 
mill having a proper blast arrangement is 
required. As the alsike weighs 60 pounds 
to the bushel and timothy- 45, there is no 
great difficulty in doing this effectually. 
On one estate in Sweden where 20 acres 
were set apart for raising the seed, the 
average annual production for flve years 
was 133 pounds per acre, while the pro- 
duction one year was 200 pounds per acre, 

IS ALSIKE POISONOUS TO WHITE-NOSED 
HORSES *? 

Occasionally complaint is made that al- 
sike produces a form of skin disease in 
white-nosed horses. In reply Dr. J. Aiken- 
head says: "I have been practicing the 
veterinarj^ profession since 1874 — 18 years 
in Ontario and since then in Maryland, and 
I have never seen a case of poisoning from 
alsike clover. I have been called to see 
many cases supposed to be the result of 
poisoning from alsike pasture fields, but 
have had dozens of the same kind of cases 
on pastures that never had alsike clover on 
them. I have had many patients which, 
when green food was cut for them, would 
eat the alsike clover first, showing that 
they preferred it to other kinds of grass. 
I find from my experience that alsike 
clover makes the best kind of pasture for 
all kinds of stock, and ranks next to alfalfa 
for hay." 

RED CLOVER (Trifolium pratense L.). 
— Red clover is pollinated chiefly by bum- 
blebees, and is therefore called a bumblebee 
flower. This reciprocal relation will be 
made clear by a brief history of the intro- 
duction of red clover into New Zealand. 
There were neither bumblebees nor honey- 
bees in those islands at the time of their 
discovery; consequently, when the colonists 
attempted to grow this valuable fodder 
plant it failed to produce seed. To remedy 
this difficulty about 100 bumblebees, be- 
longing to three different species, were im- 
ported from Europe, and subsequently the 
red-clover heads became fertile. It seems 
to have been supposed that any bumblebee 
would answer for this purpose, as one of 
the species brought from Europe was Bom- 
bus terrestris, which has too short a tongue, 



CLOVER 



179 



and has foniied the habit of biting holes in 
the corolla tubes and robbing the flowers of 
their nectar without rendering any service 
in return. After the holes have once been 
made, other insects, which are themselves 
unable to puncture the corolla, use them to 
abstract the nectar. Thus, so far as the red 
clover is concerned, it would have been bet- 
ter if this bumblebee had never been brought 
to New Zealand. In the course of time this 
fact was learned by experience; and as 
recently as 1905 the New Zealand govern- 
ment wrote to an experiment station in 
Canada inquiring in regard to the bumble- 
bees useful in pollinating red clover in that 
country. As has been pointed out by Dr. 
Graenicher, two of the common and hardy 
bumblebees (Bombus amencanorum and B. 
fervidus), which have tongues 14 millime- 
ters long, would be well adapted for this 
work. See Bumblebees. 

In a favorable season, when there is an 
abundant rainfall, and the flowers of the 
red clover are fully developed, a bee can 
not reach the nectar unless it has a tongue 
9 millimeters long. As the tongue of the 
Italian bee is only 6^4 millimeters in length, 
the nectar is then wholly inaccessible to it. 
This has been the cause of much regret 
among beekeepers, for these flowers not 
only secrete nectar very freely but the nec- 
taries are much less influenced by weather 




Common red clover. 



conditions than those of manj^ other plants. 
Repeated attempts have been made to de- 
velop a permanent strain of red-clover bees ; 



but all such attempts have proved unsuc- 
cessful. It is no easy matter to lengthen 
the tongue of the honeybee 2% millimeters. 
The production of a race of red clover Avith 
shoiter floral tubes has also received con- 
sideration. 

But the second crop of red clover usually 
has shoiter corolla tubes, and occasionally 
in very dry seasons the tubes are so short 
that large yields of honey are obtained. 
The late G. M. Doolittle said that two or 
three times in 30 years at Borodino, N. Y., 
the red clover has been a very valuable 
source of honey ; and that one year he ob- 
tained fully 60 pounds to the colony on 
the average. W. Z. Hutchinson stated 
that he remembered one year when his bees 
stored 500 pounds of pure red-clover honey, 
as surplus, in the section honey-boxes. It 
was when the second crop had been stunted 
by drouth. The blacks stored none of the 
honey, the hybrids stored a little, but the 
bulk of the 500 pounds was furnished by 
the pure Italians. 

A remarkable illustration of the correla- 
tion existing between the weather and the 
length of the corolla tubes of the red clover 
was observed by E. R. Root in 1906. There 
was almost a drouth during the latter part 
of the season at the north beeyard, two 
miles north of Medina. Adjoining this 
yard were several fields of red clover, for 
the farmers were furnished with seed of 
red clover and alsike free of charge. Ow- 
ing to the dry weather the corolla tubes of 
the red-clover heads were shorter than usual, 
and great numbers of bees were attracted 
by the nectar which was now within their 
reach. When one of the farmers began to 
cut his red clover that season there came 
near being a bad stinging-fracas ; for when 
the cutter-knives of the mower went thru 
the field they stirred up the bees, with the 
result that they attacked the horses and the 
man on the mower. So greedily did the 
bees work on that field that it looked as tho 
they were not going to let anybody cut off 
their honey supply. Other farmers in the 
vicinity also had considerable trouble in 
cutting their red clover because the heads 
were so covered with bees. 

Singularly enough, at Medina, and the 
south beeyard, only two miles away, there 
was plenty of rain. When he went over a 
big field of rank clover at his south yard, 
scarcely a bee could be found; while quite 




Pcavine, or niaimiiolh red clover ; life size. 



cr.ovKR 



181 



the reverse had been true the whole season 
on the fields at the north yard, where there 
had been a drouth. The clover at the home 
and south yard, b}' reason of the plentiful 
rains, had attained a rank growth. The 
corolla tubes were "so long that the bees 
could not get any nectar from them, and 
consequently there were no bees on the 
heads. Thus two beekeepers living only two 
miles apart might have arrived at diamet- 
rically opposite conclusions as to the value 
of red clover as a honey plant. 

PEAVINE OR MAMMOTH CLOVER 
{Trifolium pratense perenne) .- — As the 
English name indicates, this is the la'''gest 
variety of red clover. It blooms principal- 
ly in the months of August and Septem- 
ber. It is an excellent forage plant to 
plow under for the purpose of reclaimmg 
an exhausted soil. The flowers have the 
same structure as those of red clover, and 
probably yield nectar under similar condi- 
tions. 

CRIMSON CLOVER {Trifolium incar- 
natum L.). — Other Englkh names are Ital- 
ian clover and carnation clover. It is also 
called annual clover, since if sown in the 
fall it will form a stand before cold weather, 
remain green thruout the winter, start again 
very early in the spring, and mature its 
seed before sununer. It grows wild in 
southern Europe and in a few more north- 
ern localities; and is widely cultivated 
for forage in Italy, Germany, France, and 
Great Britain. It was introduced into 
this country about 1822, and during the 
last 30 .years has been extensively culti- 
vated in the sandy soils of the Middle and 
Southern States. In the Xoi-thern States 
it is usuallv killed bv the severe winters. 



CRIMSON CLOVER AS A HOXEY PLANT. 

The sessile flowers are in oblong terminal 
heads 1 to 2 inches long. A field of crim- 
son clover in full bloom possesses great 
beauty, and passers-by often stop to gather 
and admire the flowers. On public occa- 
sions huge bouquets of the brilliantly col- 
ored blossoms form very striking and at- 
tractive decorations. It is difficult for one 
who has never seen an acre of crimson 
clover to comprehend the beautiful display 



jn-esented by the broad expanse of deep 
red flowers mingled with the vivid green 
of the leaves. The structure of the flower 
is very similar to that of red clover. The 
corolla tube is 8 or more millimeters long; 
and, as in the case of red clover, is adapted 
to bumblebees, which are common visitors 
to this species. It is likewise much more 
productive when cross-pollinated than when 
self-pollinated. At Medina, Ohio, almost 
as many honeybees have been observed on 
the flowers as have been seen on buck- 
wheat; and so eagerly did they seek the 
nectar that as fields in full bloom were 
ploughed under they still continued to fly 
over the land. In view of the length of 
the corolla tube it would seem to be impos- 
sible for honeybees to obtain all of the nec- 
tar under normal conditions. It is a special 
advantage that it blooms earlier than the 
other clovers, filling in the interval between 
the bloom of the orchards and that of white 
clover. The quality of the honey appears 
to be vei-y similar to that of red clover. 

CULTURE OF CRIMSON CLOVER. 

Land should be selected for growing 
crimson clover that is well drained, has 
been previously cultivated and leveled, is 
fairly fertile, contains sufficient lime, and 
has been inoculated with the proper bac- 
teria. As the seedlings are tender and 
easily destroyed, it is a good plan to test 
the suitability of a locality by growing 
first a small experimental plat. At the 
time of seeding the soil should be well 
settled, fine, and in a moist condition. If 
crimson clover follows a crop, as potatoes, 
which has been well fertilized, the soil will 
probably be sufficiently fertile; but other- 
wise an application of barnyard manure 
or about 400 pounds of acid phosphate is 
desirable. If the soil is acid it should 
be limed as described for the other clovers. 
In sections where crimson clover has been 
grown previously, inoculation is usually not 
required, but in a new section it is gener- 
ally necessary. The beneficial effects of 
inoculation were very clearl}^ shown by ex- 
periments performed at the Alabama State 
Agricultural Experiment Station. "When 
the plants were inoculated 4,057 pounds 
of crimson clover were obtained, but in the 
absence of inoculation only 761 pounds. In 
another test the inoculated plat yielded 



182 



CLOVER 




Crimson clover. 

6,100 pounds of cured hay per acre, while quantity used may vary from 12 to 20 

the uninoculated was a total failure. pounds according to conditions. It may 

SEEDING. be broadcasted by hand or drilled in; but 

Crimson clover is usually seeded at the should not be covered deeper than one inch 

rate of 15 pounds to the acre, altho the in sandy soil and half an inch in clay soil. 



CLOVER 



183 



Ten pounds of seed per acre, if e\ery seeti 
germinated, would produce 30 plants to the 
square foot ; but in actual experience much 
of the seed fails to appear above ground. 
If seeded in early spring, blooming time 
comes during hot dry weather, which kills 
many of the young plants ; sometimes, how- 
ever, an excellent crop is obtained if there 
is an abundance of rain and the tempera- 
ture continues moderate well into the sum- 
mer. South of the Ohio River crimson 
clover may be sown from August to Octo- 
ber, but north of this boundary it must be 
sown during July or August. It should be 
stated that in the northern part oi the 
State of Ohio there have been many fail- 
ures. One of our standard writers on agri- 
culture says that thousands of dollars have 
been wasted by farmers in tiying to grow 
crimson clover; yet at Medina, Ohio, 4 or 
5 acres each year have been seeded with 
no failure. The reason for this success is 
largely that the ground is thoroly under- 
drained and highly enriched w^ith barnyard 
manure. 

A fine stand of crimson clover has been 
obtained by seeding the land immediately 
after a crop of potatoes, which had been 
planted comparatively earlj', had been re- 
moved. Before sowing the clover the soil 
was worked with cutaway and Acme har- 
rows. Sown in August it wintered splen- 
didly, in September fairly well, but later- 
seeded plants were almost a total failure. 
But it is seldom grown alone, usually be- 
ing seeded with corn, wheat, rye or other 
grains, and with buckwheat, cowpeas, tur- 
nips, truck crops or cotton. When seeded 
with wheat, rye, or winter oats, both the 
clover and the grain may be cut at the 
same tune the following spring; and a 
larger yield is thus obtained than if the 
clover were sown alone, and it is also 
prevented from lodging badly. A most 
luxuriant growth of wheat and clover has 
been obtained at Medina by April 25, the 
wheat acting as a mulch during the winter. 

SEEDT^J-G CRIMSON CLO\^R WITH 
BUCKWHEAT. 

Crimson clover may be grown in land 
lighth^ seeded with buckwheat or cowpeas, 
these crops affording protection from the 
heat of the sun in midsummer. The buck- 
wheat and clover come up together, but the 
buckwheat being the stronger grows more 



rapidly, and the clover makes but little 
showing until the buckwheat is harvested. 
Then the crimson clover during the cool 
moist weather of fall rapidly covers the 
ground. Should frost kill the buckwheat, 
the clover will rise above it in a very brief 
period; while the dead buckwheat straw 
makes an excellent mulch. The finest crop 
of crimson clover ever obtained at Medina 
was sown in this way, and turned under 
the following June for planting potatoes. 

SEEDING CRIMSON CLO\^R WITH CORN. 

Some of the best crops of crimson clover 
at Medina have been secured by broad- 
casting the seed among early corn at about 
the time of the last cultivation. A rotary 
seed-sower was used, the operator sitting 
on horseback in order that the top of the 
corn might not interfere with the distribu- 
tion of the seed. The horse's ears should 
be covered with small bags to prevent the 
entrance of the flying seed. Probablj^ half 
of the crimson clover raised in this coun- 
trj^ is sown among corn. Westgate says: 
"It is usually possible to make such a seed- 
ing, obtain a good growth during the fall 
and early spring, and mature a crop of 
hay in time for breaking up the land for 
another crop of corn. South of the lati- 
tude of central Delaware it is even possible 
to mature a crop of clover seed in time for 
corn-planting. In this way it is possible 
to grow a crop of corn each year, and at 
the same time steadily increase the fertility 
of the soil for a series of years. Treated 
in this manner each succeeding crop of 
corn can ordinarily be materially increased. 
Instances are reported where the yield of 
corn has been gradually increased by this 
means from 10 bushels per acre at the start 
until as high as 70 bushels per acre was 
secured." 

PLOUGHING UNDER TO IMPR0\T: THE SOIL. 

It has been estimated by an experiment 
station that a good stand of crimson clover 
ploughed under while in bloom is equiva- 
lent to 10 tons per acre of the best stable 
manure. As it blooms so early, it may be 
ploughed under for most crops. It is also 
an excellent cover crop for orchards, and 
is a good green feed for poultry in winter. 
Were it not for the danger of winterkilling, 
it would probably be much more widely 
cultivated. 



184 



COMB FOUNDATION 



THE QUALITY OF CRIMSON-CLOVER HONEY. 

The quality of the honey from crimson 
clover is said to rank fairly well with that 
of any other clover. In fact, the honey 
from any clover is all good. There is so 
little crimson clover grown, comparatively, 
that a strictly crimson-clover honey is un- 
known in the market. What little is pro- 
duced is probably mixed with other clovers. 
In any case it would not impair the quality 
of the honey from any other source. 

On the culture of crimson clover see 
"Crimson Clover: Growing the Crop," by 
J. M. Westgate, Farmers' Bulletin 550. 



COLOR OF HONEY. 

ITS COLOHS. 



-See Honey and 



COMB FOUNDATION.— The invention 
of the movable frame by Langstroth; the 
honey-extractor by Hrusehka; the bellows 
smoker by Quinby, and last, but not least, 
comb foundation by Mehring, made it pos- 
sible to keep bees on a connnercial scale 
never before attempted. 

Comb foundation is just what its name 
signifies. It is the base, midrib, or foun- 
dation of honeycomb. If a piece of comb 
be taken and sliced down on both sides 
nearly to the bottom of the cells, there 
will be found the foundation of the comb, 
with initial cell .walls, and hence the name. 
The comb foundation of commerce is much 
the same thing except that it is artificial, 
made of pure beeswax, with walls enough 
heavier so that the bees can use the sur- 
plus in drawing out and extending the 
cells into completed comb. 

Comb foundation is made by passing a 
thin sheet of pure beeswax between a set 
of rolls or dies, the surfaces of which have 
been stamped or engraved in such a way as 
to give the imprint of the natural base of 
the honeycomb itself. The invention or 
discovery, rather, lay in the fact that the 
bees would utilize this article made by 
man, and change it into perfect comb in- 
side of 24 or 48 hours when honey is com- 
ing in at a good rate. 

THE HISTORY OF THE INVENTION OF COMB 
FOUNDATION. 

To J. Mehring of Fj-ankenthal, (rermany. 
is accorded the credit of having invented 



comb foundation in 1857; but his product 
was very crude, having only the indentation 
of the bottoms of the cells with no cell 
walls. In 1861 Samuel Wagner, the first 
editor of the American Bee Journal, im- 
proved the foundation of Mehring by add- 
ing shallow cell walls. This, besides giving 
the bees wax to build the cells, also 
strengthened the sheet itself. Up to this 
time the article had been made between 




Washburn foundation mill. 

engraved flat metal plates; but Wagner 
was the first to conceive the idea of turning 
out the product between a pair of suitably 
engraved or stamped rolls operated on the 
principle of a mangle or a connnon laundry 
A\Tinger. But, evidently, he never developed 
the principle. 

FOUNDATION-ROLLS. 

In 1866 the King brothers of New York, 
and in 1874 Frederic Weiss, made founda- 
tion-rolls; but, apparently, the product 
that they turned out from these rolls was 
very crude. It was not until 1875 that A. I. 
Root, in collaboration with a friend of his, 
A. Washburn, a fine mechanic, brought out 
a machine on the mangle principle that 
turned out sheets good enough and rapidly 
enough to be of commercial importance. 
This old original Washburn machine was 
so nearly perfect that its product was the 
equal of any made on any modern machine 
today. 

About this time, also, or perhaps a little 
later, Frances Dunham and J. Vandevort 
of New York built rolls that turned out an 
excellent product. About the same time 
J. E. Van Deusen, also of New York, bnilt 



COMB FOUNDATION 



185 



a machine that made foundation having Hat 
bases, and incorporated in it fine wii-es. 
While the flat bases were not natural, of 
course, yet the purpose was to get a thinner 
base and to use wire. The bees, it is true, 
would reconstruct the bases, but they ap- 
parently did not take to flat-bottomed 
foundation as well as to the article having 
natural bases, and it subsequently disap- 
peared from the market. 

In later years Charles Ohlm of Wiscon- 
sin built a machine for engraving rolls 
v/ith natural bases by the use of cutting- 
knives or gravers. This reduced the price 
so that the machines are now within the 
reach of all. 

FLAT-PLATE FOUXDATIOX-MACHIXES. 

About the time that the Root-Washburn 
comb-foundation rolls were being devel- 
oped, the Given press using flat die-plates 
was brought out. Some few preferred the 




Given foundation-press. 

product from that machine because, as they 
said, the foundation could be made right 
on the wires of a frame, and because the 
bees could work the wax a little more 
readily. The reason of this last point was 
because no press could exert as great a 



pressure as that given by a pair of rolls; 
and the result was, there was a large waste 
of wax in the bases. The foundation made 
good combs, and the bees worked it readily ; 
but the individual sheets were too expen- 
sive as compared with the product turned 
out on rolls by the manufacturers, and so 
the Given press disappeared from the mar- 
ket. It now seems clear that no foundation- 
press using flat plates can ever compete 
with rolls, any more than a Washington 
hand printing press can compete with a 
cylinder press. 

In the early 80's various flat-plate ma- 
chines were brought out. Among the num- 
ber was one using flat dies made of plaster 
of Paris. By taking a perfect sheet of 
comb foundation it was possible to take oft' 




Standard comb foundation rolls. 

molds in plaster. But these molds would 
not stand pressure, and therefore it was 
necessary to pour melted wax over them 
and close the dies. As soon as the wax 
cooled, the dies were opened and the sheet 
removed. But difl&cultj' was experienced in 
getting this east foundation (for that is 
just what it was) from the plaster moldt,. 
.About this time, also, electrotype plates 
were taken off from a perfect sheet of 
foundation — a process that was compara- 
tively simple, and one that any electrotype 
founder could readily carry thrif. Various 
patterns of these copper-faced machines, 
including the Given, appeared on the mar- 
ket; but the only one that has survived is 
the Rietsche press, made in Germany. A 
good many thousands of these have been 
sold; but the objection to this and to all 
other presses is the waste of wax left in the 
cell bases. None of the Rietsche presses or 
flat-plate machines of any sort are sold in 
the United States, and the only machines 



186 



COMB FOUNDATION 



that have survived in this country, or in the 
whole world, are the Root rolls built by 
automatic machines employing the princi- 
ple of the engraving knives of Charles 
Ohlm. 

WEED SHEETED FOUNDATION. 

Up till 1895, practically all the sheeted 
wax used in making comb foundation was 
made by dipping a thin board into melted 
wax and then into cold water. Two sheets 
of wax of the size of the dipping board 
were thus produced. The thickness of the 
sheet was regulated by the number of dip- 
pings. For thin foundation a single dip 
was sufficient; for brood foundation, two 
or three dips were required. But the ob- 
jection to this was that the wax sheet 
was thicker at the bottom than at the top. 
This was overcome somewhat by reversing 
the ends of the board when dipping. 

Many efforts had been made to produce 
wax sheets in continuous rolls; but it was 
not till 1895 that E. B. Weed built a wax- 
sheeting machine that would turn out wax 
sheets any length desired, and of an ab- 
solutely uniform thickness. The quality 
and quantity of this product were such that 
every manufacturer of comb foundation in 
the world, with one or two exceptions, has 
abandoned the old sheeting methods and 
adopted the "W^ed process. Probably 95 
per cent of all the comb foundation made 
in the United States turned out by manu- 
facturers is first sheeted on the Weed ma- 
chine and then put thru embossing rolls 
generally called "comb-foundation ma- 
chines." 

FOUNDATION MADE BY LARGE FACTORIES. 

The art of making foundation is very 
complicated, and its manufacture has now 
gravitated into the hands of the large sup- 
ply manufacturers who are able to turn out 
a product which for quality and thinness 
of base is far superior to that made by in- 
dividual beekeepers. It is a trade in itself 
to make foundation having thin bases ; and 
an average beekeeper does not possess the 
requisite skill to make foundation without 
wasting wax and ruining the delicate die 
faces of the comb-foundation rolls. 

WHAT FOUNDATION HAS ACCOMPLISHED. 

Before the economic uses of comb foun- 
dation as now employed in modern api- 



culture are discussed, it is proper to make 
a statement of what can be accomplished 
by the use of the invention. Its introduc- 
tion has solved many difficult problems of 
the earlier days. Our forefathers had dif- 
ficulty, for example, in getting the bees to 
build combs straight and all worker cells. 
Before this invention, drones were reared 
in enormous numbers because there was so 
much drone comb. In modern apiculture 
only a very few, and those the most select 
for breeding, are reared. By the use of all- 
worker foundation there will be but very 
few drones in a hive. The rearing of so 
many useless consumers not only involved a 
serious drain on the resources of the col- 
ony, but it took the labor of the nurse-bees. 
The elimination of drones by the use of 
comb foundation materially increases the 
worker force in a colony, and this has made 
it possible to increase the actual yield of 
honey per colony proportionally. See Brood 
AND Brood-rearing and Drones. 

Mention is made of the fact that our 
forefathers were unable to secure straight 
combs in their movable frames. The combs, 
besides having an excess of drone-cells, 
were more or less wavy, and it was not a 
little difficult to get the bees to build their 
product on a straight line, and parallel 
with and directly underneath the top-bar 
of the frame. (See Frames, also Combs.) 
V-shaped comb-guides, or narrow strips of 
wood, the edges of which projected down- 
ward, were used as a coaxer to get the bees 
to build their combs parallel with the top- 
bar. But every now and then they would 
build them crosswise, zigzagwise, and every 
other wise except the right way. The use 
of even a narrow strip of foundation com- 
pels the bees to start the comb on a center 
medial line beneath the top-bar of the 
frame; and when a full sheet is used, the 
comb built from it is not only true and 
straight, but it will be all worker, as before 
explained. 

THE EVOLUTION OF THE SECT TON HONEY-BOX. 

The old box hive of our fathers contained 
combs built irregularly in small boxes hold- 
ing from five to ten pounds, the ends of 
these boxes being glassed. But such a pack- 
age was too large for retail purposes. The 
time came when there was a demand for a 



COMB FOUNDATION 



187 



small package, or one holding about a 
pound. Comb foundation made it possible 
for the beekeeper to compel his bees to 
build combs straight and even in little boxes 
holding approximately a pound. Without 
comb foundation, comb honey in sections 
would be mipossible; and therefore the in- 
vention of foundation paved the way for 
the one-pound honey section box thai 
sprang into use shortly after comb founda- 
tion was introduced on a commercial scale 
(See Comb Honey.) 

POUNDATIOX AND ITS ECONOMIC USES. 

Having discussed the value of comb 
foundation, it will now be in order to take 
up its specific uses. 

Comb foundation maj^ be divided into 
two general classes : That designed for the 
brood-chamber and that for the supers, or 
where the surplus honey is stored. Each of 
these general classes is subdivided still fur- 
ther, viz., "thin super," running 10 to 11 
square feet to the pound; "extra thin," 12 




Heavy and medium brood. 



Light brood. 




Thin super. 



Extra-thin super. 



to 13 for the supers or sections; "light 
brood," used only in the brood-nest, run- 
ning 8 to 9 feet ; "medium brood," for the 
brood-nest, 7 to 8 feet. Thin super is 
generally used for sections, and light brood 
for the brood-frames. 

The four illustrations used above repre- 
sent the different grades. The medium had 
what was called the round cell. This foun- 
dation has been used for the brood-nest, be- 
cause of its tendency to resist sag while the 
bees are dra\dng it out into comb ; stronger, 
because there is more wax in the corners of 



the hexagons. It has been found that bees 
will utilize all the wax in the walls, and 
draw it out into cells. The more wax that can 
be given to them in the wall, the quicker 
the\' will draw it out into comb. The objec- 
tion to the medium brood is the expense. 

WHAT WEIGHT OF FOUNDATION TO USE. 

The light brood is now generally used for 
the brood-nest where frames are wired. As 
will be seen by comparison of illustrations, 
there is less of wax in the wall and less 
strength to the sheet. On this account it is 
not recommended that light brood founda- 
tion be put into brood-frames that are not 
wired, yet it is advisable that all brood- 
frames be wired. The thin super has 
lighter walls still than the light brood; 
and the extra-thin super lighter walls still 
and a thinner base. 

The ordinary thin super is generally 
preferred because the bees are less inclined 
to gnaw it down; and when they do begin 
work. on it they draw it out more readily. 
The extra-thin is preferred by some, when 
full sheets are used, because it is believed 
it makes less midrib. 

It was formerly supposed that the heaviei- 
grades of foundation used in sections would 
cause the bees to build too heavy a midrib 
in the combs; that such heavy midrib 
would be very objectionable to the con- 
sumer, in that it would give rise again to 
the stories about manufactured comb honey. 
(See Comb Honey.) But late experience 
seems to indicate that the bees will gener- 
ally thin down the heavier grades, and, 
what is more, will accept the foundation 
much more readily than the extra-thin 
grades. But the real objection to heavy 
foundation is the expense. 

Owing to the tendency of foundation to 
cause midrib in comb honey, some think 
that using a starter would remove the ob- 
jectionable feature. They argue that near- 
ly all the comb would have to be natural, 
and it would, therefore, be delicate and 
friable like the old comb honey on the 
farm. But it has been shown that in a 
majority of cases, the natural-built comb 
will be composed of store or drone cells, 
the bees being able to build these larger, 
heavier cells more readily. Some recent 
tests seem to show that natural-built drone 



188 



COMB FOUNDATION 



comb has as much or more wax to the 
cubic inch than worker comb built from 
full sheets of thin worker foundation. If 
the bees, on the other hand, would make 
their natural comb all worker, the resultant 
comb for delicacy and f riableness would be 
all that could be desired. Drone-comb cap- 
pings do not have nearly the pleasing ap- 
pearance of worker. If for no other rea- 
son, full sheets of worker foundation should 
be used. 

With ordinary brood-frames, at least, or 
shallow extracting-frames, it is quite im- 
portant to use some sort of support for the 
foundation; and unless these supports are 
used, the wax stretches in drawing out into 
comb. What is of still more importance, 
the finished comb will have no stability in 
the frame. When colonies are hauled over 
rough roads to out-apiaries the frames get 
some severe jolts. The super combs also 
receive more or less rough handling at ex- 
tracting time. They are often shaken to 
remove the bees, and in the extractor are 
subjected to severe centrifugal force which 
throws the honey out of the cells. On ac- 
count of all this it is very important to 
have the comb when drawn from the foun- 
dation held by means of horizontal wires 
of a fine gauge, these wires being strung 
across the frames before the foundation is 
inserted. 

VALUE OF WIRING BROOD-FRAMES. 

Some beekeepers secure the foundation to 
the top bar without using any stays or 
wires to hold the sheet in place; but the 




Method of drawing the wire preparatory to fastening. 

great majority seem to prefer to have all 
their frames wired— that is to say, strands 
of No. 30 wire stretched vertically or hori- 
zontally across the frame; these are then 
imbedded into a sheet of foundation which 
fills the frame. The combs, when drawn 



from the foundation, are firmly enough 
anchored to stand the rough usage of the 
extractor, and to stand shipment when 
colonies are sent by express or freight or 
hauled over rough roads to out-yards. 

Most beekeepers say that the expense of 
the wiring is so slight in comparison with 
the great benefits secured that they could 
not think of dispensing with it ; and, what 
is of considerable importance, during the 
process of drawing out the foundation the 
wires tend to reduce materially the stretch- 
ing of the wax ; and such stretching, unless 
restrained by stays of some sort, results in 
elongated cells in which the queen will lay 
drone eggs or she will not lay at all. This 
one item alone pays for the expense of wir- 
ing. 

HORIZONTAL METHOD OF WIRING. 

The usual method of wiring has been 
to pierce the end-bars with holes about two 
inches apart, threading the wires thru these 
holes back and forth, horizontally, as 
shown in the illustration. The sheet of 
wax is then laid on, and wires imbedded as 
shown on the following pages. 

The great objection to this kind of wir- 
ing is that, even with heavy foundation, the 
horizontal strands sag, allowing a slight 
stretching of the wax. This causes about 
two inches of the comb immediately below 



di 



Brood-frame horizontally wired. 

the top-bar to stretch vertically just enough 
so that the queen usually avoids them, the 
space being filled with honey; or if the 
queen does use these stretched cells, the re- 
sult is drone brood instead of worker. 

As to how soon such stretching occurs, 
depends entirely upon weather conditions; 
but after a hot summer and a heavy honey 
flow, by at least the end of the second or 
third season, it will usually be found that 
the two inches of comb just below the top- 
bar has been strptehed enough to complete- 
ly ruin it for worker brood. 



cmm ForxDATioN 



189 




Horizontal and vcrticrl wiring compartLl. Note that the comb at the left, built from horizontally wired 
foundation, is perfect except for the slight sagging. The comb at the right, built from foundation reinforced 
with seven vertical wires and two horizontal wires, is very irregular. 



DIAGONAL \YIRIXG. 

The ten-frame brood-chamber is none too 
large for a good queen, even if the cells 
were practically all worker-cells, but the re- 
sult of the usual horizontal wiring, with the 
stretching of the cells just under the top- 
bar, has been to decrease the brood capacity 
still more. For this reason, diagonal wir- 
ing is now being used largely in California, 
Iowa, South Dakota, and many other parts 
of the United States, and, from the satis- 
faction given, its use will doubtless con- 
tinue to increase. 

The style of wiring the author especially 
recommends is four horizontal wires, with 
the diagonals, as shown in the diagram. 
This manner of wiring requires no change 
of the holes in the end-bars of the standard 
frames; the four horizontal wires being 
just the same as before with the addition of 
a short wire attached at "A" and run over 
the top wire in the middle "B" and then 
down to the bottom hole "A" on the other 
side. 

Beekeepers of California use an extra 
set of tacks at each of the lower holes, 
frames being wired in the regular way; 
and then, last of all a wire is run up over 
the top wire and back, forming a diagonal. 
This diagonal wiring should be di-awn taut, 



and when so drawn will cause the top hori- 
zontal wire to be drawn down in the middle 
as sho^^^l in the cut. Now the portion of 
the comb that is likely to sag is that within an 
inch or two of "B" and "CC," but when the 
foundation is imbedded, the intersections at 
"CC" and "DD" are so welded together by 
the wax that there is no possibility of sag- 
ging. This plan of wiring will not prevent 
the use of electricity when imbedding, if 
one imbeds one wiie at a time. 

Such bracing as this offers an excellent 
support for the two inches of comb under 




the top-bar, with the result that good 
worker brood will be within an inch, or 
clear to the top bar, thus insuring any- 
where from ten to twenty per cent more 
bi'ood to the frame. 

There is another plan that is used quite 
extensivelv and does almost as well. The 



190 



COMB FOUNDATION 



two top wires, during the operation of im- 
bedding, are pulled downward slightly out 
of line. There is a little knack in doing 
this, so that the pull will be slightly up- 
ward instead of downw^ard; and therefore 
the horizontal-diagonal wdring is preferred 
by many. 

The beauty of the whole plan of diagonal 
wiring is that without changing existing 
supplies in a single particular, the bee- 
keeper may, by inserting one extra wire, 
increase his brood capacity anywhere from 
ten to twenty per cent. 



the wax. Tf too hot there will be too light a 
coating of wax. 

It must not be understood that the mere 
use of these splints will under any and all 
circumstances result in faultless combs built 
securely down to the bottom-bar. It seems 
to be the natural thing for bees to leave a 
free passage under the comb, no matter 
-whether the thing that comes next below the 
combs be the floor board of the hive or the 
bottom-bar of the frames. So if a frame be 
given when little storing is going on, the 
bees will deliberately dig away the founda- 
tion at the bottom; and even if it has been 
built down, but the cells not very fully drawn 
out, they Avill do more or less at gnawing a 




In some cases wooden splints arc gnawed by bees 



THE WOOD-SPLINT PLAN. 

Dr. C. C. Miller, of Marengo, 111., over- 
came the difficulty of fastening vertical 
wires to the top-bar by using wooden 
splints instead of wires. These he secures 
in the maniler described in his "Fifty 
Years among the Bees." 

The splints should be about ^ inch square 
and about 14 iiich shorter than the inside 
depth of the frame. A bunch of them should 
be thrown into a square shallow tin pan that 
contains hot beeswax. They will froth up 
because of the moisture frying out of them. 
When frothing ceases, and the splints are 
saturated with wax, they are ready for use. 
The frame of foundation is laid on the board 
as before. With a pair of pliers a splint is 
lifted out of the wax (kept just hot enough 
over a gasoline stove), and placed upon the 
foundation so that the splint shall be per- 
pendicular when the frame is hung in the 
hive. As fast as a splint is laid in place, an 
assistant immediately presses it down into the 
foundation with the wetted edge of a board. 
About 11/^ inches from each end -bar is placed 
a splint, and between these two splints three 
others at equal distance. When these are built 
out they make beautiful combs, and the splints 
do not seem to be at all in the way. 

A little experience will enable one to judge, 
when putting in the splints, how hot to 



passage. To make a success the frames should 
be given at a time when work goes on uninter- 
ruptedly until full- depth cells reach the 
bottom-bar. 



Under some conditions the bees will gnaw 
around the wooden stays, as shown by the 
illustration. This occurs more particularly 
when bees have not much to do ; and when 
they run across anything which is fibrous 
they will then show a disposition to re- 
move it. 

The suggestion has been made that in no 
case should the splints be allowed to pro- 
ject beyond the edge of the foundation; or, 
better still, the sheet should reach clear to 
the bottom-bar. 

But, there is no reason why the founda- 
tion should not expand between ths vertical 
splints the same as it expands between the 
vertical wires. While Dr. Miller says that 
he has had no trouble of that sort, it is 
because he uses foundation heavy enough 
so that he overcomes this stretching or ex* 
panding. As the wooden supports prevent 
the sagging of the foundation or the comb 
only after it is drawn out, and do not se- 
cure the comb to the frame, it may be a 
question whether it is not safer and more 



COMB FOUNDATION 



191 



satisfactory all around to use four horizon- 
tal wires, especially if one is going to do 
very mucli extracting or intends to ship or 
move bees to any extent. The splints only 
prevent the sagging of the foundation while 
being drawn out, but during moving or 
extracting, do not hold the comb securely 
like wires threaded thru the end bars as 
shown on previous pages. 

PAPER AS A BASE FOR FOUNDATION. 

Other devices have been used, such as 
paper imbedded in the center of the foun- 
dation; but this is very objectionable be- 
cause the bees soon discover that this is a 
foreign substance, and proceed to tear it 
out bit by bit, utterly ruining the foun- 
dation. They do not alicays do this; but 
sooner or later the}^ will; when they have 



Gates, Apicultural Instructor, Amherst, 
Mass., is a small soldering iron with a line 
groove just wide enough to ride over a 30- 
gauge v/ire, such as is used for wiring the 




Spur wire imbedder. 

frames. This little tool, after heating over 
a common lamp, is drawn slowly over the 
wires, one by one. As it passes over, it 
heats the wire, causing it to imbed itself in 




A. C. Miller's soldering iron with the point grooved so that it may be used for imbedding 



nothing else to do they will begin to tear 
out the paper, thinking, perhaps, that the 
fiber is a part of the silken gallery of the 
moth worm. 

IMBEDDING THE WIRE. 

Various methods of imbedding the wire 
have been used; but one of the simplest 
is the spur wire-imbedder. 

A sheet of foundation is laid on a board 
of such size that it will just go inside of 
the frame. A frame with wires stretched 
across it is laid on top. The wide-toothed 
spur imbedder, after being heated bj'- being 
placed over the top of a common lamp, is 
drawn over the wires, the operator exert- 
ing a slight pressure as he does so, causing 
the wires to be imbedded in the foundation. 
The hot teeth as they pass over the wire 
cause a little bridge of melted wax to form 
across a wire. The sheet is, therefore, tied 
at intervals between each of the teeth. 

Another tool that has found favor with 
quite a number, including A. C. Miller of 
Providence, R. I., and Dr. Burton N. 



the foundation as it cools. The tool is 
heated again, and applied to the other 
wires in like manner. 

After all is said and done, the most sat- 
isfactory method of imbedding wires in 
comb foundation is by means of electricity ; 
and if one has access to an electric-light 
circuit, as so many beekeepers now have, 
the best way is to imbed all four wires at 
once by attaching the current to the tacks 
on the outside of one of the end-bars of 
the frames, around which the ends of the 
wires are wrapped, the current then flow- 
ing thru all the wires. Dry batteries may 
be used for this purpose, but it takes eight 
to a dozen batteries to heat all four wires 
quickly, and even then it is a rather hard 
strain on the batteries. For heating one 
wire at a time it takes four cells. The 
trouble with dry batteries for imbed- 
ding is that they must be fresh to be effi- 
cient, and after a little of this kind of 
work they are no longer fresh. 

Obviously with the straight electric-light 
current, if that were attempted, the wires 
would be heated redhot in an instant, or, 



192 



COMB FOUNDATION 



what is more likely, a fuse somewhere on 
the circuit would be blown out. The cur- 
rent must first be run thru a "resistance" 
to reduce it, just as steam when run thru a 
steam engine is exhausted, and of much 
lower pressure thereafter. If one has an 
electric flatiron to put on the circuit, that 
furnishes about the right amount of re- 
sistance. In that event the two wires that 
go to the switch Avhich turns the flatiron on 
and off, have just about the right amount 
of current to do the imbedding nicely. If 
there is no switch, the flatiron may be 
hooked in on one of the wires, the current 
going first thru the flatiron before it goes 
thru the wires in the frames. 

With no electrically heated flatiron avail- 
able, a resistance coil can be made in a few 
minutes' time. First, get about 400 feet of 
No. 24 iron wire. The exact amount can 
not be given, for the wire varies slightly in 
size; furthermore, different operators may 
prefer different currents to work with. The 



ELECTRIC LIGHT 
CIRCUIT 




Wr-^'"' 



<^ 



SRASS Sf'filNOS 
TO hIAHE CON7ACT 
ON THE EhlDS OF THE 
WIRE 




\jO SEi 



Electrical inibeddins: device. 



best plan is to get 400 feet of the wire and 
then not use quite all of it, if more heat is 
desired. In order to have the wire in con- 
venient form to handle, wind it on a long 
iron rod, or pipe, the outside diameter of 
which is about I/2 of an inch. Twist the 
wire around one end of the pipe tightly, so 
it will not slip; then have some one else 
turn the pipe slowly, while you wind it on 
evenly and tightly, with no space between 
the coils. When it is all wound on, let the 
wire loosen up, cut the end that was first 
twisted on and slide the whole thing off the 
pipe. Hang the coils on nails in the wall 
or ceiling, being careful that the different 



lengths of the wire do not touch each other. 
The electricity after passing thru all these 
coils of wire will be "tame" enough to be 
handled by any one. These directions are 
for the standard voltage, 110, found almost 
universally. It makes no difference whether 
it is direct current or alternating — one 
works as well as the other. 

To do the imbedding, take a board wider 
than the frame and near one end screw two 
pieces of sheet brass, which will stick up 
about an inch. These are to be spaced the 
right distance apart, so that if the end-bar 
of the frame is pushed up against the piece 
of brass, one tack, around which the end of 
the wire is wrapped, will touch one brass 
spring and the other tack the other. For 
best results there should be a switch for 
turning the current on and off. 

The sheet of foundation should be on top 
of the wires, instead of the wires on top of 
the foundation. As soon as the current is 
turned on with the left hand, a light wooden 
roller, that will just fit inside the frame, 
should be rapidly rolled across the wax, 
pressing it down over the heated wires. If 
one desires to deflect the upper two wires 
out of line, that is, bend them down slight- 
ly, two headless nails can be driven into the 
board at the right point, and the upper two 
wires drawn down around them before the 
current is turned on, or before the sheet of 
wax is laid on. These nails should not stick 
up any higher than necessary to catch the 
wdres over them. A very slight notch can 
be filed, almost at the top of the nails on 
the under side, to prevent the wire from 
slipping off easily. 

Imbedding all four wires by means of 
electricity, while not particularly easy for 
the first few frames, is far more rapid than 
any other method and capable of the very 
finest work. A good operator that has im- 
bedded a few hundred wires can do the 
work so nicely that it is almost impossible 
to detect which side of the foundation the 
wire went in, the wire itself showing no 
more on one side than on the other. 

FASTENING FOUNDATION TO THE TOP-BARS 
OP BROOD-FRAMES. 

After the frames have been wired, but 
before the wires are imbedded the founda- 
tion is fastened to the top-bars, either with 



COMB FOUNDATION 



193 



the Van Deusen wax-tube or double groove- 
and-wedgc plan shown next. 

Some of the supply factories furnish 
those kinds of top-bars now because some 
beekeepers still prefer them. There is a 
double groove, one of which is in the cen- 
ter of the top-bar. In this groove is in- 
serted the sheet of foundation, as at D. 
The wedge-shaped strip of wood B is then 




Corner-cut lop-bar method of fastening foundation. 

driven into the other groove as far as it 
will go, crowding the central partition 
firmh^ against the foundation. It is very 
important that it be driven below the sur- 
face of the wood, as otherwise it may woi'k 
out, allowing the foundation to fall out. 
When the work is properly done it is thus 
held firmly in place without any special 
tools or fussing wdth melted wax. 

Another top-bar known as the corner- 
cut top-bar is used now in preference to 
the other plan. The loose triangular strip, 
when toe-nailed as shown in the illustration 
just above, grips the foundation firmly. 

There are a few who prefer the melted- 
wax plan of fastening foundation. Where 
the under side of the top-bar is plain with- 
out grooves or molded edge, this is perhaps 
the best. The best tool for depositing a hot 
stream of wax along: the edgre of the foun- 



dation is undoubtedly the Van Deusen wax- 
tube fastener. It is simply a tube tapering 
to a small hole at the apex. On one side 



is bored another small hole which may be 
opened or closed with the thumb. When 
the tube is stood up in a cup of hot wax 
the air will escape from the upper hole, and 
the wax flow in at the other small hole at 
the bottom. The thumb is closed over the 
upper one, while the tool with the con- 
tained wax is raised to the top bar. Then 
the thumb is lifted from the upper hole 
and the point slowly drawn along the edge 
of the foundation in contact with the top- 
bar, leaving a fine stream of hot wax to 
cement it. 

FASTENING FOUNDATION IN SECTIONS. 

Foundation starters, or preferably full 
sheets, are used also in comb -honey sec- 
tions. There are two different ways for 
fastening the foundation to the sections, by 
pressure and by melted wax. The pressure 
method is little used now, because it takes 
longer and the wax is not so firmly secured 
to the sections. Moreover, it wastes foun- 
dation. 

By far the best plan of securing founda- 
tion in sections is with melted wax, either 
by the use of additional wax applied with 
the Van Deusen wax tube or by the hot- 
plate method which melts a small quantity 
of the wax on the edge of the foundation. 
If full sheets of foundation are used in- 
stead of starters, the sheets if desired may 
be fastened not only at the io'p but two- 
thirds the way down each side, provided 
the wax tube method is used. It is not a 
good plan to fasten the full length on each 
side, as this would have a little more ten- 
dency to cause the foundation to buckle. 
On the other hand, if a full sheet is 
fastened at the top only, the bees by clus- 
tering on one side sometimes swing the 
sheet away from the center of the section. 

To do rapid work with the Van Deusen 
wax tube, a rack should be made to hold 
four sections at a time. On a board should 
be n<ailed four blocks a little less' than half 
as thick as the section is wide and of a 
size that will just fit inside the section. The 
blocks should be so spaced that four sec- 



194 



COMB FOUNDATION 



tions slipped over them will be close to- 
gether. A section-holder should be crowded 
around the four sections, the foundation 
placed in position, and the operator will 
• then be ready for the wax tube. If he 
desires to apply the melted wax to the 
sides of the foundation as well as the top, 
the wax should be started on the side of 
the section, allowed to run down to the 
corner, then across the bottom or what is 
really the top of the section, and then 
two-thirds the way up the other side. Of 
course, as the tube is moved along, the 
rack should be turned accordingly, so that 
the wax may run downhill, thus facilitat- 
ing the work. As soon as one section is fin- 
ished the tool is moved to the next, and 



THE HOT-PLATE FASTENER. 

The hot-plate type of fastener, original- 
ly devised by Arthur C. Miller, melts a 
small amount of wax on the edsre of the 




B\ard fastener. 

foundation so that it adheres instantly to 
the wood. This is used more than any 
other method, principally on. account of 
the neatness and the strength of the work. 
Moreover, this method of fastening is the 



most rapid of any plan. There are a num- 
ber of these fasteners on the market, all of 
which do good work. Some of them fold 
the sections as well as fasten the founda- 
tion. This is quite an advantage. 

In most of these hot-plate fasteners the 
heat is furnished by a small alcohol or 
kerosene lamp placed directly under the 
plate to be heated. This plan is sometimes 





objectionable, owing to the difficulty of 
maintaining a constant temperature. In 
case of the kerosene lamp there is always 
more or less soot which sometimes gets on 
to the sections, spoiling their appearance. 
In the Rauchfuss fastener this difficulty is 
overcome by the use of an alcohol lamp, 
which is much cleaner, altho the heat is 
not quite as easily controlled. 

The Root fastener is a small hand tool, 
which is hung over the lamp to be heated. 
To use it, a rack should be made to hold 
four sections as described above, and the 
section-holder slipped over them. Then 
having put the foundation in place and, 
while pressing lightly on the upper edge 
with the fingers of the left hand, the oper- 
ator should slide the hot blade under the 
edge of the wax as it rests against the 
wood. All surplus melted wax will be 
wiped off on to the wood so that the foun- 
dation will be most firmly attached. The 
tool will remain hot long enough to fasten 
all four starters. 

The Root steam foundation-fastener has 
a hot plate kept at a constant temperature 
by means of steam. There is no trouble- 
some lamp to work over, no soot, and, of 
course, absolutely no danger of fire from 
wax dropping into the lamp. Moreover, 
the steam is also used for dampening the 
sections, for this device is a folder as well 
as a foundation-fastener, a most desirable 
feature. Sections dampened by steam are 
not easily broken and there is no danger 



COMB FOUNDATION 




Woodman combined folder and foun- 
dation-fastener. This tool is constructed 
of metal and does fine work. 



Rauchfuss combined section folder 
and fastener. One of the simplest and 
be.st combined tools on the market. 



Lewis foundation-fas- 
tener. A simple and 
rapid outfit. 




The Root section folder and steam foundation-fastener. 
Steam is generated in the small boiler, rises thru the 
tube and keeps the plate at a constant and uniform 
temperature. 



that the wood may swell so that the section 
when folded is diamond-shaped. 

When the foot-treadle is pushed forward 
the notched ends of the section are lii'mly 
crowded together. The same movement 
brings the steam-heated plate into position. 
The starter is dropped into place and held 
for an instant, until enough wax is melted 
to hold it firmly. The same backward 
movement of the foot that releases the 
section causes the hot plate to move out of 
the way so that the finished section with 
its foundation is ready to be placed in the 
super. It is impossible to remove founda- 
tion so fastened without actually tearing 
the sheet. 

STARTERS VS. FULL SHEETS FOR SECTIONS. 

In the illustrations under Comb Hoxey^ 
showing the supers, only narrow sheets of 
foundation (or starters) are shown in the 
sections. The expert comb-honey producer 
will never be content with a starter. He 
will buy his foundation of such size that he 
can cut it to suit his own individual no- 
tions. Some comb-honey producers cut it 
in sheets one-fourth of an inch narrower 
and half an inch shorter than the inside of 
the section. It is then fastened to the top 
as sho^vn previously, with any one of the 
several styles of foundation-fasteners. 
Others cut the sheets in the shape of a 
letter V; still others use half a sheet. 

But the great majority of producers pre- 
fer to use two pieces — a large one secured 
to the top. and a strip about % inch .wide 
fastened to the bottom. The larger sheet is 



196 



COMB FOUNDATION 




When the foot is in the back position the hot plate 

is out of the way — nothing to interfere with putting 
the section in position ready to loM. 



The movement of the foot baclvward slowly with- 
draws the hot plate. The wax is all wiped off on to 
the section and the foundation is firmly " cemented " 
in place. 




As the foot swings forward, the corners of the section 
are forced together and at the same time the hot plate 
slides into position ready for the starter or full sheet 
of foundation to be applied. 



Fifty or seventy-five sections may be thoroly damp- 
ened in a few seconds' time by allowing the steam to 
blow thru the V grooves. Steam-dampened sections 
almost never break, and the sections remain true and 
square. 



COMB FOUNDATION 



197 




The different methods of cutting foi'.ndation for the sections 



SO cut as to i-each within Yg 

the bottom starter when in place to allow 

for stretching. 




Fig. 1. 

Long sheets of foundation laid in the box ready to cut. 

(The distance between the saw cuts determines 

the size of the starters.) 




Box turned over for cutting. Use sharp thin knife wet 
with soap suds, and cut on drawing stroke only. 




rig. 3 

The box reversed to original position with foundation 

cut to size ready to take out. 



During the subsequent process of draw- 
ing out, the bees will make one complete 
comb, which is fastened to the top and 
bottom. Where only a starter or even one 
large sheet is put into a section, the fin- 
ished comb in some instances may be 
fastened onty at the top and part way 
down on each side ; but when the bottom 
starter is used in connection with a large 
sheet of foundation, there surely will be a 
fastening at the bottom as well as at the 
outer edges. The result is a comb fastened 
to all four sides, one that is neater in its 
general filling, and, in consequence, will 
command a higher price; and last, but not 
least, a section that will stand shipping. A 
nice super of sections with combs not 
fastened at the bottom is liable to arrive at 
destination in bad condition — ma;;iy of the 
'combs broken out; and it is, therefore, 
always advisable to use a bottom starter. 

A few beekeepers advise cutting the 
foundation so it will just neatly fill the 
section on all four sides. A section is then 
slipped over a block a little less than half 
its thickness so that when one of these just- 
right-size sheets of foundation is laid on 
the block, the foundation will be perfectly 
centered in the section. With the Van 
Deusen wax-tube shown on a previous 
page the sheet is then secured to all four 
sides by the stream of hot wax. 

It has been found that very fine comb 
honey can be secured by this plan, the re- 
sulting sections having but few pop-holes. 
However, there are two disadvantages. For 
instance, some find it difficult to cut the 
foundation just the right size and still do 
the work rapidl.y. It can be seen at once 
that there must be but little variation in the 
size of the sheets. The best arrangement 
for cutting the foundation is the miter-box. 
This device can be quickly made by almost 
any one, the construction being plain from 
the illustrations. The box should be placed 



198 



COMB HONEY 



on a table with the saw-cuts down as in 
Fig. 1, and from five to twenty sheets of 
foundation laid in, care to be taken to see 
that the ends are even. Then the cleated 
board should be put on top of the sheets 
of foundation, and the box turned over so 
that it rests on the cleats, as shown in Fig. 
2. For cutting, a keen-edged butcher-knife 
should be used. It need not be hot, if kept 
well lubricated with soapy water. The 
knife should be held at an angle as shown, 
and moved rapidly but lightly back and 
forth, cutting only on the drawing stroke. 
If the saw-cuts are carefully spaced and 
the whole box put together in a square 
workmanlike manner, the sheets can be 
quickly and accurately cut. 



pieion of manufactured comb honej^, bulk 
comb honey is readily sold. Generally 
speaking, its sale is confined to the South- 
ern States — Texas and the Southwest, while 
in the North, and practically all the rest of 
the United States, comb honey is put up in 
sections. 

The time may come, however, when con- 
sumers everywhere will learn to appreciate 
bulk or chunk comb honey, especially after 




COMB HONEY.— While all honey in the 
comb is what may be called "comb honey," 
yet the term as ordinarily used refers to 
small squares of comb, built into frames of 
wood technically called section honey-boxes, 
or "sections" for short; therefore all refer- 
ences to comb honey, whether in the mar- 
ket quotations or in the ordinary literature 
relating to bees is understood to apply to 
the article built in sections. 

More recently, little chunks of sealed 
comb honey about an inch and a half 
square are being put up in paraffin paper, 
the whole slipped into a neat little carton. 
This is what is called the "individual cornb- 
honey service," and may be found in some 
of our best restaurants, hotels, and dining- 
cars. 

In the Southern States there is another 
article called chunk or "bulk comb honey." 
The combs are built usually in shallow ex- 
traeting-frames, and cut out in various- 
sized chunks of a size that will fit tin buck- 
ets or glass jars. The spaces between the 
combs and around them are filled with a 
good quality of extracted honey. They are 
sealed or covered with the ordinary cover 
of the tin bucket. Bulk comb honey is pro- 
duced very largely, particularly in the 
South, and where bulk honey is sold, very 
little comb honey in sections is produced. 
Bulk comb honey has the advantage that 
it does not require as much skill to produce 
it as the ordinary comb honey in sections; 
neither is it necessary that every piece of 
comb be as perfect as to capping, filling, or 
shape. In localities where there is any sus- 




they learn that it costs less to produce and 
at the same time retains nearly all the fine 
eating qualities of the article in sections. 
It may also come to pass that cut comb 
honey wrapped in paraffin paper, and fur- 
ther protected with a neat carton, will take 
the place of section comb honey. There is 
no doubt that such honey will ship better 
than comb honey built solid in sections. 

The greatest objection to the use of bulk 
comb honey in the Northern States is the 
danger of the liquid portion granulating. 
When this takes place the whole will have 
to be melted up in a wax-extractor, even 
tho the comb honey is not candied. 

A few years ago, when the extractor was 
first invented, it was supposed that nothing 
but honey out of the comb would be sold 
for the reason that it could be produced 
more cheaply. But our best connoisseurs 
now know that even our very best extracted 
honey seldom has the fine delicate aroma of 
honey that is held in the comb, just as 
nature gives it to us. Comb honey holds 
the flavor and the delicate aroma of the 
individual flowers from which it was gath- 
ered much better than after it is removed 
from the comb. The flavors of honey, it is 



COMB HONEY, APPLIANCES FOR 



199 



said, are made up of ethel alcohols that are 
very volatile. It follows that, when the 
honey has been removed from its original 
container, on exposure to air, it loses some 
of its flavor, especially if it be heated to 
prevent granulation. See Extracted 
HoJTEY_, Bottling Honey^ and Granu- 
lated Honey. If ever a majority of con- 
sumers prefer comb honey, it will be be- 
cause to them it has more flavor, and be- 
cause, probably, the crushing of the delicate 
cells in the mouth gives the eater a certain 
degree of satisfaction because he has some- 
thing to "chew." Extracted honey on the 
other hand is swallowed, while comb honey 
is masticated, or "chewed," as food should 
be. Of course the little pellets of wax, 
after the honey has been eaten, are gener- 
ally expelled. To some this very accumu- 
lation of wax in the mouth is an objection, 
and many will be found who prefer ex- 
tracted honey, because they prefer to have 
something they can chew on bread and but- 
ter and biscuit, without having wax mixed 
with the food. 

Unfortunately of late years, many honey- 
dealers have refused to handle comb honey 
because of the amount of breakage and 
leakage and the tendency to granulate after 
cold weather has set in. The result is that 
the demand for extracted has increased 
while the call for comb honey has become 
less and less. This is wrong. So long as it 
is admitted that comb honey has a little 
finer flavor than the same honey out of the 
comb, beekeepers should cater to the de- 
mands of all classes of consumers. When 
it is remembered that comb honey, as a 
rule, retails at twice the price of extracted, 
it goes to show that there are thousands 
and thousands of consumers who prefer 
honey in that form, even if they have to 
pay double price. It therefore behooves 
the beekeeper to see that his shipping cases 
and comb-honey carriers are properly con- 
structed in the first place. (See Shipping 
Cases for Comb Honey; also Marketing 
Honey.) 

In the early 80's the statement was made 
that comb honey could be manufactured — 
"combs made out of paraffin, filled with 
glucose, and capped over with appropriate 
machinery." This canard went like wild- 
fire over the country ; and even to this day 
there are some who believe that honey in 



sections is manufactured, because it is un- 
like the honey they saw on the old farm. 
Except in a very small way it is impossible 
to make honeycomb as perfect and delicate 
as the bees do. On a commercial basis it is 
an utter impossibility. Dies could be made 
that would press wax in a semi-melted con- 
dition in the shape of a honeycomb. So 
far, so good ; but it is utterly impossible to 
make any dies that will free themselves 
from the comb after it is pressed into shape 
without tearing the comb to pieces. Any 
mechanic or die-maker knows that the idea 
is utterly absurd. Even if it were possible 
to construct the combs, it would be impos- 
sible to fill them with glucose, and equally 
impossible to spread a film of wax over the 
filled cells that would come anywhere near 
imitating the appearance of comb produced 
by the bees. Any consumer who has a sus- 
picion that combs in sections are manufac- 
tured, has only to look over a dozen or 
more sections at any grocery. He will find 
no two of them alike. If combs were built 
from dies, they would appear all alike, like 
the common rough-faced cement blocks 
which are made in one mold. But a com- 
parison of any two boxes of comb honey 
will show that bees make each section dif- 
ferent from all others. The attachments 
at the sides of the sections vary as well as 
the surfaces of the cappings. 

It is hardly necessary to tell the reader 
of this work that combs are not manufac- 
tured ; but sometimes he will meet prospec- 
tive customers who will tell him in the 
most brazen way that the product he is try- 
ing to sell them is "manufactured." There- 
fore he should be reinforced with arguments 
and reasons to show them their mistake. 
Naj^jhe can go even further, and say that the 
authors of this work will pay ten thousand 
dollars if they will furnish any proof show- 
ing that such a thing as manufactured 
comb honey is or ever was on the market 
that even approximates the natural product. 

COMB HONEY, APPLIANCES FOR.— 

Years ago, all comb honey was produced in 
glass boxes. These were about five inches 
square, fifteen or sixteen inches long, 
glassed on both ends. They were not alto- 
gether an attractive package, and were 
never put upon the market without being 
more or less soiled with burr-combs and 
propolis. As they held from 10 to 15 



200 



COMB HONE.Y, APPLIANCES FOR 



pounds of honey each, they contained a 
larger quantity than most families cared to 
purchase at once. To obviate these and 
other difficulties, what is popularly known 




One-piece section honey-box. 

as the "section honey-box" was invented, 
holding little less than a pound. 

It was what was wanted — a small pack- 
age for comb honey. Thus was accom- 
plished, not only the introduction of a 
smaller package for comb honey, but one 
attractive and readily marketable. The re- 
tailer is at once able to supply his customer 
with a small quantity of comb honey with- 




out daubing, or fussing with plates. The 
housewife, in turn, has only to lay the 
package upon a plate, pass a common table 
knife around the comb, to separate the 
honey from the section proper, and the 
honey is ready for the table, without drip. 



DEVICES FOR HOLDING SECTIONS WHILE BEING 
FILLED ON THE HIVE. 

Sections cannot very well be placed on 
the hive without some sort of arrangement 
to hold them. There are a score of different 



sorts of wide frames, racks, trays, boxes, 
clam.ps, all of which possess some special 
features. It would be impracticable to 
show all of them; but for the sake of 
illustrating some principles it may be well 
to mention some of those that have been 
used most largely. 

What was known as the double-tier wide 
frame was perhaps the first device for hold- 
ing sections in the hive. This consisted of 
a frame of the same inside depth and 
length as the ordinary brood-frame, but of 
the sam.e width as the section, eight sec- 
tions to the frame. This was used very 




Doolittle's single-tier wide frames. 

largely for a while, but in the course of 
time it was discovered that it had several 
objectionable features. First, a whole hive- 
ful of them gave the bees too much capacity 
to start on ; and, as a consequence, this dis- 
couraged them from beginning work. Sec- 
ond, they did not permit tiering up to 
advantage. 

The Doolittle surplus arrangement con- 
sisted of a series of single-tier wide frames 
having no projections to the top bars, altho 
shallow wide frames have been made with 
such projections. Both the double and 
single-tier wide frames had the merit of 
protecting the surfaces of the sections from 
travel-stain and bee glue. 

W^HAT SIZE OF SECTION TO USE. 

A few years ago there were a good many 
varieties and sizes and styles of sections on 



COMB HONEY, APPLIANCES FOR 



201 



the market. For instance, there were the 
two-pound prize sections, the half-pound 
sections, and three-quarter pound sections; 
but at the present time everything has been 
reduced down to practically three styles: 
viz., the 4^ x 4^ x 1% beeway sections, 
the plain 4^ x 4^4 ^ ^V2', and the 
4 X 5 X 1% plain sections. AU of these 
three hold a scant pound of honey, section 
included; but imder the federal net-weight 
law (see Labels) and some State laws it is 
not permissible to include the square of 
wood around it and therefore the section 
will be sold in weights from 10 ounces for 
the lightest to 14 ounces for the heaviest. 
While it might be desii'able to have some- 
thing holding an even pound, yet no two 
sections will run exactly the same weight. 
See Grading Comb Honev. 

TALL vs. square SECTIONS, 

The standard section for a good many 
years has been and is 4^ inch square ; but, 
notwithstanding, during all this time, a 
good many beekeepers, principally in New 
York, have been using a section taller than 
broad. The late Capt. J. E. Hetherington, 
who had the reputation of being the most 




:-*^SS5!rf «cf ^'C^v vy 



I 



'Ml- 




Comparative size of tail and square sections of the 
same weight. 



extensive apiarist in the world, used a 
section 3% x 5. Other beekeepers in New 
York use them slightly larger or slightly 
smaller, but of the same proportion. (See 
Hives.) 

Some of the reasons that have been 
urged in favor of the tall sections are as 
■follows: 



1. Weight for weight, and for the same 
thickness of comb, a tall section presents a 
bigger appearance than the average square 
one. In the 4 X 5 X 1% tall plain section, 
for example, we have about the same actual 
weight as the 4^ x 4^ x ll^ plain; and 
yet, as will be seen by the engravings, the 
former looks the larger. As a result the 
tall box brings in some markets any^vhere 
from one to two cents more per pound, 
but in other markets it brings no more. 
If this were the only reason why the tall 
box is preferred, we would say nothing 
about it here; but there are other reasons 
for this preference. 

2. By long association we have come to 
like the proportion of objects all about us 
that are taller than broad. Doors and win- 
dows of their present oblong shape are 
much more pleasing than if square. Nearly 
all packages of merchandise, such as drugs 
and gi'oceries, are oblong in shape — that is, 
taller than broad. To cater further to this 
taste, brought about by long association 
with the common objects around us, the 
tall section was introduced, and outside of 
its relative appearance of bigness as com- 
pared with the square box, very many con- 
sider the tall one much more pleasing. 

3. R. C. Aikin, one of the closest observ- 
ers in all beedom, laid it down as a rule 
that ^'in comh-huilding the downward prog- 
ress exceeds the sideicise in the proportion 
of about three to two .... If, then, 
comb construction goes on in this way, a 
section as wide as deep will be finished 
down the center before it is at the outer 
edges." A tall section, then, more nearly 
conforms to the natural instincts of the 
bees. 

4. A greater number of tall sections 
holding approximately a pound can be 
accommodated on a given hive surface. 

5. A tall section will stand shipping 
better, because the perpendicular edges of 
contact of the comb itself are greater than 
in a square box. This is not theory, but 
shipments of comb honey by the carload 
prove this. 

glassed sections. 

Glassed sections were simply sections of 
comb honey with squares of glass fitted in 
between the projecting sides of the section. 



202 



COMB HONEY, APPLIANCES FOR 



The glass was held either by glue, tin 
points, or paper pasted over the top and 
bottom of the section, and lapping over 
upon the glass a little way. When the 
section was sold to the retailer, the glass 





f'f 



An English glassed section. 

was included in the price of the honey. Of 
course, the producer could afford to sell 
glass at the price of the honey per pound; 
but under the federal net-weight law this 
is prohibited. On account of the fact that 
the producer 'has to pay the cost of the 
glass, glassed comb honey has practically 
disappeared from the market. 



PASTEBOARD CARTONS TOR ONE-POUND 
SECTIONS OF COMB HONEY. 

While sections with glass panels have 
been practically eliminated from the mar- 
ket, comb honey in paper cartons is becom- 
ing more and more popular. In some cities 
a definite ordinance requires that all food 
packages be sealed to keep out insects, 
and especially flies, that carry the germs of 
disease. It is evident that legislation of 
this kind will go from city to city and from 
State to State. But suppose there is or will 
be no legislation, the housewife sometimes 
has trouble with a section of honey break- 
ing and leaking over her groceries when 
delivered. She will thereafter buy her comb 
honey put up in neat cartons* that specify 

* The paper cartons are comparatively cheap and can 
be given avpay with the honey. The glass-panel scheme 
protects the honey, but it is too expensive to furnish 
with the honey. 



the exact weight of the honey, not includ- 
ing the section, as it is not allowable to sell 
the section by weight, section and all. 

Several attractive designs of cartoned 
comb honey are now on the market; and 
the fact that the demand for comb honej' 
in this shape is growing, even where there 
is no legislation requiring sealed packages, 
shows that not many years hence comb 
honey will have to be put up in that form, 
if for no other reason than to shut out the 
typhoid house fly. 

Some beekeepers sell their honey in fold- 
ing cartons, the top and bottom sliding into 
slits provided. But such cartons do not 
seal the package hermetically. 

The publishers of this work have for 
several years back put out a package sealed 
with glue under the name of "Airline," 
such name being drawn from the name of 
A. I. Root, the original author of this 
work, and president of the company. Air- 
line means beeline; and the fact that the 
A. I. Root Co. is selling comb honey in 
those sealed packages — tens of thousands 
of dollars in value — shows that the demand 




for comb honey put up in attractive form, 
and sealed from the typhoid fly and other 
insects, is on the increase. 

For hints on marketing, see Extracted 
Honey, Bottling Honey^ Peddling Honey, 
and particularly Marketing Honey, found 
in their alphabetical order. 



COMB HONEY, APPLIANCES FOR 



203 



BEE-WAY SECTIONS WITH SOLID 
SEPARATORS. 

HILTON T SUPER. 



of sections. Sometimes, in a poor honey 
flow, it is desirable to move the center row 
of sections to the outside, and the outside 
to the center. 



The T super at one time was one of the 
most popular forms of section-crates, and 
a few prefer it to anything else. It is so 
named for the T tins that support the 




sections. The tins are folded in the form 
of a letter T inverted, such construction 
making a very stiff and rigid support. This 
appliance takes separators very nicely, the 
separators resting on the T tins. 

Some, like Dr. Miller, prefer to have the 
T tins rest loosely on a little piece of strap 
iron, or bent staple, both for convenience 
in filling the supers, and in emptying the 
same after the sections are filled. But there 
are others, like the late George E. Hilton 
of Fremont, Mich., who objected to loose 
pieces, and preferred the super with sta- 
tionary tins, the tins being nailed to the 
bottom inside edges of the super. 

But the T super has its objections. If 
the sections are inclined to be a little out 
of square, or diam.ond-shaped, when folded, 
they will not be squared up in the T super 
unless an extra set of T tins or strips of 
wood are used to fill up the gaps between 




SUPERS WITH SECTION-HOLDERS FOR BEEWAY 
SECTIONS. 

The dovetailed super with section-hold- 
ers for bee way sections is the form of 
super that has been, perhaps, used more 
largely than any other. It is a sort of 
compromise between the old-style wide 
frames and the T super. It consists of a 
series of section-holders that are open at 
the top. Each holder is supported at the 
end by a strip of tin nailed on the inner 
edge of the ends of the super. 

Four sections in each section-holder are 
held snugly and squarely in position with 
no spaces between the rows of sections as 
in the case of the T super. When beeway 
sections are used the bottom-bars of the 
sections are scored out to correspond with 




Hilton T super, 

the rows on top. And, again, it is not 
practicable to alternate the several rows 



the beeways. Between the rows of sections 
is dropped a wooden separator, as shown 
at D. 

SUPER SPRINGS. 

In the illustration of the Hilton super, it 
will be noted that thumbscrews are used to 
crowd a follower up against the sections. 
In the other form of T super a super 
spring between the side of the super and 
the follower performs the same office. In- 
deed, this spring is used nowadays in near- 
ly all modern section-supers. 

There is no denying the fact that in any 
form of surplus arrangement the sections 
and separators should be squeezed together 
to reduce accumulations of propolis. The 
objection to thumbscrews or wedges is that 



204 



COMB HONEY, APPLIANCES FOR 



if the sections in a super become swelled 
by dampness, the rigid screw or wedge be- 
comes stuck and this sticking makes it hard 
to remove the sections. If the joints of the 
sections have been moistened to prevent 
breakage when the sections are folded, 
when the super is put on the hive there is 
a slight shrinkage. This shrinkage makes 
more trouble than swelling, for the con- 
tents of the super become so loose that the 
wooden wedges fall down, leaving the sec- 
tions very loose in the super. Of course, 
the bees improve the opportunity to crowd 
a lot of propolis into all the cracks. 

To remedy all this trouble the steel super 
spring has come as a boon. Its pressure is 
constant. It adapts itself to any swelling 
that may occur, and equally adapts itself to 
any shrinking, so as to press the parts 
together at all times enough to prevent the 
bees from crowding in propolis. 




ENLARGED V 



Super-springs. 

In the illustration it will be seen at B, B, 
B, that a spring is crowded vertically be- 
tween the side of the super and post of 
the fence. When a follower is used, two 
springs (one at each end) are crowded 
vertically or diagonally between the side of 
the super and the follower. Some use only 
a single spring at the middle of the 
follower. 

SEPARATORS. 

In connection with appliances for hold- 
ing sections in the hive, there is a little 
device known as the separator, or fence. 
These separators are put in alternation, 
one in a place between the several rows of 
sections. Each separator consists of a strip 
of wood or metal a little less in width than 
the height of the sections, and in length 



equal to four sections standing side by 
side, or the separator may be a fence made 
of the same size, but consisting of horizon- 
tal strips. The purpose of the separator 
or fence is to prevent the bees from build- 
ing their comb from one section to an- 
other. Without them the sections or combs 




Separator. 

would be irregular in weight and unmar- 
ketable. Some will be too lean, while oth- 
ers will be so fat that their surfaces will 
be abraded by coming in contact with other 
sections when they are put in a shipping 
case for marketing. 

Many of our commission houses and 
honej'-buyers today positively refuse to take 
unseparatored comb honey at any price. 
A few will take it at greatly reduced prices. 
The average honey-producer who thinks he 
can dispense with separators will probably 
have to make up his mind to sell for less 
money or sell to his neighbors. 

Since the net-weight law went into effect 
(see Labels; also Grading Comb Honey) 
unseparatored comb honey cannot be 
graded satisfactorily. The law has in effect 
made the use of separators imperative. 

THE FENCE AND PLAIN-SECTION 
SYSTEM. 

The sections and section-supers shown 
heretofore have been mostly of the beeway 
type. Brood-frames, when in the hive, must 
be placed a bee-space apart; so also must 
the sections. Almost the first honey-boxes 




Fence. 



that were introduced had the bee-space cut 
out of the top and bottom of the sections 
themselves, so that they could be placed 
directlv in contact with each other or the 



COMB HONEY, APPLIANCES FOR 



205 




Shipping cases with beeway and plain sections. 



separator. This kind of section continued 
almost up to 1897, when there was intro- 
duced a section without beeways, having 
plain straight edges all around. This had 
been used for some 10 or 12 years pre- 
viously by various beekeepers who found it 
to be in every way satisfactory. But plain 
sections (even width all around, without 
beeways) necessitate some scheme for hold- 
ing them a bee-space apart while on the 




hive. Accordingly, a separating fence 
was devised, having transverse cleats at 
regular intervals on both sides, binding the 
series of slats together — cleats so spaced as 
to come opposite the uprights in the sec- 
tions. It will be seen at once that the fence 
system provides for a narrower section, and 
yet this same section holds as much honey 
as one % inch wider, because the extra 
width is taken up by the thickness of the 
cleats on the fences, as shown at A A A in 
previous cut or what would be in the old 
section two beeways of i% inch each. In 
the cuts shown below there are specimens 



of beeway sections and no-beeway, the last 
being generally termed plain sections. It 
will be seen that the plain save quite a lit- 
tle wood, and consequently take somewhat 
less room in shipping cases. In other words, 
the twelve and twenty-four pound shipping 
cases can be made somewhat smaller, be- 
cause it is not necessary to have each comb 
bee-spaced apart in the marketing cases, 
the same as while on the hive. Moreover, 
the plain straight edges of plain sections 
offer special advantages in the matter of 
scraping. There are no insets, often rough- 
ly cut (as in beeway sections), to work into 
and around with a scraping-knife. A single 
sweep of the knife on each of the four 
edges will remove the propolis, or, better 
still, if the blade of the knife is long 
enough, one can scrape tAvo edges at a time. 




Beeway and no-bceway sections. 

Weight for weight, and of the same filling, 
a comb in a plain section looks prettier 
than one having beeways. The illustration 
at top of page shows beeway sections in 
one shipping case, and plain sections in 
the other. (Plain sections in upper case.) 
But there is one more point to be taken 



206 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 



into consideration. The fences are made 
up of a series of slats having a scant bee- 
space between each slat; and as the cross- 
cleats, or posts, are y^ inch shorter than 
the length of the section, the beeway is very 
much wider. Instead of being a narrow 
opening thru the top as in the old section, 
the opening is clear across the top, and part 
way down and up each of the sides. This 
gives the bees much freer communication, 
and, in consequence, has a tendency to re- 
duce the size of the corner holes in each 
section. Then there is that factor, namely, 
horizontal openings between each of the 
slats. This allows free communication from 
one section to another, not only crosswise 
but lengthwise of the super. On account of 
this a good many have already testified that 
thej^ secured much better and more perfect 
filling of combs in plain sections than in 
the old style with solid separators ; that the 
bees enter plain sections sooner, and that 
in some markets better prices are secured. 
There are others who say they can see no 
difference. 

Under the same conditions the plain sec- 
tions will be filled no better than the bee- 
way. If there is any difference in the 
filling, it is because the one offers special 
advantages in the way of freer communica- 
tion; for in the ordinary old-style, with 
solid separators, each section, so to speak, 
is shut off in 'a little box by itself, and it 
has been proven that bees are disinclined 
to work in little compartments almost com- 
pletely shut off from the rest. Open-corner 
sections, divided off by means of slatted 
separators, without cleats, should and 
would be filled just as well as plain sections 
divided off "'by fences; for the conditions 
will be precisely the same, because the bee- 
ways, made part and parcel of these sec- 
tions, exactly correspond to the beeways 
(cleats) on the fences. But one would lose 
many of the advantages of plain sections, 
if he were to adopt the open-corner boxes. 
They would not look, with even filling, as 
pretty as plain sections. 

SUPERS FOR PLAIN SECTIONS. 

In the main, supers for plain sections 
differ very little from the section-holder 
super already shown and described for the 
old-stj'le sections. The section-holders 
themselves are the same width as the sec- 



tions. Between each row of sections in a 
section-holder is placed a fence, the end- 
post of the fence resting upon the strip of 
tin nailed on the bottom inside edge of the 
end of the super. An additional fence is 
inserted on the outside of each outside row 
of sections, because it was demonstrated by 
S. T. Pettit that a perforated divider, or 




what is exactly the same thing in principle, 
the fence, when placed between the outside 
rows and the super sides, will result in 
having those outside rows of sections filled. 




in many instances, as well as those in the 
center. The reason of this is, that it places 
a wall of bees on each side of the fence, 
between the comb honey and the super 
side; and these walls of bees, so to speak, 
help to conserve the heat so they can draw 
out the comb and complete the sections on 
the outside as w^ell as in the center. 

COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE.— In 

order to secure comb honey the colonies 
must be very strong — ^that is to say, the 
hives must be fairly boiling over with bees 
— so strong, indeed, that some of the colo- 
nies will be inclined to swarm as soon as 
the honey flow starts. But of 'this, men- 
tion will be made later on. 

In the early part of the season it may 
be an advantage, if one brood-nest is 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 



207 



crowded, to use a second story and breed in 
that also. As soon as the harvest begins 
this upper story is lifted off, and a super 
of sections is put on instead. The hatching 
brood of the two stories in the mean time 
is put in the lower hive, and the rest of 
the brood given to colonies that can take 
care of it. This procedure is practiced by 
some of our best beekeepers because it 
insures powerful colonies that will go into 
the supers. 

There is not much use in trj-ing to pro- 
duce comb honey, if the colonies are only 
two-thirds or one-half strength. In order 
to bring all of these up to honey-gathering 
pitch the reader should turn to the general 
subject of BuiLDTXG UP CoLOXiES found in 
its alphabetical order. Be sure that the 
directions that are given are carefully fol- 
lowed. Assuming that this has been or will 
be done, it is also important that there 
should be the proper proportion of bees of 
flying age — that is, fielders. A colony, for 
example, might have enough bees, but an 
insufficiency of bees old enough to go to 
the fields. Many a beginner fails right 
here. The bees should not be younger than 
10 days or two weeks. It will, therefore, 
require that eggs that have been laid to 
produce bees for the field should be laid 
from a month to six weeks ahead of the 
expected harvest. 

If it is not practicable to build up the 
colonies by uniting, or if it is desirable to 
run for both comb honey and extracted, 
the medium colonies may be left as they 
are, and run for extracted honey, and 
those of proper strength run for comb 
honey. The weak colonies — that is, those 
of two- and three-frame size — should be 
united to the medium-strength colonies; 
for even in the production of extracted, 
more honey, relatively, will be secured per 
1000 bees from a strong colony than from 
a comparatively small or medium force. 

The medium colonies can be built to 
proper comb-honey pitch without uniting, 
provided the weather conditions are such 
that the bulk of the eggs can be laid from 
a month to six weeks ahead of the harvest. 
If that is not possible, it will be necessary, 
perhaps, to unite. 

Colonies that are very . strong in the 
spring will build up faster, relatively, than 
the weaker ones; and these can sometimes 
supply frames of hatching brood and bees 



to the stocks that are below par, as ex- 
plained at the outset. 

In order that the colonies may build up 
properly in early spring, they should be 
well housed — preferably in double-walled 
hives. If they are in winter packing-cases, 
as described under Wixterixg Outdoors^ 
leave the packing on until settled warm 
weather has arrived. Cool or frosty nights 
will quickly penetrate the walls of hives 
having only a single-board thiclmess. This 
necessarily cuts down the brood-rearing, 
and consequently reduces the amount of 
honey, either comb or extracted, that will 
be secured. 

There should also be a liberal supply of 
stores in the hives the previous fall, not 
only to prevent starvation, but to make 
brood-rearing possible. If the supply is 
scant, the amount of brood and bees in the 
brood-nest will be correspondingly small, 
and then it may be necessary to resort to 
stimulative feeding. (See Feedixg to 
Stimulate.) But experience has shown 
over and over again that the feeding 
should be done in the fall if possible. If 
it is done in the early spring it has a 
tendency to over-stimulate. It forces the 
bees out of the hive on cool days when they 
ought to be inside; and, therefore, it is 
highly important that all colonies be liber- 
ally supplied with stores, either natural or 
artificial, in late fall. 

Having gotten our colonies up to comb- 
honey pitch, it will be found that some of 
them, as soon as the harvest opens, will be 
inclined to swarm. This may be shown by 
the building of initial queen-cells or clus- 
tering out in front of the entrance. Cells 
should be cut out every 8 days; and while 
this practice does not entirely stop swarm- 
ing it goes a long way toward checking 
and preventing it entirely in most of the 
colonies. There will be some other stocks 
that will make no effort to swarm at all. 
These should be carefully noted, and queens 
from them be used for breeding. The 
swarming nuisance can be very materially 
reduced by breeding from the queen whose 
colonies keep on storing honey without 
swarming. This is the practice of Dr. C. 
C. Miller, one of the best comb-honey 
producers in the United States. 

Just as the harvest opens or a little be- 
fore, as may be shown by the combs whiten- 
ing and bulging near the top, the hive 



208 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 



should be lifted up on four blocks as illus- 
trated and described under the head of 
Swarming, Prevention of. It has been 
proven that the giving of a large amount 
of bottom ventilation in this way will check 
swarming to a very great extent. This 
ventilation should be supplied a little be- 
fore the harvest opens, to prevent queen- 
cells in colonies that are not inclined to 
swarm, and discourage the building of such 
cells in colonies that show a disposition to 
swarm. 

Swarming may also be discouraged by 
the use of a super of shallow extracting- 
combs, and, after the bees are started in 
this, substituting a super of sections. Ex- 
tracting-combs may also be put in the side 
of a comb-honey super, as explained fur- 
ther on, or partially built sections from 
the previous season, called bait sections, 
may be used. A couple of these placed in 
the center of each super on the hives will 
do much to discourage swarming and get 
the bees up into the super. 

The reader may find it necessary and 
advantageous to practice artificial swarm- 
ing; but he should not do this unless 
initial queen-cells have been started. (See 
Artificial Swarming, especially the 
brushed or shake-swarming plan.) This is 
usually very effective, but it involves a 
large amount of work. 

Where one is at home, or can be near his 
comb-honey-producing bees, the preventive 
measures already described are advised; 
but, if for any reason the producer must 
be away from his bees thru the middle 
hours of the day or if he operates out- 
yards, it is advisable to shake the swarm 
so that the work can be performed at the 
convenience of the apiarist. The shake- 
swarm plan has been used to a limited 
extent, altho it should be said that the 
majority of comb-honey producers, where 
they can do so, allow the first swarm to 
come off naturally, hive it on empty combs 
on the old stand, carrying the parent col- 
ony to another stand, or allowing it to 
stand beside the new hive, but with the 
entrance at right angles. The comb-honev 
super, if there was one on the old hive, is 
given to the swarm. As soon as most of 
the brood hatches, the parent colony is re- 
moved, when the flying beos join the swarm. 
This keeps down increase, and at the same 
time boosts the swarm so that it produces 



a large crop if the season hangs on long 
enough. For particulars regarding any or 
all of these methods, see Sw^arming, Pre- 
vention of; also Artificial Swarming. 

In all the foregoing, it is assumed that 
the main harvest of nectar comes on at the 
time expected. Sometimes clover or other 
sources furnishing the main crop will be 
out in abundance, and yet not yield a drop 
of nectar. At other times there will not 
be much clover in sight, and the bees will 
gather a large amount of honey. 

When the season is poor, it is better to 
run for extracted, and that is why the 
author advocates the production of both 
comb and extracted honey at the same time. 
Either the Barber or the Townsend plan 
will commend itself at such times. If the 
season starts in well, and the colonies are 
strong, practically all comb honey can be 
produced if desired. But we would advo- 
cate the use of bait sections to start the 
bees going above. More about this will be 
said further on. 

At this point the reader will do well to 
turn back to Building up Colonies, found 
in its alphabetical place. Many stocks in 
the spring will be somewhat weak, and 
some will be of medium strength. Neither 
of these two classes will be fit for the 
production of comb honey. For how to han- 
dle them, see Building up Colonies. 

WHEN AND HOW TO PUT ON SUPERS. 

If the colony is in one story and the bees 
begin to come in from the field, while the 
combs are whitened near the tops, and the 
frames fairly well filled with brood and 
honey, supers should be put on. If one has 
supers containing half-depth extracting- 
combs, he should put these on first, even if 
he desires to produce comb honey, for the 
bees will enter them much more readily, 
and begin storing above. Then when they 
are once well started the extracting super 
should be raised and under it should be 
placed a comb-honey super containing sec- 
tions filled with full sheets of foundation. 

The usual practice is to put the comb- 
honey super on at the start; but Italians 
especially are loath to enter the sections. 
If they once get into the hahit of going 
above, they will keep it up, even if the 
super is changed. The extracting-super 
can remain on top of the same hive on 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 



209 



which it was put in the first place, but it 
would be better to put it on some other 
colony to give it the "upstair fever," after 
which it should be replaced by a comb- 
honey super. After a little there will be 
some filled extracting-supers as well as 
those of comb. By p.roceeding on this plan 
one will find that he can produce just about 
as much comb honey as if he had put the 
comb-honey supers on in the first place, 
with the additional advantage that the ex- 
tracted honey obtained is just so much 
clear gain. 

Two correspondents sent to Gleanings in 
Bee Culture their method of usi5ig extract- 
ing-combs to bait the bees above. One uses 
a whole super of shallow extracting-combs, 
and the other uses both sections and ex- 
tracting-combs in the same super. Both 
are given here. The first mentioned writes : 



I have been, for several years, very much 
interested in trying and comparing different 
methods of handling bees for honeycomb. 
I have been in the business for eight years, 
and have had fair success. For the first 
five years I tried a different method each 
year. Three years ago I tried an experiment 
that succeeded so well I have followed it up, 
and have in a measure overcome the two 
greatest difficulties that I had to contend 
with — loafing and swarming. We use the 
eight-frame Dovetailed hives with section- 
holders for 4^ X 4% sections. Our bees 
would always begin to loaf or hang out on 
the front of the hives when we put on the 
sections, and most of them would do Viut 
little in the sections until they had lost 
several days, and then would swarm, thus 
losing several days of the first alfalfa bloom. 

I had 60 colonies of Italians in my out- 
apiary, and in trying my experiment I tried 
to be fair. I took 30 supers of half-depth 
extracting-frames full of comb from the 
home apiary, and put them on 30 hives in 
the out-apiary at the same time that I put 
sections on the other 30 hives. In four or 
five days the extracting-combs were full of 
new honey, and the bees excited and busy 
at their work, while most of those having 
sections were loafing, and some had swarmed. 

I raised the combs by putting a super of 
sections between them and the brood-nest. 
At the end of two weeks from putting on 
the combs those sections under the combs 
were better filled than those on the hives 
that had no combs. As soon as the combs 
were sealed, I put them away to extract, 
having that amount of honey extra, and the 
bees started nicely in their work, I had 
omy about a third as many swarms from 
those hives as from the ones with sections 
and no combs. 



I hked the plan so well that last year I 
had enough of those little combs built to 
furnish a super of them to every colony that 
was to be run for section honey. 

I tried the plan again this year, and from 
75 colonies at the out-apiary l had 8000 fine 
white marketable sections, about 500 lbs. of 
unfinished and imperfect sections, 1500 lbs. 
of extracted honey, and 60 lbs. of beeswax, 
and two barrels of vinegar, 

Mancos, Colo. Mrs. A. J. Barber. 

Other correspondents to Gleanings in Bee 
Culture have reported good results from 
following the same methods. It is partic- 
ularly applicable where both comb and ex- 
tracted are called for. 

E. D. TowTisend of Northstar, Mich., the 
other correspondent, goes one step further 
than the Barber plan by producing comb 
and extracted honey in the same super. 
Instead of putting on a case of extracting- 
combs, and afterward substituting therefor 
one containing sections, he has a special 
super which contains both extracting- 
combs and sections. 

The illustration given here shows a comb- 
honey super containing 4x5 sections. This 
is equipped precisely the same as any other 
super for sections except that it has ex- 
tracting-combs with closed-end frames on 
each outside. When a super of this kind is 
placed on a hive the bees immediately 
occupy the drawn comb at the sides of the 
super and begin their storing. The combs 
already drawn out are very inviting places 
in which the bees can begin storing honey. 
Having made a nice start in the two 
side extracting-combs they work toward 
the center — that is to say, they begin to 
draw out the full sheets of foundation in 
4x5 sections next to the combs, and store 
in them. When work is once in full prog- 
ress in the side sections of the super, the 
center ones will take care of themselves 
wdth the result that every section is finished 
about the same time, and of about equal 
fullness. When the super is completed, the 
two extracting-combs will be filled and 
capped as well as the section honey-boxes. 
The former can be extracted and used again. 

It will be seen that the extracting-combs 
serve the purpose of excellent baits; and 
Mr. Townsend draws attention to the fact 
that, when such baits are placed at the sides 
instead of in the center, they cause an even 
filling of the entire super; whereas by the 
old plan of putting bait combs in the mid- 



210 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 




T super containing two extracting- frames with wide end-bars, so that they take up the same amount of room 

a section-holder. 



die of the super the storing begins around 
the baits, gradually working from the cen- 
ter to the outside. This naturally brings 
about a better filling of the center sections, 
leaving those, toward the sides at a much 
later stage of comb-building and filling. 
The result of this is that the center sections 
will be filled in advance of the outside ones ; 
and by the time these latter are filled, all 
the former will be travel-stained, and may 
induce swarming in the mean time. 

When Mr. Townsend first began this 
scheme of comb and extracted honey pro- 
duction from the same super he had in 
mind only baiting the bees up into the sec- 
tions; but he incidentally discovered that, 
inasmuch as the bees would enter such 
supers without hesitation, he thereby almost 
entirely overcame swarming. 

Comb-honey producers well know that 
the ordinary section-super placed on a hive 
is very often not readily entered by the 
bees. The series of little compartments 
(the sections) cause the bees to sulk, and 
before they actually enter the super they 
may swarm in disgust. 

It is well known, also, that after bees are 
once started going above, there is less in- 



clination on their part to swarm. Mr. 
Townsend finds that the two side extract- 
ing-combs that he puts in every comb-super 
start the bees into the super about as read- 
ily as they would if containing extracting- 
combs only. The whole effect of this pro- 
cedure is such that swarming is reduced to 
a minimum — almost brought under control. 

For the local markets, the side extracting- 
combs can be cut out and sold for chunk 
honey at about the same price as that in the 
sections; so that there need be practically 
no loss; or when there is a call for liquid 
honey it can be extracted. 

The deep super, already described, with 
its 4 X 5 sections and section-holders, is 
well suited to carry out the Townsend plan. 

Even the shallower supers using 4^/^x4^ 
sections can be similarly arranged. 

Jay Smith of Vincennes, Ind., among 
many others who have been using the 
Townsend plan with good success, writes : 

I have been using Mr. Townsend 's plan of 
putting extracting-combs at the outside of 
the sections, and feel that in this Mr. Town- 
send has given the bee fraternity a most 
valuable kink. In the engraving will be 
seen a super just set on the hive. The bees 



COMB HOXEY, TO PRODUCE 



211 




The work well started in the extracting-combs at the side of the comb-honey super. Note that the row of sections 
just back of the extracting-frame is well along and that the second row back is started. 



immediately took possession to clean it up. 
Thej will at once go to work and store honey 
in the comb. The other picture shows the 
work as it progresses. The outside extract- 
ing-frame is partly capped. The comb-honey 
section next to it has honey in it, while the 
third has work just commenced. After the 
bees begin in the center ones, they will 
push the work there a little faster, with 
the result that the entire super is finished at 
once and can be set aside for market without 
sorting. 

I am running 80 colonies on this plan 
this year, and I have never had a single 
case of loafing, and the bees work with all 
the energy they possess. When I read of 
some who let the hive-body get clogged with 
honey, and the bees cluster out, and they 
"shake" energy into them, I thought the 
beekeeper was the one who needed shaking 
instead of the bees. With the above system 
I usually have about six per cent of swarms. 
This was the worst year for swarms I ever 
had, and the per cent of swarms was ten. 



BAIT SECTIOXS. 

Some beekeepers, however, while admit- 
ting the excellence of the plans given for 
those who want part of their crop in ex- 
tracted honey, say that there is no need to 
use extracting-frames to start the bees at 
work in supers, since the same thing can 



be accomplished by means of what are 
called "bait sections," thus securing the 
entire crop in sections. 

A bait section is one which has been 
partly filled with honey, which honey is 




One of Jay Smith's hives, showing extracting-combs at 
the side of the super, o la Townsend. 



afterward emptied out by the bees, gener- 
ally in the fall. It is thus a section con- 
taining drawn comb, but having no honey 
in it, is to all intents and purposes an 
extracting-comb on a small scale. Bait 



212 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 



sections thus prepared are kept over win- 
ter, to be used at the beginning of the next 
honey harvest. 

If a single bait section is put in the 
middle of the first super that is given to a 
colony, it is claimed that the bees will 
begin work in it as promptly as they will 
begin work in an extracting-comb. Some 
use more than a single bait in a super, but 
there may be no great advantage in this, 
and the number of baits should be limited 
as much as possible, for when a section is 
thus filled the second time it is not so 
beautiful as one filled the first time. A 
bait section is not needed in any super 
after the first. 

One serious objection to bait sections is 
their tendency to granulate early; and on 
account of this they should never be put 
into a shipping case with other sections of 
comb honey. They are never as nice, and 
should always be sold around home as soon 
as possible after they are taken off the 
hive. 

Some producers have made the serious 
mistake of putting their bait sections when 
completed in mth other sections and send- 
ing them in one case to the city market. 
As these baits granulate very quickly, the 
city dealer is quick to discover it, and he 
will, therefore, conclude that the whole case 
of sections is just as bad. 

WHAT TO DO WHEN THE BEES REFUSE TO 
ENTER THE SECTIONS. 

There have already been given some 
general suggestions that should enable the 
producer to get the bees up into the supers. 
One is, to give the bees a super of empty 
extracting-combs ; and then when they 
have once started in them, place a super 
of sections between it and the hive. The 
other is, to use the extracting-combs as well 
as sections in the same super, a la Town- 
send; and still another is, to use bait sec- 
tions. When all of these devices fail, it 
may indicate that the weather is too cold, 
even tho there is plenty of bloom, or the 
colony is not strong enough to go into the 
supers. We sometimes find it an advantage 
to run our colonies two-story during the 
breeding season, then remove the upper 
story, and put on a super of sections as 
explained elsewhere. If the weather is cool 
or chilly or colony not strong enough, no 



amount of "baiting" will get the bees above. 
The weather conditions must be right, and 
honey must be coming in at a fairly good 
pace, even if the colony is strong enough, 
before the bees will go above. But when 
they are once started they will keep it up 
as long as anj'thing is coming in. 

If some colonies are storing in the 
supers, and others are not, it indicates that 
the w^eather conditions must be right; and 
the presumption is that the laggards are 
not strong enough to go above. If they 
have plenty of bees, it is sometimes advis- 
able to give those that will not work in the 
supers a super from some other hive in 
which the bees have already started build- 
ing comb and storing honey. In other 
cases, we would use either baits or empty 
combs on the sides. We would also make 
sure that the bees in hot weather are not 
driven out of the supers by the direct rays 
of the sun. In some localities, at least, 
shade must be provided, so that the bees 
will be protected during the middle hours 
of the day. See Apiary^ and especially 
"Shade-boards." 

If the bees of a strong colony hang out 
in front of the entrance, while the bees of 
other colonies are storing honey, perhaps 
enlarging the entrance or putting the hive 
up on four blocks, as shown and illustrated 
under Swarming, may serve the purpose of 
getting the bees inside at work in the 
supers. 

It sometimes happens that the brood-nest 
is not filled w^ith brood and honey. Until 
that takes place, there will not be much 
work done in the supers unless the colony 
is very strong or honey coming in rapidly. 

TIERING UP. 

If honey is coming in at a good rate, 
one may expect (if the bees have started 
above) that the super, or case of sections, 
will soon be filled about half full of honey 
— with the sections in different stages of 
completion. When the super is about half 
filled w^ith honey, raise it up and place 
another empty super under it. About the 
time this reaches the condition of about 
half completion, raise both supers and put 
under it another empty one. This process 
of "tiering up," or " storif ying," as it is 
called by the English, may be continued 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 



213 



until it is three, four, or more high, de- 
pending upon the length of the honey flow 
and the amount of nectar coming in daily. 
In the mean time the ripening process of 
the honey in the fii'st super continues. In 
most localities it is not practicable to tier 
up more than two supers. 

CAUTION. 

Care must be exercised in tiering up, or 
a lot of unfinished sections will be the re- 
sult. When the honey flow is di'awing to a 
close, and it is discovered that there is an 
evident decrease in the amount of nectar 
coming in, no more empty supers should 
be given. The bees should complete what 
they have on hand, which they will do if 
one is fortunate enough in his calculations 
as to when the nectar flow will end. If 
uncertain whether another super is needed 
or not toward the close of the harvest, it is 
often advisable to put another super on 
top. The bees are not likely to commence 
on this till they really need it. It is im- 
possible to give specific rules on tiering 
up; but with the assistance of the forego- 
ing one is to exercise his own discretion. 

WHEN -AND HOW TO TAKE OFF SECTIONS. 

Usually it is not practicable to wait till 
every section in a super is completed; that 
is, until every cell is capped over. Those 
sections most liable to be unfinished will be 
in the two outside rows, and these the bees 
will be long in completing. If the honey 
flow is over we would not wait for them to 
be completed, but would take the whole 
super off at once. The longer it remains 
on the hive, the more travel-stained the 
honey will become, and the more it will be 
soiled with propolis. However, if one 
desires a really fine, delicious article of 
comb honey, one more pleasing to the 
tongue than to the eye, and is not particu- 
lar about the white marketable appearance 
of the cappings, the super should be left 
on the hive for a month. Most beekeepers 
agree that comb honey left on the hive 
acquires a certain richness of flavor not 
found in honey just capped over. Altho 
such honey is really better, it is not so 
marketable because the cappings in the 
mean time become more or less travel- 
stained. 

If one is producing very much comb 
honey, he can scarcely afford to get along 



without a scale hive. See Scale Hi\% 
found in alphabetical order. 

HOW TO GET BEES OUT OF THE SECTIONS 
WITHOUT BEE-ESCAPES. 

There is one danger in lea\'ing honey on 
till after the honey flow. As soon as the 
hive is opened, the bees, especially hybrids, 
possibly may uncap and carry some of the 
honey down. Whether it is left on the hive 
or whether it is removed as soon as capped, 
the methods of taking off and getting the 
bees out will be much the same. Some 
supers may not be filled with honey, altho 
a glance at the top may show nice white 
capped combs. If capped below, it may be 
removed. 

If the honey fiow has stopped or is taper- 
ing off, to avoid the possibility of robbing 
it is much safer, after smoking the bees 
out as far as possible, to give the super a 
vigorous shaking in front of the hive ; then 
■\vith the bee-brush clean off the bottom and 
top of the super ; this will clean out nearly 
all the bees. The super should then be 
placed inside of a building. What few 
remain will desert, fly to the window 
screens, and get out thru the bee-escapes. 




The Whitney bee-escape case for clearing the bees from 
honey-comb supers. 

A much better plan is to shake out most 
of the bees as before described, stand the 
supers on end, and then set over a case 
with bee-escapes on top, like that shown 
in the engraving above. This is used by 
W. M. Whitney of Lake Geneva, Wis. 



214 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 




Method of inserting the escape-board. 



By far the most satisfactory arrange- 
ment for getting bees out of supers is the 
double-end Porter bee-escape. This is 
mounted in a board, cleated at the ends 
and sides, in such a way as to provide a 




Porter double-end bee-escape. 

bee-space on one side, so that it can be 
placed between the supers and the brood- 
nest beneath.' But care should be taken 
that it be placed right side up — that is, 




the side up as shown in the illustration. 
If the device be put on in the morning, 
practically all the bees will be out of the 
super by the next morning. 

One method of putting on one of these 
escape-boards is as follows: With a hive- 
tool, screw-driver, putty-knife, or pry, 
loosen the super so that propolis connec- 
tions will be broken. With one hand tilt 
up the super at one end enough to make a 
gap, and with the other hand take the 
smoker and blow in two or three whiffs of 
smoke to drive the bees back. Lift the end 
of the super up a little further so that it 



will stand at an angle of nearly 45 degrees. 
With the free hand set down the smoker 
and pick up the escape-board, which should 
be leaning conveniently against the leg. 
Slide this on top of the hive as far as it 
will go, beespace side up. Let the super 
down gently on the escape-board, and, last 
of all, bring the escape-board and super 
into alignment with the hive. This method 
eliminates hard lifting, saves time, prevents 
angering the bees, and avoids killing them. 
The best time to put on Porter escapes 
is always in the morning. The field bees in 
the supers will leave to go to the field dur- 
ing the day and, of course, can not get 
back. If 30 or 40 of the escapes are put 
on, the next morning about nine o'clock 
there will be 30 or 40 supers ready to 
come oif, with but few bees in them. If 
there are three or four bees left, or a dozen, 
they will usually take wing as soon as the 
super is uncovered. 

SCRAPING SECTIONS. 

In order to make sections present a clean 
and marketable appearance all the propolis 
should be scraped off. Some and perhaps 
most beekeepers prefer for this purpose a 
common case knife, and others a sharp 
jackknife. Sometimes the edge of a scrap- 
ing-knife is ground square, and the scrap- 
ing is done with a corner of the knife. 
But the general practice seems to favor 
the ordinary edge. Others, including Dr. 
C. C. Miller and Allan Latham, prefer to 
use No. 2 sandpaper. A sheet of it is laid 
flat on the table; and the section, edges 
down, is rubbed back and forth on the 
rough surface. If the day is not too warm, 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 



215 




A corner of a section of honey enlarged to show the dust of wood and propolis scattered over the surface of 
the capping-s. This trouble is caused by carelessness in cleaning the propolis from the wood. 



nor the propolis soft, the sandpaper will 
do faster work than a knife. But the edges 
of the sections are a little roughened, and 
more or less fine dust at times gets on the 
surface of the comb. Sometimes a dealer 
on receiving such honey objects to this 
dust, thinking it to be the excrement of the 
moth worm. (See cut.) The objection is 
also made that the sandpaper fills up with 
bee glue, and that is true. But sandpaper 
is cheap, says Mr. Latham. When one 
sheet is filled, another can be used, and 
so on. 

When one has a large amount of comb 
honey the work can be done with sand- 
paper more expeditiously by fastening it 
on a revolving cylinder or on the flat sur- 
face of a revolving disk operated by foot 
power or a small motor. Where one has a 
gasoline engine for a large power-driven 
honey-extractor, he can use that as a motor 
power. 

•It was stated that rubbing the section 
on a flat sheet of sandpaper by hand leaves 
the edges rough, and dust on the surface 
of the comb. The above illustration, which 
is enlarged to illustrate the details, 
shows how the fine dust lodges on the 



comb and how the edges of the sections 
are roughened, leaving hairs or ^fibers of 
wood clinging to the edges. The author's 
experience is, however, that a power-driven 
cj'linder or disk on account of the high 
speed, does not scratch the sections nor 
leave the surfaces of the comb covered 
mth dust. 

BOOMHO^VER KNIFE-SCRAPING TABLE. 

Frank Boomhower of Gallupville, N. Y., 
has a section-scraping table like the one 



'•^-iMx 




Knife-scraping table. 

shown herewith. As will be seen, two 
scrapers can work at a time, the sides of 



21G 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 



the box or tray being cut away in such a 
way as to allow a knife to scrape down 
clear past the edge of the section. Each 
section, as it is scraped, is put into the 
shipping case. 

Those with only a few sections will not 
be likely to have such a table, and some 
large producers might prefer not to use it. 
Any ordinary table may be used for the 
work, or a board on the lap will answer. 
It is easier to do the work sitting. A block 
2 inches thick, more or less, and 4 inches 
square, the size not being important, lies 
on the table, or on the board on the lap. 
When the section is placed upon this block, 
projecting over one side, it allows free play 
for the knife. If the super is of such 
character that the sections may be taken 
out en masse, the work may be greatly 
shortened hy cleaning all the tops at one 
operation, and the bottoms in the same 
way. Indeed, no matter what the super, 
one may shorten the work in this way: 
Make a rim, or box without top or bottom, 
whose depth is an inch or less than the 
height of the sections to be cleaned, and an 
inch or so wider and longer than the super- 
ful of sections. Have two boards as large 
as or a little larger than the rim mentioned. 
Lay a board on the table, set the rim on the 
board, and then fill the rim with sections. 
Put into one end a thin board as a fol- 
lower and wedge it up. Do the same at one 
side. Now, with a cabinet-maker's scraper 
or some other tool scrape the propolis oft 
the entire surface. Follow this up with 
No. 2 sandpaper. Now lay the other board 
on top of the sections. Turn the whole 
thing upside do^vn. Take the top board off 
the sections. Loosen the wedges as much 
as necessary to let the rim drop down on 
the board and then wedge tight again. 
Scrape and sandpaper as before. The sec- 
tions may now be taken out and finished on 
the little blocks as before mentioned. It is 
a convenience to have a large table and a 
number of boards. Each board may be slid 
along on the table out of the way, or it may 
be piled up on another boardf ul of sections. 

Both scraping and sandpapering wiU 
work better when it is so cool that the glue 
is brittle. Indeed, sandpaper will not work 
on soft glue. 

UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 

The' more carefully the apiary is manip- 
ulated in the matter of working for comb 



honey, the fewer will be the number of 
unfinished sections; but such are not al- 
ways the result of improper working of 
the colonies. With the best of care a sud- 
den stoppage of the honey flow will leave 
the beekeeper with a lot of these sections; 
and such cessation of the nectar supply, no 
one can foresee in some localities. In the 
alfalfa regions and other places, it can be 
foretold within a few days when the honey 
will stop ; it is then possible so to arrange 
the supply of sections on the hives as to 
leave very few of them unfinished when the 
season does finally close. 

HOW DR. MILLER PREVENTS AN OVERSUPPLY 
OF UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 

Dr. C. C. Miller takes off his supers as 
soon as a majority of the sections in the 
super are finished. The latter are set 
aside to be scraped and cased for market, 
while those unfinished are set back into the 
supers — the supers to go back on the hives 
immediately, and that is before the honey 
flow stops. By proceeding thus, he man- 
ages to have few unfinished sections at the 
end of the season. Those that are returned 
to the hive he fittingly styles "go-backs." 
These, as fast as they accumulate in the 
honej'-room, are put into the regular hive- 
supers. Part of these go-back supers may 
be placed on colonies that show a special 
aptitude* for finishing up v/ork already 
begun in sections, and a part may be placed 
on the regular colonies already at work on 
their own sections. The great advantage 
of this plan is that it allows the sections to 
be taken off before all in the super are 
finished, consequently before any of the 
central ones have lost their virgin white- 
ness. 

Such a plan of procedure is possible only 
in localities where the honey flow lasts 
sufficiently long, not only to fill two-thirds 
of the sections full in the supers, but 
enough longer to finish out supers of go- 
backs placed on hives afterward. Bees can 
be made to finish partly filled sections even 
when the natural honey fiow has ceased 
altogether by feeding back a thinned honey. 
See Feeding Back. 

In any case, some unfinished sections 



* Some colonies are better at finishing up work 
already begun than at starting it from the raw 
foundation. 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 



217 



will be on hand at the close of the season; 
for if the surplus be all stored in sections 
it is not possible to give the exact number 
of sections that will be finished. 

WHAT TO DO WITH UNFINISHED SECTIONS. 

Some prefer to dispose of unfinished 
sections by selling them around home for 
less money, or using them exclusively for 
home consumption. The honey, for eating 
purposes, is just as good; and it is the 
practice, in many beekeepers' families, to 
consume all such sections if they can, re- 
serving those that are marketable and well 
finished to be sold. 

Some beekeepers consider them very val- 
uable for baits ; that is, they place some of 
these at the center or side of a super to 
bait the bees above, as already explained. 
Others place them in stacked-up supers a 
few rods from the apiary, leaving a very 
small entrance at the bottom of the pile, 
large enough for one or two bees to pass 
at a time. By this slow method of rob- 
bing, the bees will empty out the honey and 
carry it to the hives much more cheaply 
than the beekeeper himself can afford to do 
it by means of the extractor. While this 
slow robbing may cause a little disturbance 
in the yard at the time, it does no particu- 
lar harm. But mark this: Never give the 
bees a wide entrance at the bottom. It 
should be only wide enough to allow one or 
two bees to pass at a time. This is known 
as the Miller plan, having been, we believe, 
originated by Dr. C. C. Miller. Taking 
everything into consideration it is the safer 
one to follow; but where one is an expert 
beekeeper, and has a large lot of unfinished 
sections for the bees to empty out, a plan 
originated by the late B. Taylor is perhaps 
better. Dr. Miller, who uses the plan, thus 
speaks of it : 

For a number of years I have used the 
Taylor plan at the close of every season. 
All sections that are less than half -filled are 
pnt in supers in the shop cellar, and the 
doors kept closed till the whole business is 
over, and all that are to be emptied are in 
the cellar. The supers stand on end so as to 
be all open, or piled in piles crossing each 
other. When no more are to be taken into 
the cellar I open the door and say to the 
bees, '*Go in.'' They go in, I assure yon. 
The air is black with bees at the door, and 
they do more or less sailing about in the 
vicinity. Sometimes they do a little tearing 



of the sections, but not much. There is too 
large a surface for them to cover. Grad- 
ually they give up the job as the supply 
ceases, but the supers are not taken away 
till a week or two after the bees have stopped 
working on them. They might as well be 
put in the open air, only they are safe from 
rain in the cellar. Please remember that this 
is what I do at the end of every harvest 
after the flow has stopped. 

As a matter of fact, I use the Taylor 
oftener than the Miller plan. It depends on 
the number of sections to be emptied in 
proportion to the number of bees. Whether 
little or much is to be emptied, I am not 
afraid of a rampage. I will set a super of 
sections on top of a hive and let the bees 
rob it out, and there will be no rampage. 
But I will be exceedingly careful not to take 
away the super until all honey is cleaned 
out, and until at least 24 hours after the 
bees have stopped trying to find any more 
honey there. Take away the super while the 
bees are at work at it, and wholesale destruc- 
tion would follow. 

Since foul brood has become so generally 
distributed over the United States, there 
would be great danger of spreading it 
among the bees if beekeepers should prac- 
tice the plan above described. Certainly 
it would not be advisable, in case any of 
the neighbors had disease among their bees ; 
nor could it be recommended if foul brood 
ever had been among the bees within the 
last year or so. There would be danger 
that some colonies had the germs of the 
disease ; and altho they showed no evidence 
of it during the preceding season they 
might spread disease thruout the entire 
apiary. For this reason it is advisable to 
use almost any other plan than to let the 
bees rob out the supers. 

GRANULATED COMB HONEY; WHAT TO DO 
WITH IT. 

If dealers are not suspicious regarding 
comb honey nor have had their heads filled 
with stories of artificial comb honey, they 
can probably sell granulated comb honey 
at very near the same price as that which is 
still in the liquid form; for granulated 
honey in the comb is fine for table use. 
Some explanation should be made, how- 
ever, to the effect that the honey going 
" back to sugar " does not indicate at all 
that the bees were fed sugar syrup, and 
that nearly all kinds of pure honey will 
granulate in time. See Granulated Hox- 

KV. 

The Jews, in their religious festivals, 



218 



COMB HONEY, TO PRODUCE 




The Peterson capping-melter and wax-separator here recommended for liquefying 
candied honey. Altho designed for melting cappings as explained under Extracted 
Honey, it may be used as a liquefier if a screen is put across the open end to prevent 
the solid portions from sliding out. As soon as the honey is melted, it runs out, away 
from the heat. 



at certain seasons of the year, use consid- 
erable granulated comb honey. The honey 
and wax make up the right combination for 
their purpose, and very often granulated 
comb honey can be sold to the Jews at fair 
prices. 

If it is impossible to sell granulated comb 
honey at a l-easonable figure, it may be 
melted up in a capping-melter, and the 
liquid honey and wax saved and sold sepa- 
rately. If there is any great amount of 
honey to melt up in this way a large cap- 
ping-melter should be used, for it is im- 
portant to have a good-sized heating sur- 
face so that the melted honey and wax may 
be separated as soon as possible. If a small 
melter is used and overloaded, much of the 
honey is likely to be confined in close con- 
tact with the heated surface for some time ; 
and this, in connection with the wax, im- 
parts to it a flavor that, while not disagree- 
able, distinguishes it from honey not so 
treated. On this account the outlet of the 
melter must not be allowed to dam up so as 
to confine the honey. 

A framework on which a wide board 
may be secured directly over the melter, 
should be made to fit the top of the melter. 

Use a sharp butcher-knife or steam un- 
capping-knife to cut the comb out of the 



section, then strike the notched or dove- 
tailed corner of the section, causing it to 
fly open allowing three sides of the section 
to lie flat on the board. Beginning at the 
right-hand end, move the edge of the knife 
with a scraping motion toward the left, 
holding the section in the left hand by the 
fourth side, which should be at right angles 
to the other three sides lying flat on the 
board. Then use the other edge of the 
knife; and, beginning at the top of the 
fourth side, cut down to the board, thus 
removing quickly all the wax adhering to 
the wood. With a little practice the honey 
may be cut out of the sections very rapidly 
— perhaps faster than the melter can han- 
dle it; but in the intervals the heaps of 
scraped sections may be removed, and new 
cases of honey set in readiness on the 
bench. 

The mixture of melted honey and wax, 
as it comes from the melter, should pass 
directly into a separator made on the prin- 
ciple of the Aikin separator. The large 
cut shows the whole melter, separator, etc. 
At the end of the day, or when the work is 
finished, the honey should be drawn off as 
close as possible to the wax, so that the 
smallest amount will be left to cool with it. 
The reason for this is that any honey is 



COMBS 



219 



given a slightly waxy flavor if allowed to 
cool under wax. As soon as the honey is 
drawn off, and while it is still warm, it 
should be strained thru a cheese-cloth, so 
that it will be ready for market. 

HOW TO KEEP COMB HOXEY AXD AT THE 

SAME TIME PEEVEXT IT FROM 

GRAXULATIXG. 

It is sometimes desirable to keep comb 
honey for a better market, or hold it so we 
may have a supply the year round. To 
keep it with unimpaired flavor it must 
not be subjected to dampness. If water 
condenses on the surface of the comb, the 
honey is soon diluted, and then it sours. 
On this account the honey should never be 
put into a cellar or other damp room. 
Better put it upstairs ; and that there may 
be a free circulation of air, without admit- 
ting bees or flies, the windows should be 
covered with painted wire cloth. The 
author is accustomed to keep comb honey 
the year round, and rarely does it de- 
teriorate in the least. The same plan will, 
in the main, apply to keeping extracted 
honey. During damp and rainy weather, 
the doors and windows of the honey-room 
or honey-house should be closed and opened 
again when the air is dry. 

Comb honey should under no circum- 
stances be stored where it is likely to 
freeze, as freezing contracts the wax so as 
to break the combs and let the honey run. 
It should be kept as nearly as possible 
between 80 and 90 degrees F. It should 
never go down to the freezing point at any 
time; or, rather, it should never go be- 
low 70, if it is possible to avoid it. Varia- 
tions of temperature have a strong tend- 
ency to make honey granulate; and noth- 
ing ruins comb honey quicker than this. 

Perhaps one in a small way might be 
able to keep a room hot by the use of a 
hard-coal stove, from which a regular heat 
will be given off. In some instances one 
might use furnace heat. This latter would, 
perhaps, be advantageous in that it would 
provide for ventilation and thus hasten the 
evaporation of any unripe or thin honey. 
Where natural gas is available and cheap 
enough, gas stoves will furnish a more reg- 
ular heat than an^i;hing else. But certain 
it is, there must be some sort of automatic 
regulation of the heat. While the heater 



can be controlled to a certain extent, it 
seems more feasible to let the surplus heat 
escape. 

THE TEMPERATURE TO ARREST GRANULATION 
AFTER IT BEGINS. 

The publishers of this work made some 
experiments to see how hot they could keep 
the room and not have the combs melt 
down. They found that the temperature 
must not go higher than 103° F. While 
this maj^ seem excessively high, yet, if the 
honej' begins to granulate the only way to 
arrest the process is to bring the tempera- 
ture up to 103°, and maintain it there. 
Aye, there is the difficulty. They accom- 
plished it by putting steam coils in the 
room Avith sufficient radiation so that the 
temperature could be held between 101° 
and 103°. If it goes above the high point, 
an automatic regulator, something on the 
plan of an incubator-valve, allows the heat 
to escape. As the temperature drops, this 
valve closes. 

They kept some 2000 lbs. of honey in 
this room for two months. Some of the 
honey had already begun to granulate, and 
it was their hope that they could not only 
arrest the granulation but bring the gran- 
ulation back to a liquid condition. In this 
last they were disappointed, but they suc- 
ceeded admirably in stopping the process 
that would have soon ruined this whole lot 
of honey. 

They are not sure but a temperature of 
100° F. might do as well, and possibly such 
a degree would be safer for the average 
person to use, because, if the thermometer 
shows higher than 103°, there is great dan- 
ger that the combs wiU be overheated, sag, 
and set the honey to leaking. It should be 
stated that a temperature of 100° F., while 
it will stop granulation will cause the 
honey to become very thick and waxy. 
This is objectionable to some of the trade. 

COMBS.— Under Honeycomb, further 
on, comb is discussed as a container to hold 
the honey gathered by the bees, its general 
structure, how the bees build it without 
artificial aid, and the so-called artificial 
comb, which does not exist, and never did. 
Under Comb Foundation is described par- 
ticularly how combs are built by the use of 
artificial aids; under Manipulation of 



220 



COMBS 



Colonies^ how combs or frames are han- 
dled; and under this head will be dis- 
cussed the economic and comparative value 
of good and poor combs when used in 
brood-frames. 

In the olden days, before foundation was 
known, there was a much larger proportion 
of inferior and bad combs than there is 
today when, in a well-regulated apiary, 
they are built almost entirely from full 
sheets of foundation. (See Comb Foun- 
dation.) By this foundation and by self- 
spacing frames, it is possible to have every 
comb in the hive a good one — all of them 
uniform, with little or no drone comb, and 
as flat as a board, containing very few 
drone-cells. 

The beekeeper who has good modern 
hives well painted, and yet who has the 
average natural-built or poor combs, will 
lose a large pait of the value of his in- 
vestment. The rearing of drones means a 
big waste to the colony ; and while one can, 
as will be explained further on, make the 
bees build all-worker combs without any 
artificial aids, the problem is far easier if 
he uses full sheets of foundation well 
wired, as explained and illustrated in 
Comb Foundation^, subhead "Fastening 
Foundation to Top-bars of Brood-frames." 

There is not a better asset in the bee- 
yard than a full quota of nice, perfect 
combs. If one has only just enough to fill 
the hives at the approach of the honey 
flow, he will lose a large amount of honey 
if he is producing extracted, by not having 
an extra supply on hand. Inserting frames 
containing full sheets of foundation will 
help out some in an emergency. While the 
bees may draw these out into combs, it 
absorbs a large force of bees that might 
otherwise be occupied in the fleld gathering 
honey. Nor is this all. The beekeeper 
who has a large stock of good straight 
combs on hand can control swarming to a 
great extent as well as secure a larger 
crop of honey. (See Swarming.) In the 
production of extracted honey there should 
be at least two, if not three or four, extra 
supers of drawn combs in reserve. These 
should be kept carefully stored in empty 
supers or hive bodies bee- and moth-tight, 
awaiting the harvest. 

Some years ago, when we were operating 
our outyards for extracted honey, we man- 



aged without any swarming until we ran 
out of drawn combs. The only thing we 
could give the bees was full sheets of foun- 
dation in brood-frames. As soon as we 
supplied them with these, swarming com- 
menced. They acted as if they were dis- 
gusted because they had to stop and build 
combs, and then they proceeded to swarm. 
While we could have extracted the filled 
combs already on the hives and returned 
them, such combs were not entirely sealed, 
and, of course, the honey was not thoroly 
ripened. As explained under Extracted 
HoNEY^ the quality of the honey is, as a 
rule, very greatly improved by leaving it 
on the hives until ever}'" cell is sealed, and 
many times it is better to leave it on a 
week or two after they are sealed. 

The novice ^^-ill see, then, the importance 
of having a large stock of empty combs on 
hand. If one does not have the combs, how 
can he get them? This can be done by 
giving the bees frames of foundation in the 
fall, when they are gathering an inferior 
honey. They may then be extracted and 
held in reserve until the following season, 
until the main crop of white table honey 
comes on. Of course, one can have the 
combs drawn out during the main honey 
flow; but that will probably mean some 
swarming and a decrease in the crop. The 
swarming nuisance can be materially re- 
duced by alternating the frames containing 
brood with frames of full sheets of foun- 
dation. Bees will quickly draw out the 
combs, and the queen will enter them. This 
will usually check swarming; but it may 
mean increasing the force of bees that will 
come on at a time of year when they will 
be of little use to the colony but will sim- 
ply be consumers. This production of a 
larger force of consumers may be a detri- 
ment just after the main honey flow, but it 
is a decided advantage in the fall, since 
young bees at that time of the year will 
insure much safer wintering. 

THE economic WASTE FROM THE USE OF 
POOR COMBS. 

At the outset we spoke of the economic 
difference between good and poor combs. 
The accompanying illustration will give 
one an idea of what constitutes a good 
comb, a medium one, and a poor one. 
First of all, the combs should be well wired 



COMBS 



221 




1, perfect; 2, good; 3, medium; 4, poor combs. 



222 



COMBS 




The upper frame, by mistake, contained no foundation, altho it was wired. Note the drone-cells. The lower 
frame contained a full sheet of foundation, and every cell is worker. 



to stand rapid handling, moving full colo- 
nies from one yard to another, and more or 
less rough usage in and out of the extrac- 
tor. (See Comb Foundation and Ex- 
tractors.) When the honey is thick the 
extractor must be revolved at full speed; 
and unless the combs are well wired they 
are liable to break out of the frames. 

It is essential, also, that the comb be 
well fastened to the end-bars, and built 
clear down to the bottom-bar. No. 1 is an 
illustration of a fairly good comb. No. 2 
is fair. No. 3 is a poor one, and both 2 
and 3 are defective in that they are only 
partially attached to the end-bars. In a 



year or two perhaps, especially during a 
good honey flow, the combs may be ex- 
tended and attached to the end-bars. If 
the flow is an extra heavy one the bees 
may build them down in contact with the 
bottom-bars as shown in No. 1. If the 
comb is attached only to the top-bar as in 
No. 2 there will be a bee-space next 
the end-bars and the bottom-bars — just the 
nicest place for a queen to hide when one 
desires to locate her. 

Attachments to the bottom-bars can be 
made very quickly by turning a super 
upside down, and leaving it so for a week 
or two, or even twenty days, during which 



CONTRACTION 



223 



the bees will probably build the comb 
upward and attach to the bottom-bar, which 
is now at the top. (See Reversing.) No. 
4, while fairly well fastened, is very bad 
on account of the presence of so much 
drone comb. It may be used for the pro- 
duction of extracted honey; but the objec- 
tion to it is that the queen, unless exclud- 
ing zinc is used, will go on it and fill it with 
drone eggs. Extracted honey can be pro- 
duced in it as well as in all- worker comb, 
but the average beekeeper will do well to 
cut out any comb like No. 4 and melt it. 

The ideally perfect comb is one that is 
attached to all four sides of the frame, and 
which has no holes like No. 2. In a good 
honey flow these holes will be filled up, but 
probably with drone-cells; and the pres- 
ence of these is as bad as the holes them- 
selves. 

There are about 132 square inches in the 
surface of standard Langstroth comb, and 
this will make the average comb contain 
approximately 6500 worker-cells on the 
two surfaces, provided the comb is per- 
fect. If the combs are like No. 4, it will 
be seen there is a big loss in the breeding 
capacity for worker brood. One may, 
therefore, have a ten-frame hive and still 
have only fifty or sixty per cent capacity 
for worker brood. It is one thing to have 
good hives, and it is another thing to have 
good combs; but better yet a combination 
of the two. 

HOW TO 'MAKE BEES BUILD ALL-WORKER COMB 
V7HEX ONLY STARTERS ARE USED. 

Where one cannot afford the expense of 
full sheets of foundation it is well to know 
how to make the bees eliminate aU drone 
combs. E. D. Townsend, of Northstar, 
Mich., tells in Gleanings in Bee Culture 
how this may be accomplished. 

The secret seems to be in having just the 
right number of workers and just the right 
amount of honey coming in, so that the bees 
will draw out the combs no faster than the 
queen can occupy them with brood. As long 
as this condition lasts we should expect the 
bees to build worker combs. From this we 
see that, in order to get good results in 
comb-building from a natural swarm, this 
colony should be of just the right size, and 
there should be a honey flow of three or four 
pounds a day. 

We will suppose a large swarm is hived 
during a period when honey is coming in 



freely. At this time there is too much honey 
coming in for the best results in comb-build- 
ing in the brood-nest, if the whole force of 
workers is compelled to do all their work in 
the brood-nest. The remedy is to put most 
of the workers at work in the supers. Most 
^ beginners fail in doing this; but the princi- 
ple is to make the surplus receptacles more 
inviting to the workers than the brood-nest, 
and the bees will immediately go up into the 
supers on being hived. Our comb-honey super 
with extracting-combs at the sides makes an 
ideal arrangement for this very thing. 

It is plain to see that, if most of the honey 
being carried in is placed in the sections, 
where it should be, the queen will not be 
hurried to keep pace with the workers, con- 
sequently nearly all worker comb will be 
built. The brood-nest should be filled with 
comb during the first 23 days after the 
swarm is hived, for the queen must keep up 
with the workers and lay in nearly every 
cell as fast as it is drawn out, or the bees 
will begin to store honey in the cells. When 
this condition arrives, the bees, on the sup- 
position that the queen has reached her limit, 
and that the rest of the combs will be used 
for storing honey, begin to build the storage 
size or the drone-cells in the brood-nest. This 
is likely to occur in about 23 days after the 
swarm is hived; for by this time the brood 
is beginning to hatch out in that part of the 
hive where the laying began. From this time 
on the queen has nearly all she can do to keep 
the cells filled with eggs where the young bees 
are hatching. This means that the comb- 
building part of the hive is neglected, and 
that the bees build store or drone comb to n 
great extent until the hive is filled. 

There are artificial ways of handling bees, 
so that they will build good worker combs. 
I refer to the plan of shaking the bees into 
an empty hive, in the same way that a swarm 
is hived. If a colony is divided into nuclei 
of, say, two or three combs each, and each 
nucleus given a young queen reared the same 
year, such little colonies will build very nice 
worker combs; but the beginner will not be 
interested in this artificial way of making 
increase, for he should stick to the natural- 
swarming plan for his increase until such 
time as he has had experience and made 
a success of getting a crop of honey. In 
fact, there are many things to be learned 
before a beginner should take up artificial 
ways of making increase. 

CONTRACTION. — Along in the 80's 
contraction of the brood-nest during the 
summer seemed to be all the rage. It was 
argued that most colonies, Italians especial- 
ly, after they had put a little honey in the 
brood-nest, would be disinclined to go 
above into the supers; and to force them 
above, some beekeepers took out three or 
four of the brood-frames below and con- 
tracted the brood-nest and then placed su- 



224 



COTTON 



pers on top. This was very pretty in the- 
ory, and in practice it did force things. It 
forced the bees into the supers, but more 
often forced swarming. 

Another set of contractionists argued in 
favor of hiving swarms in a contracted 
brood-chamber. They did not believe in 
contracting the brood-nest in an established 
colony; and, therefore, when they con- 
tracted at all they did so only during 
swarming time. This form of contraction 
is certainly better than the other; but, as 
the years go by, less and less is heard about 
contraction and more and more about ex- 
pansion — ^how to get stocks strong — big, 
rousing, powerful colonies. (See Comb 
Honey to Produce; also Buildixg up 
Colonies.) An eight-frame brood-nest is 
usually small enough. Indeed, a ten- 
frame may be none too big. See Hives^ 
DnfEXSiONS OF, elsewhere, for the further 
consideration of this subject. 

For contraction during the winter see 
Wintering Outdoors. 

CORAL-BERRY. — See Buckbush. 

COTTON {Gossypium herbaceum L.). — 
It is but a few years, comparatively, since 
cotton came into prominence as a honey 
plant. Years ago cotton honey was hardly 
known, probably because the honey that 
bees obtained from cotton was attributed 
to some other source. But more recently, 
especially when grown in rich alluvial soil, 
in valleys and river bottoms where the 
growth is luxuriant, cotton is generally rec- 
ognized as one of the most valuable of 
honey plants. In the United States the 
cultivation of cotton is confined chiefly to 
"the cotton belt," which includes the States 
of North and South Carolina, Georgia, 
Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkan- 
sas, Louisiana and Texas, altho thousands 
of bales are produced in other States. In 
this vast area there grow annually millions 
of acres of cotton offering a bee pasture, 
which in extent and richness can be equaled 
by few other economic plants. 

The cotton plant possesses both floral 
and extra-floral nectaries. The floral nec- 
taries attract various insects, as bees, 
wasps, and butterflies, which effect cross- 
pollination. The five sepals form a cup- 
like calyx, around the base of which on the 



inner side there is a narrow band of papil- 
liform cells which secrete nectar. Just 
above the nectary there is a fringe or fence 
of long stiff hairs, which exclude small in- 
sects and the wet; but the larger bees are 
able easily to thrust their longer tongues 
thru this belt of hairs. On the first day 
after expanding the flowers are pure white 
or tinged with red, changing on the second 
day to dark red. 

The extra-floral nectaries are of two 
kinds, one occurring on the involucral 
bracts and the other on the under side of 
the leaves. Below the flower there are 
three leaf -like heart-shaped bracts, each of 
which has at its base on both the inner and 
outer side a round nectary. In some varie- 
ties of cotton the outer involucral glands 
are wanting. The leaf nectaries are on the 
under side of the leaves on the center rib 
and may vary in number from one to three. 
In form they are oval or arrow-shaped. 
Besides bees the extra-floral glands attract 
many ants and are also visited by humming 
birds. The leaf nectaries seem to be most 
active at the time the leaf reaches full 
maturity. When atmospheric conditions 
are just right nectar will collect on these 
glands in such large drops that one can 
readily taste it, and a bee can obtain a load 
in a very few visits. At such times honey- 
bees neglect the blossoms, and the honey 
comes in very rapidly. 

The honey flow may last from July until 
long after the first frosts, yielding in some 
localities as much surplus as all other 
sources combined. Often a hundred pounds 
or more per colony is stored in favorable 
seasons. Even after the first frosts, if there 
is pleasant weather, the bees may continue 
for two weeks longer to work upon the 
plants and make a large increase in the 
honey crop. 

The surplus obtained depends largely 
upon locality, the soil, the season, and at- 
mospheric conditions. There are many 
factors which influence the nectar flow and 
cause it to vary in different places and at 
different times. Cotton yields best when 
the atmosphere is warm and damp. On 
poor soil or sandy land it does not secrete 
nectar plentifully, and in some cases not at 
all. In an average season a good jdeld may 
be expected from cotton in the black-land 
districts and in the river valleys. Under 



CUCUMBER 



225 



favorable conditions it is not excelled by 
any other nectar-yielding plant in the cot- 
ton belt. 

The yield is most abundant in the early 
morning, and decreases toward the middle 
of the day as the atmosphere becomes drier. 
In the afternoon, unless the season is very 
dry and hot, the yield begins to increase 
again. During cloudy days or when the 
atmosphere is damp, nectar is secreted 
abundantly thruout the entire day. The 
flow has also been observed to increase to- 
ward the close of the season. 

Cotton honey is very light in color and 
mild in flavor when thoroly ripened, and it 
compares favorably with the very best 
grades of honey. Honey from upland cot- 
ton or that grown on poorer soil has a 
light-amber color. When first gathered 
cotton honey has a flavor very characteris- 
tic of the sap of the cotton plant itself, but 
this disappears as the honey ripens. Dur- 
ing a heavy flow there is a strong odor in 
the apiary like that produced by bruising 
cotton leaves. 

At Trenton, Texas, in 1909, during a 
very long drouth a very fine and pure 
grade of cotton honey was obtained from 
cotton growing on rich bottom land. It 
was so thick that it was almost impossible 
to extract it, and entirely out of the ques- 
tion to strain it thru even a single thick- 
ness of cheese-cloth. It was light in color, 
mild in flavor, and very heav\', and com- 
pared well with even the famous huajilla 
honey. Ordinarily cotton honey granulates 
easily, and in the granulated form is almost 
pure white and very fine-grained. 

Cotton furnishes the clothing of the 
larger part of the human race, and the 
manufacture of the white fibrous hair on 
the seeds into cotton cloth is one of the 
most ancient as well as one of the most 
important of human industries. Fortu- 
nately cotton plants grow in nearly all 
subtropical and in many temperate regions 
of the world. They were cultivated in 
India 500 years before the Christian era, 
and the Spanish discoverers of America 
found cotton garments among the natives 
of Mexico and Peru. Unlike all other fibers 
cotton can at once, even with the fingers, 
be spun into yarn without any preliminary 
preparation. The number of species has 
been placed all the way from five to fifty; 
8 



but conservative authority admits of only 
seven valid species, the other forms being 
regarded as varietal. Barbadoes, or sea- 
island cotton {Gossypium Barhadense L.) 
is cultivated in Georgia, South Carolina, 
and Florida, but is of comparatively little 
importance as a honey plant. 

CRIMSON CLOVER.— See Clover. 

CROSS BEES.— See Anger of Bees. 

CROSSES OF BEES.— See Hybrids. 

CUCUMBER {Cucumis sativus L.).— In 
the vicinity of pickle factories large areas 
are devoted to growing cucumbers. Two 
factories at Marengo, 111., are supplied by 
600 acres which jdeld from 75,000 to 
100,000 bushels of pickles annually. The 
fields vary in size from half an acre to 
three or four acres, and the ground is 
completely covered by the large heart- 
shaped leaves. The total number of acres 
cultivated for cucumbers thruout the coun- 
try must be very large. As many as 300,000 
cucumbers have been produced on a single 
acre, but this is more than double the 
average crop. 

In the absence of bees cucumber blos- 
soms, whether in the field or hothouse, 
remain barren. The stamens and pistils 
are in different flowers on the same vine, 
the staininate flowers being more abundant 
on the main stems and the pistillate on the 
lateral branches. The former are some- 
times incorrectly called "male" and the 
latter "female" blossoms. The nectar is 
secreted in the bottom of a cup formed by 
the fusion of the floral leaves at base. In 
the staminate flowers this cup is covered by 
the fleshy expanded stamens, and access to 
the nectar is gained thru three narrow 
lateral passages between the anthers. When 
an insect inserts its tongue in one of these 
passages both sides of its head are dusted 
with pollen. In the pistillate flowers the 
pistil rises from the center of the cup. The 
staminate flowers are the larger and open 
first. 

In order that the pistillate flower may 
be fruitful, pollen from the staminate 
flowers must be brought to the stigmas; 
and in the fields this work is chiefly per- 
formed by honeybees, other insects than 



226 



CUCUMBER 




Cucumber. 
Staminate flower on the left, pistillate flower on the right. 



bees being of little importance. A market 
gardener in Manitoba states that during 
three years he was unable, without colonies 
of the domestic bee, to obtain more than a 
dozen cucumbers, and in the case of these 
exceptions the flowers were pollinated by 
hand. He purchased a colony of bees, later 
increasing them to eleven colonies. That 
year cucumbers to the value of $55 were 
sold. It may be regarded as an axiom in 
cucumber growing: Xo bees, no fruit. 

Cucumbers raised under glass must either 
be pollinated by hand or by hives of bees 
placed at each end of the hothouse. In 
Massachusetts cucumbers are grown very 
extensively in hothouses, and more than 
2000 colonies of bees are required annually 
to pollinate the blossoms. A single grower 
is reported to have 40 acres under glass. 
Many colonies are also required for the 
same purpose in New Jersey. Pollination 
was formerly effected by hand, but the 
bees have proved most efficient pollinators, 
and enormous crops of cucumbers are ob- 



tained. Unfortunately, they often beat 
against the glass in their efforts to escape 
into the open until they fall exhausted to 
the floor and die by hundreds. Many also 
perish from lack of sufficient stores, so 
that, as a matter of course, new colonies 
are required each year. 

The honey obtained from cucumber blos- 
soms is pale 3'ellow or amber, and has at 
first a rather strong flavor, apparently 
suggestive of the fruit; but this probably 
largely disappears in time. In localities 
where there are pickle factories beekeepers 
find the cucumber a valuable addition to 
the honey flora. Sufficient honey for win- 
tering is often secured besides a small 
surplus. 

The cucumber has been in cultivation in 
India for over 3000 years and was known to 
the Greeks and Romans. According to De 
CandoUe it was one of the fruits of Egypt 
regretted by the Israelites m the desert. 

CYPRIAN BEES.— See Italians. 



D 



DANDELION ( Taraxicum officinale 
Weber). — Other English names are lion's 
tooth, blowball, yellow gowan, and priest's 
crown. It is widely distributed over Europe, 
Asia, North America, the Arctic regions, 
and in many other parts of the civilized 
world. At Medina, as is shown in the 
photograph, and in many other localities 
the flowers are in some years so abundant 
that the fields and lawns are an almost 
unbroken sheet of golden yellow. The 
effect is most cheerful and pleasing, and in 
its season there is no other wild flower that 
can vie with the dandelion for ornamental 
purposes on a large scale. Coming as it 
does in early spring, preceding fruit bloom, 
it is a most valuable plant for bees. Some 
seasons it furnishes not a little honey, and 
besides it affords a large amount of pollen 
at a time when bees require a rich, nitro- 
genous food for brood-rearing. 

The dandelion belongs to the Compositae, 
and is related to the hawkweed and chicory. 
The head or capitulum consists of from 100 
to 200 florets. The corolla of each floret is 
strap-shaped, but at base unites to form a 
short tube which holds the nectar. At 
night and in damp weather the head closes 
so that there is little visible except a 
protecting whorl of green bracts. The 
pollen and nectar are thus completely 
sheltered from dew and rain. In fair 
weather the hour of opening in the morn- 
ing varies from 6 to 8 or 9 o'clock, and the 
time of closing from 2 till sunset, according 
to the month and latiude. The flowers open 
much later in September than in midsum- 
mer, and in northern regions than in the 
United States. The dandelion often blooms 
a second time in the fall, but much less 
freely than in spring. 

As the nectar and pollen are readily 
accessible a great variety of insects are 
attracted, and more than 100 different 
species of bees and flies have been observed 
seeking the flower food of this species. 
The supply of nectar some seasons is 
abundant. The pollen is plentiful and a 
special source of attraction. The grains 



are large, many-sided, and spinous, and so 
firmly do they hold together that bees can 
carry large packets of them. 

In many widely separated localities a 
surplus of dandelion honey is not infre- 
quently obtained, and occasionally it is 
placed on the market. A beekeeper in 
central Illinois reports that about 10 
pounds of dandelion honey per colony was 
one season stored in the supers. In Colo- 
rado it is common for the hives to be filled 
with dandelion honey, and a few beekeep- 
ers have offered the extracted honey for 
sale. Finished sections can also be pro- 
duced. But most of the dandelion honey 
gathered is consumed in the hives before 
alfalfa begins to blossom. In many loca- 
tions it is more highly prized than fruit 
bloom. In Vermont, hive after hive is 
filled with dandelion honey; and, with the 
exception of the clovers, it ranks with the 
best honey plants of this section. Altho 
it does not possess a fine flavor, it is used 
as a breakfast honey. On many farms 
in Ontario and Quebec dandelion produces 
more honey in early spring than any other 
plant. A strong colony will store in the 
super from 30 to 40 pounds. On May 29, 
1916, the warmest day of the month, the 
temperature at noon being 75 degrees, 
there was, says Sladen, a gain of nine 
pounds and twelve ounces for the 24 hours, 
by a colony on scales at the Experiment 
Farm, Ottawa, mainly from dandelion. 
This plant is also said to yield a surplus at 
Fort William. It is apparently rapidly 
spreading, both in Canada and the United 
States, and becoming yearly of more im- 
portance to bee culture. 

The dandelion is also a valuable honey 
plant in Europe, and is listed in the honey 
floras of Spain, Holland, Austria, Ger- 
many, and Norway. In Holland, in May 
the meadows are often literally covered 
with a golden carpet of dandelion bloom. 
In southern Germany it is abundant, and 
furnishes the flrst honey of the season. It 
is of a deep-yellow color, and crystallizes, 



228 



DANDELION 



^ 



;^:^Mfi^, 















*^i 









A part of a field of riondelion in full bloom at Medina. This, and other fields like it near Medina, furnish 
considerable Loney and poJItn in early spring — just when they can do the most good. We do not find that the 
plant hurts the hay or pastures in the least. 



after extracting, in a week or two. Very 
little of it is left in the hive at the begin- 
ning of winter, which is fortunate, since it 
is too hard to be easily eaten by the bees. 

The flow from dandelion in May lasts for 
about two weeks, and is increased by a 
succession of warm days. The honey varies 
in color from bright yellow to a deep 
amber — a little darker than that of golden- 
rod. Comb built when bees are working 
on dandelion is a beautiful shade of light 
yellow, even the older comb becoming yel- 
lowish. When newly gathered the honey 
has the strong odor and flavor of the dan- 



delion flower; but when fully ripened it 
has an agreeable taste, altho persons accus- 
tomed to a mild honey might consider it 
too strong. If the brood-chamber is crowded 
with it, it is likely to be carried up into 
the super, injuring the quality of the sur- 
plus. It is thick and viscous, and crystal- 
lizes with a coarse grain in a short time. 
It would seem as tho a variety of this 
species might be obtained which would 
yield nectar freely over a wide area. 

There are several species of dandelion 
which, like the honeybee, possess the power 
of reproduction by parthenogeiiesis. The 



DANDELION 



229 



! 


i... 










^*^ .. Shi 




v^^^^^^^^^^^^ 






mB^^^^^^^^^^I^k 










■^w! 





A large specimen of dandelion blossom, buds, and leaves — life size. The blossom here shown is larger than the 
average. The usual size is about two inches across. 



upper half of the unopened heads of T. 
vulgare, T. intermedium, T. ooovatum, and 
of several other species, has been cut off 
with a razor, and all the anthers and stig- 
mas removed before they had ripened, so 
that fertilization was impossible, yet the 
plants developed perfect fruits. 

The dandelion has both beauty and util- 
ity, and an attempt \o extp'"ninate it, even 
if this were possible, would be a grave mis- 



take. "Of the attractiveness of the bloom 
there can be no doubt. Attentively- consid- 
ered it will be seen that it is a model of 
symmetry." It is of no injury in the hay 
fields, and as a pasture feed it increases the 
flow of milk and improves its qualit3\ Tons 
of the leaves, both wild and cultivated, are 
boiled as "greens" and afford a most pala- 
table and wholesome food — to be had for 
the gathering. Large quantities are also 



230 



DEVELOPMENT OF BEES 



salted for winter use. The roots serve as a 
tolerable substitute for coffee, and are re- 
puted to be of medicinal value in cases of 
disordered liver. The seeds are eaten bj^ 
poultry, and even the flowers are occasion- 
ally utilized. 

But more than one futile crusade has 
been organized against the dandelion based 
on the complaint that it is a pestiferous 
weed in lawns, which is true. A rich soil 
and a dense turf will do much to eradicate 
or exclude it ; but happily nature has made 
its wholesale extermination difficult. Con- 
trary to general belief, it can be killed in 
most cases if it be cut off level with the 
ground. If this is not effective a drop of 
kerosene applied with a spring-top oil-can 
will do it. If the dandelion is not invul- 
nerable, it is invincible. Says A. I. Root: 
"This plant has been called only a pest, 
but it is one of God's greatest and most 
precious gifts in making our northern Ohio 
clay soil 'a land flowing with milk and 
honey,' and both at the same time." 

DAISY.— See Astees. 

DEVELOPMENT OF BEES.— The lit- 
erature on the development of the honeybee 
available to the beekeeper is scant. This is 
especially true as regards the development 
in the egg (embryology) and the metamor- 
phosis. The origin of drones from unfer- 
tilized eggs has been much discussed in the 
journals devoted to beekeeping, but such 
discussion has, -as a rule, contributed but 
little to our knowledge of the facts. This 
condition of affairs is somewhat surprising, 
considering the attention which has been 
given to the anatomy of the honeybee, and 
also to the development in the egg. The 
facts concerning this development are well 
known, having been described by the fol- 
lowing investigators: Butschli (Germany) 
in 1870, Kowalevsky (Russia) in 1871, and 
Grassi (Italy) in 1884. The metam^orphosis 
was described in detail by Anglas (France) 
in 1900. 

Before taking up a description of the 
development of the bee, a few words should 
be said in regard to what the student of 
plant or animal life knows as a cell. This 
word has several meanings, but is used here 
in a restricted and special sense. All plants 
and animals are, without exception, com- 
posed of one or more cells. The cell is the 



unit of structure, as the brick is the unit 
of structure of the chimney, or the soldier 
of the army. Cells are commonly micro- 
scopic in size, so that it requires many 
millions of them to make up even so small 
an animal as a bee. A group of typical 
tissue cells is shown in Fig. 1. A cell may 
be defined as "a mass of protoplasm (liv- 
ing material) containing a nucleus." Both 
nucleus and protoplasm are interdependent ; 
neither is capable of continued existence 
without the other. The nucleus (N) is a 
body usually more or less rounded in form, 
containing within it a substance commonly 
believed to be the bearer of the hereditary 
qualities of the individual and of the race. 
Every cell is to a certain extent indepen- 
dent, carrying on its own vital functions, 
such as the assimilation of nourishment and 




Fig. 1. — Group of tissue cells from the skin of a 
young salamander (greatly magnified). N, nucleus. 
Two cells are shown in process of division, and are 
indicated by their lighter shade. 



the elimination of waste. In addition, in 
the higher organisms, it usually has a spe- 
cial function ; for example, the special func- 
tion of the liver cell is to secrete bile, that 
of the nerve cell to transmit nerve impulses. 
All the cells in an organism are, however, 
so co-ordinated that the sum total of their 
activities is a unified whole, that is, an in- 
dividual, capable, under the proper condi- 
tions, of maintaining itself and contribut- 
ing to the reproduction of its kind. One 
property of the protoplasm and nucleus of 
a typical cell is the power of multiplying 
by self-division. This division always pro- 



DEVELOPMENT OF BEES 



231 



duces daughter cells, each receiving a part 
of the parent cell. In Fig. 1 two cells are 
in process of division. 

On beginning its development every egg 
is essentially a single cell. In addition to 
the protoplasm and nucleus of a typical 
cell, the egg contains also a certain amount 
of non-living material, yolk, which serves 
as a store of food for the developing em- 
bryo. Before it can begin development, the 
unfertilized egg or female cell must usually 
be first united with a much smaller and 
more condensed cell, the spermatozoon, or 
male cell. This cell supplies the male half of 
the inherited characters and also stimulates 
the egg into development. This phenomenon 
is fertilization. In certain cases eggs may 
develop without the stimulus of the sper- 
matozoon, and they therefore inherit their 
characters only thru the mother; this is 
parthenogenesis. 

The development of the egg or cell formed 
by the union of the male and female cells 
consists in its repeated division, by which 
many cells, united together, are formed ; the 
shifting and rearrangement of these to form 
organs and tissues ; the gradual appearance 
of differences between the cells forming the 
various tissues and organs, so that the cells 
become changed or modified in accordance 
with the function which they are to assume. 

The egg of the honeybee is shaped some- 
what like a banana and is about 6-100 of 
an inch long. One end is slightly larger 
than the other, the egg adhering to the bot- 
tom of the cell by the smaller end. The 
embryo is alwaj^'s formed on the longer or 
convex side of the egg, its lower or ventral 
surface directed outward, the head at the 
larger end. The egg is in appearance pearly 
white, and slightly translucent. It is cov- 
ered externally by a very thin but tough 
membrane whose surface is covered by a 
delicate network of ridges. The egg of the 
bee contains a relatively large quantity of 
yolk, the protoplasm being comparatively 
small in amount. On this account cell 
division is restricted to the interior of the 
egg, the cells thus formed later rising to its 
surface to form a layer from which all the 
parts of the future larva are formed. 

The first conspicuous evidence of the 
future embryo is the appearance, during 
the second half of the second day, of a 
bandlike thickening on the long side of the 
egg (Fig. 2). On this thickening, at the 



larger end of the egg the appendages begin 
to appear as rounded protuberances, the 
antennae (Ant) and the mouth parts (man- 
dibles and maxillse, Md. IMx, 2Mx) being 
the first to appear. Behind them are the 
rudiments of the three pairs of legs (L 1, 
L 2, L 3). At about the same time the 
rudiments of the stigmata and tracheal sys- 
tem appear as a single row of pits on each 
side (Sp). The rudiments of the silk or 
spinning glands (SlkG) also appear as pits 
just behind the second maxillae. On tue 
upper or dorsal side of the head are also 
seen two pairs of swellings (Br) which 
constitute the rudiments of the brain. At 
this stage therefore nearly all of the im- 
portant organs of the larva are outlined. 
The changes leading to the completed larva 
are illustrated by Figs. 2c and 2d. In Fig. 
2e a number of important changes are seen 
to have taken place. The bandlike embryo 
has widened, growing toward the dorsal 
or concave side of the egg. The mouth 
(Mth) and anus (An) appear as deep pits 
at the two opposite ends of the embryo. 
They join with cell masses on the interior to 
form the alimentary canal, the parts form- 
ing the fore and hind intestines, the cell 
masses the mid intestine (Fig. 3, Mint). 
The mouth parts have changed little, but the 
upper lip (Lm) is now represented by a 
flap-like outgrowth. The Malpighian tu- 
bules, MT, the excretory organs of the 
larva, have arisen as outgrowths of the hind 
intestine. The pits constituting the tra- 
cheal invaginations have enlarged to form 
sacs, and each of these in turn sends out 
three hollow outgrowths, one of which ex- 
tends forward and one backward, to meet 
those of the neighboring segments, and one 
extends downward to join the correspond- 
ing branch in the same segment on the 
opposite side (Fig 2, Tr). The pit-like 
rudiments of the silk-glands (Slk-Gl) have 
grown backward to form long tubes. The 
rings or segments of the body are now 
marked off by constrictions, as they are in 
the larva. In Fig. 2d the development in 
the egg is practically completed. The im- 
portant changes to be noted are: The dis- 
appearance of the rudiments of the anten- 
nae and legs, the joining together of the 
second maxillae to form the lower lip; the 
completion of the tracheal loops (Tr), and 
the development of the nervous system. 
The embryo has by this time completely 



232 



DEVELOPMENT OF BEES 






Fig. 2. — Three stages to the development of the egg (greatly magnified). The earliest stage at which the 
rudiments of the appendages are seen is represented by a and b ; a, egg seen from the ventral (lower) side ; b, 
from the right side ; c, later stage, showing the development of the mouth parts, silk glands, etc. ; d, embrj'o 
just prior to hatching, the development within the egg being completed ; An, anus ; Ant, antenna ; Br, brain ; 
IL, 2L, 3L, thoracic legs; Lb, labium (lower lip); Lm, labrum (upper lip); Md, mandible; MT, malpighian 
tubules ; IMx, 2Mx, first and second maxillae ; SlkGl, silk gland ; Sp, rudiment of spiracle ; Tr, trachea ; VNC, 
ventral nerve cord. 



surrounded the egg, closing up the gap on 
the back as seen in Fig. 2b. The embryo 
next breaks the egg shell and becomes a 
larva, the development in the egg having 
lasted a trifle over three days. 

It is interesting to note that cleavage and 
in general .what may be called "the prepa- 
ration of the materials," from which the 
parts of the embryo are formed, consumes 
from 42 to 44 hours, or over half of the 
entire period of development. After this 
the embryo develops very rapidly, as shown 
by the three embryos represented in Fig. 2. 
The embryo represented by Fig. 2, a and h, 
is about 45 hours old; Fig. 2c, about 56 
hours old; while that sho^vn by Fig. 2d is 
completely developed. 

The yolk, which forms the greater part 
of the egg, remains in the interior of the 
egg, the embryo being formed on the exte- 
rior and then gradually surrounding the 
yolk, the lateral edges of the embryo finally 
uniting in the dorsal mid-line. The yolk 
meanwhile is being used up by the growth 
processes and undergoes considerable 
shrinkage. Toward the end of development 
it becomes enclosed in the mid-intestine and 
is finally digested there. 

In respect to their later development 



insects are usually divided into two classes 
— those with a complete metamorphosis and 
those with an incomplete metamorphosis. 
The honeybee is an excellent illustration of 
the first class, while the grasshopper is an 
illustration of the second. When the young 
grasshopper hatches from the egg it is 
clearly recognizable as a grasshopper and 
would never be mistaken for another in- 
sect, since it resembles the adult in every 
important particular except that its wings 
are only short pad-like structures. More- 
over, its food and habits of life are those 
of the adult, and it faces the same difficul- 
ties and dangers. Its development into the 
adult is simple; it is little more than an 
increase in size. The honeybee, on hatch- 
ing from the egg, is, however, quite a dif- 
ferent creature from the adult, being with- 
out organs of locomotion (legs), touch 
(antenna3), or sight (eyes). Moreover, its 
integument is thin and not hardened as in 
the adult. The larval stage in insects with 
complete metamorphosis is a short cut in 
development, by which the young insect is 
enabled to obtain food more advantageous- 
ly and to grow more rapidly, and, in the 
case of the bee, is also protected from ene- 
mies. The bee larva is especially adapted 
by nature for rapidly disgesting and assim- 



DEVELOPMENT OF BEES 



233 



ilating food. As Fig. 3 shows, its mid-intes- 
tine or stomach occupies the greater portion 
of the body of the larvae. As one beekeeper 
expressed it, " a larva is all stomach." 
For this reason and because of the rich and 
easily digested food supplied bj^ the worker 
bees, and also because the young or larval 
bee is not required to use up any energy in 
escaping enemies or in obtaining food, all 
its energies being bent on eating and grow- 
ing, it is enabled to complete its growth in 
a short space of time. This is accomplished 
in the case of the worker bee in a little less 
than five days. When the larva is first 
hatched it lies bent in the form of the letter 
C on the bottom of the cell. As it increases 
in size it becomes more tightly curled until, 
when about three daj'-s old or a trifle older, 




FiG. 3. — Diagram of a longitudinal section thru a 
larva. Flnt, fore intestine ; Hint, hind intestine , 
Mint, mid intestine ; VNC, ventral nerve cord. 

it is so large that it covers the bottom of 
the cell with its back against the wall of the 
cell and its two ends close together. It 
should be noted that a larva of this age is 
actually much larger than those commonly 
supposed by beekeepers to be three days 
old and is much too large to be used in 
queen-rearing. Notwithstanding its cramped 
position the larva does not alter its position 
in the cell, but remains curled on the bot- 
tom. Smce the walls of the cell prevent 
further expansion in that dircetion the lar- 
va grows in the only other direction possi- 
ble — that is, toward the mouth of the cell. 
When a larva is nearly full grown it fits the 
cell like a tight plug, and if it could be 
frozen or otherwise fixed in this position, 
when taken out it would present a veritable 



cast of the lower half of the cell, reproduc- 
ing its rounded bottom and its six flat sides. 
In fact, during the fourth and fifth days, 
the larva fits the cell so snugly that its 
removal is scarcely possible without severe 
damage to either larva or cell. It is thus 
evident that, during the later stages of 
growth, the larva is greatly distorted. When 
removed from the cell, however, it presents 
the appearance shown in Fig. 4c, and it is 
scarcely conceivable that such a plump-look- 
ing creature could ever have occupied such 
narrow quarters. During the fiLrst three 
days of the larval stage of the worker bee, 
and during all of the larval stage of the 
queen, it is fed a highly nitrogenous food 
produced by the nurse bees. The origin of 
this food, whether it is a secretion from 
special glands of the nurse bees, or is re- 
gurgitated from their stomachs, is not at 
present known. After the first three days, 
however, the worker bees are fed honey and 
pollen. When the larva has attained its 
full size, which in the case of the worker 
bee occurs after about five days, it is sealed 
up in its cell by the worker bees, which 
place a thin cap of porous wax and pollen 




Fig. 4. — Four stages in the development of the 
honeybee, a, egg ; b, young larva : c, old larva ; d, 
pupa. 

over the mouth of the cell. Next the entire 
interior of the cell is lined with a delicate 
but tough silken cocoon spun by the larva 
and secreted by special glands which be- 
come active at this time — the silk-glands 
(Fig. 2, c and d, SlkGl). To accomplish 
this task the larva has to turn lengthwise 
of the cell at least twice. At the time of 
spinning the cocoon a connection between 
the mid and hind intestines (Fig. 3, Mint, 



234 



DISEASES OF BEES 



Hint) becomes established, and the dark- 
colored residue of the food digested during 
the feeding period is evacuated on the bot- 
tom of the cell, usually in its angles. Soon 
after the spinning of the cocoon, which 
consumes about one day's time, the larva 
gradually becomes motionless, lying ex- 
tended on its back, with its head toward the 
mouth of the cell. The larva now becomes 
a semipupa or pronymph. Its form is 
much like that of an old larva, but its color 
seems paler and less glistening. If touched 
a semipupa seems soft and pulpy, and if 
an attempt is made to remove it from the 
cell it will be found very delicate and easily 
ruptured. After about three days in this 
stage, or four days after capping, the semi- 
pupa moults its larval skin and becomes a 
pupa, with the form and all the parts of an 
adult bee (Fig. 4d). These — legs, antennae, 
etc. — have been developing rapidly during 
the semipupal stage, but were covered and 
therefore hidden from view by the larval 
skin. On the eleventh day after hatching, 
the eyes begin to turn from white to pink, 
which color later turns to reddish brown 
and finally, on the sixteenth day, to black; 
the thorax at the same time becomes a light 
yellowish brown. On the nineteenth day 
after hatching the development is complete, 
the young bee sheds its pupal skin and 
gnaws its way out of the cell. The duration 
of the larval and pupal stages in the devel- 
opment of queens and drones is different 
from those of the worker. (See Bee Meta- 
morphoses, in "Beekeepers' Dictionary," in 
the back part of this work.) 

It is evident that, during the period after 
the larva is sealed up in the cell, the devel- 
opmental changes which it undergoes must 
be active and radical indeed in order to 
bring forth a creature as different from the 
larva as is the adult bee. The following is 
only a brief sketch of these complex proc- 
esses. In general they involve a tearing 
down and rebuilding of many of the tissues 
of the bee as well as the coming into activ- 
ity of portions of the larva which have been 
dormant ever since it left the egg, or even 
before this time. To the former category 
belongs in particular the alimentary tract, 
which is literally torn down and cast away, 
being replaced by new cells. To the latter 
category belong the legs, wings, and eyes, 
which are developed from groups of cells 
whose activities have been held in abeyance 



during the larval period. These are formed 
from growth centers of the body wall which 
are formed before the larva batches from 
the egg, but which are quiescent during the 
growing period of the larva. After the 
larva is sealed up these rudiments are roused 
into activity. The legs and wings are 
formed in pockets of the body wall, and, 
after the moult of the propupal skin, are 
pushed out by blood pressure from the 
interior, as the fingers of a glove may be 
pushed out by blowing into them. The 
muscles of the larva are partly torn down 
and replaced by new muscles, and partly 
persist as the muscles of the adult. The 
changes undergone by the nervous system 
and the trachea are much less radical. All 
these changes consume energy, which is 
shown by the fact that there is a consider- 
able loss of weight during the pupal period. 
This energy is stored up in the larva largely 
in the form of fat contained in the fat- 
body which surrounds the mid-intestine. 

DISEASES OF BEES.— A few years 
ago it was believed that bees were freer 
from disease than perhaps any other class 
of animated nature, for the reason that in- 
dividual members of the colonies were so 
constantly giving way to the younger ones. 
But this has been shown to be, to some ex- 
tent at least, a mistake; for apparently 
there are at least three or four distinct dis- 
eases with which the beekeeper has to con- 
tend; and it is well for the beginner to 
have an idea, at least, of what they are 
like; for the time to cure a disease of a 
contagious character is to take it at the 
start, or, better still, take precautionary 
measures such as will prevent its making 
even a beginning. 

HOW TO AVOID DISEASE. 

Contagious diseases spread very rapidly 
among bees, just as they make rapid head- 
way in crowded centers of the human fam- 
ily. Unfortunately, bees are disposed to 
rob from each other during a dearth of 
honey; and, if the germs of disease or 
infection reside in the honey, they may be 
scattered over the entire apiary in a few 
days. Any infected colony is naturally 
weakened and discouraged, and as a result 
the bees do not make the defense that they 
would under normal conditions. During a 



DISEASES OF BEES 



235 



dearth of honey the healthy bees all over 
the yard are quite disposed to rob the 
weak or the sick ones, so that the infection 
is scattered right and left. 

One of the best precautions against dis- 
ease is good food, and keeping all colonies 
strong. A healthy human being is much 
more able to resist the germs of infection 
than one who is "all run down." A per- 
son, for instance, is not likely to come 
down with typhoid fever unless his system 
is greatly reduced. 

TV^O CLASSES OF DISEASE. 

The diseases with which the beekeeper 
has to contend may be divided into two 
classes — those that affect the mature flying 
bees, and those that attack the brood. The 
latter are considered under Foul Brood. 

Among the diseases that attack the ma- 
ture bees may be mentioned " spring dwin- 
dling." This, perhaps, should hardly be 
considered a disease, but it is a malady 
with which one has to deal. Still another 
trouble is dysentery. This in some cases 
may be a germinal disease; and in most 
cases assumes the nature of ordinary diar- 
rhea. 

BEE PARALYSIS. 

This is a disease that is much more prev- 
alent and virulent in warm than in cold 
climates. Almost every apiarist in the 
North has noticed at times one or two colo- 
nies in his apiary that show bees affected 
with it. Yet it seldom spreads or makes 
any great trouble; but, unfortunately, this 
is not true in some parts of the South and 
West. In the South it is known to affect 
whole apiaries, and seems to be contagious. 
It may be Isle of Wight disease, described 
later. 

SYMPTOMS. 

In the early stages an occasional bee will 
be found to be running from the entrance, 
with the abdomen greatly swollen, and in 
other respects the bee has a black, greasy 
appearance. While these sick bees may 
be scattered thru the hive, they will sooner 
or later work their way toward the en- 
trance, evidently desiring to rid the colony 
of their miserable presence. The other bees 
also seem to regard them as no longer nec- 



essary to the future prosperity of the col- 
ony. In fact, they will tug and pull at 
them about as they would a dead bee until 
they succeed in getting them out in the 
grass, where the poor bees seem willing to 
go and die alone. 

Another symptom is, that the bees often 
show a shaking or trembling motion. Along 
with this is an effort to scratch and tug at 
their bodies with their legs as if there was 
an itching or irritation. The other bees 
tug and pull at the affected bees, apparent- 
ly trying to get them out of the hive. 

TREATMENT AND CURE, 

In most cases, destroying the queen of the 
infected colony, and introducing another 
from a healthy stock, effects a cure. This 
would seem to indicate that paralysis is 
constitutional, coming from the queen ; but 
in the South, where the disease is much 
more prevalent and destructive, destroying 
the queen seems to have but little effect. 
Spraying the combs with a solution of salt 
and water, or of carbolic acid and water, 
has been recommended; but these do little 
or no good. One writer recommends re- 
moving the diseased stock from its stand, 
and putting in its place a strong healthy 
one. The affected colony is then removed 
to the stand formerly occupied by the 
healthy bees. He reports that he tried this 
in many cases and found that an absolute 
cure followed in every instance. The ra- 
tionale of the treatment seems to be that 
the bees of the ordinary colony having bee 
paralysis are too much discouraged to re- 
move the sick : as a consequence, the source 
of infection — that is, the swollen, shiny 
bees — are allowed to crawl thru the hive at 
will. But when the colonies are transposed, 
the healthy vigorous bees of the sound 
stock carry the diseased bees entirely away 
from the hive. The sick and the dying re- 
moved, the colony recovers. 

The late 0. 0. Poppleton of Florida had 
a large experience. One plan that he used 
is as follows: 

He sprinkled sulphur over the affected 
bees and combs, but not until all the brood 
in the diseased colony had been removed 
and put into a strong healthy one ; for Mr. 
Poppleton said that sulphur kills all un- 
sealed brood and eggs but no harm re- 
sults from putting the brood among healthy 



23G 



DISEASES OF BEES 



bees, as he found the source of the malady 
is not in the brood or combs; for he 
repeatedly put combs from colonies af- 
fected with paralysis into healthy ones and 
never (but once) did the disease develop 
in any such colony, and that was a year 
afterward. 

At first, said Mr. Poppleton, the disease 
seems to get worse instead of better. The 
colony will dwindle, but in two weeks there 
will be a decided improvement, and finally 
the colony will be cured and will stay 
cured. In many cases, he thought, it might 
be necessary to repeat the application of 
the sulphur about 10 days after the first 
time. This makes sure that every bee has 
received a curative quantity of the sulphur, 
even if it were not in the hive at the first 
dose.* 

While the foregoing j^lan worked well, 
yet, because it is attended with a rapid 
reduction of the strength of the colony so 
treated, and because the disease has a ten- 
dency to run in certain strains that are 
very susceptible to it, Mr. Poppleton thought 
that, in the long run, it might be better 
to use the following plan: Form as many 
nuclei from strong health}^ stocks as there 
are sick colonies to be treated. As soon as 
the nuclei have young laying queens, give 
to each, as fast as they can take care 
of them, one or two frames of the oldest 
capped brood. from each of the paralytic 
colonies, and thereafter till all the brood 
of such colonies is used up. The diseased 
bees and queen next destroy with sul- 
phur fumes, fumigating the hives at the 
same time. 

BEE PARALYSIS IN AUSTRALIA; DE\T:L0PIXG 
A STRAIN" OF BEES IMMUNE TO IT. 

As already mentioned, bee paralysis seems 
to be more virulent in hot climates than in 
cold ones; and it also appears that some 
strains of bees are less immune to it than 
others. F. R. Beuhne of Tooberac, Austra- 
lia, one of the most extensive beekeepers 
of that country, has had a very large 
experience with it. In some parts it is 
very destructive. But Mr. Beuhne has it 
well under control by developing and prop- 
agating a strain of vigorous leather-colored 
Italians. The yellow strains he does not 
find to be very resistant to the disease. It 



* Alwjys (I'.ist the siilp'iKr on in the evrnin.:;?. 



appears that, by paying careful attention 
to breeding, the tendency to contract this 
disease may be almost entirely eliminated, 
and Mr. Beuhne has succeeded. On one 
occasion he had shipped into his locality 
50 colonies, and almost immediately every 
one of them became badly affected. By 
killing oif the queens and introducing his 
own stock he cured the disease. 

Repeated tests have shown that paralysis 
is never transmitted by the brood or combs, 
but that it is carried by the dead or sick 
bees. It is, therefore, important, in giving 
the combs to the nuclei, that there be no 
dead bees in the cells. 

ISLE OF WIGHT DISEASE. 

This is a condition that was first de- 
scribed from the Isle of Wight, south of 
Great Britain, in 1904. It continued from 
year to year until it came very near 
wiping out all the bees on the island. It 
was feared that it might get on the main- 
land of England, and in 1907 it did make 
a start there. At first but little attention 
was paid to it; but the beekeepers of the 
British Isles learned that it was something 
very serious — much more so than European 
or American foul brood. 

SYMPTOMS AND DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN 

ISLE OF WIGHT DISEASE AND BEE 

PARALYSIS. 

The symptoms are very similar to those 
of bee paralysis, and it may be a modified 
form of that disease. It is both endemic 
and epidemic. A careful reading of the 
reports in the British Bee Journal for the 
last 10 years seems to indicate the symp- 
toms as follows : 

A few bees will be crawling out of the 
hives the same as when attacked by bee 
paralysis, crawling up spears of grass ; and 
if they can fly at all, it is but a few feet. 
In some cases the abdomens are distended 
by fecal accumulations. In other and most 
cases there is no distention. Sometimes the 
smaller or the larger wings in some speci- 
mens seem to be out of joint. In bee 
paralysis the wings appear normal, but 
show a tremulous motion; but very little 
of this tremulous condition has been seen 
in the Isle of Wight disease. The bees 
somet'mes lose the use of one or r.iore pair 



DISEASES OF BEES 



237 



of legs or drag their hind legs, tho the oth- 
ers may be more or less vigorous. The bees 
with Isle of Wight disease become listless, 
and cluster in bunches around the entrance 
of the hive. In bee paralysis there may be 
somewhat similar clustering; but the bees 
are more scattered. The affected bees of 
the Isle of Wight disease, from reports, 
are rarely black and shiny as in the other 
disease. In fact, in many cases they seem 
to be quite normal in their appearance, dif- 
fering only in their behavior. As the dis- 
ease advances, the crawling bees will drag 
their distended abdomens on the ground, 
seeming not to have the power to carr}^ 
them as they ordinarily do, owing to their 
inability to take the cleansing flight. As 
it progresses further, every bee in the hive 
will be involved, and finally the cluster will 
be reduced to just a very few in the hive 
centering around the queen. The queen 
seems to be the last one affected. 

The intestines of some of the infected 
bees are said by some writers to contain 
a large amount of undigested pollen. When 
this disease is contracted, the bees, it is 
stated, seem to have an unusual fondness 
for nitrogenous food, even gorging them- 
selves with pollen of all kinds without col- 
lecting any in their pollen-baskets. This is 
doubtless what causes the abdomens of 
some of the bees to be swollen. So dis- 
tended at times are they that it appears to 
interfere with the proper action of the 
breathing spiracles. 

Sometimes, more especially in early 
spring, the affected bees seem to lose con- 
trol of the muscles of the bowel and dis- 
charge a liquid looking very much like that 
of ordinary dysentery. Whether this is 
one of the symptoms of Isle of Wight dis- 
ease, or whether it is another disease, or 
just common dysentery that attacks the 
colony weakened by the malady, does not 
seem to be clearly shown. 

Dr. Zander of Germany found in the 
chyle stomach of affected bees that soiled 
their hives and combs with the discharges 
of fecal matter a nosema which "he called 
Nosema apis. Referring to this, an elab- 
orate report on the Isle of Wight disease 
published in Great Britain in the Journal 
of the Board of Agriculture, Vol. XIX, 
No. 2, May, 1912, says: 



Since no method of cultivating Nosema apis 
outside the body of the bee has yet been de- 
vised, spores of Nosema, obtained from the 
bodies of diseased bees, were used. It is 
shown that the disease can be produced in 
healthy bees by feeding with syrup or honey 
containing spores, by contaminating their 
food with infected excrement, by allowing 
them to feed on candy previously used by 
infected bees, by placing bees dead of the 
disease in the cages occupied by healthy bees, 
and by confining healthy bees in cages in 
which diseased bees had traveled. By ob- 
servations on infected stocks kept in captiv- 
ity the variations in the symptoms were 
studied. Some of the experiments seemed to 
indicate that partially immune stocks exist, 
which can be caused to suffer from the dis- 
ease only with difficulty, but which may har- 
bor the parssite and act as centers of infec- 
tion for susceptible stocks. 

A Nosema is often found in other in- 
sects, and is said to be quite destructive, 
especially to silkworms. As Nosema apis 
is a member of the group named Micros- 
poridia the term Microsporidiosis has been 
suggested to denote the cases due to in- 
fection with Nosema apis. 

The later researches of Drs. Graham- 
Smith, Maiden, Fantham & Porter, all of 
Cambridge, have confirmed the findings of 
Dr. Zander, and agree that the so-called 
Isle of Wight disease is caused by the pres- 
ence in the walls of the chyle-stomach and 
intestines of the bee of vast numbers of 
the microscopic animal parasite or proto- 
zoon Nosema apis. More recently the dis- 
ease has been investigated by Dr. J. Ren- 
nie and J. Anderson. They believe Nose- 
ma apis is not the cause but that the real 
trouble has not yet been found. Joseph 
Tinsley does not believe Nosema apis is the 
cause but reports masses of bacteria in the 
stomach contents and in the excrement. 
This he believes of significance. 

As in the case of bee paralysis, the Isle 
of Wight disease seems to be much worse 
during a wet and foggy season than dur- 
ing a warm dry one. Similarly a moist 
climate is more favorable to its propaga- 
tion than a dry one. 

HAS THERE BEEN ANY ISLE OP WIGHT 
DISEASE IN AMERICA? 

A malady very similar to the condition 
described in the Isle of Wight disease has 
been found in several portions of the 
United States. Whether it is bee paralysis, 



238 



DISEASES OF BEES 



whether it is the Isle of Wight disease, or 
whether they are one and the same thing, 
at this writing is not known. In 1915 
(which was unusually wet) there was a 
scourge of bee disease in this country, par- 
ticularly around Portland, Ore. Many of 
the symptoms were the same as those de- 
scribed for the Isle of Wight disease and 
bee paralysis. In the disease reported 
from the Northwest, it was stated that the 
brood itself was sometimes involved. But 
if the colony becomes listless it is apparent 
that the brood would be neglected, and 
therefore die of starvation. 

A condition similar in many respects 
was noticed down in the Mississippi Val- 
ley, in parts of Texas, California, and in 
some of the West Indies in 1915, and in the 
'90's in Florida; but as soon as settled 
warm, dry weather came on it disappeared. 

Again in 1917 there was an outbreak in 
this country of something that seemed to 
tally in almost every respect with the 
symptoms reported for the Isle of Wight 
disease in Great Britain. We examined a 
number of apiaries where these outbreaks 
occurred. In a few cases whole colonies 
were depleted of bees. In other cases the 
owners of the apiaries reported that if the 
decimation continued there would not be a 
bee left in any hive; but fortunately the 
disease, whatever it was, after reaching a 
certain height, would suddenly disappear, 
and hence it has been called the "disap- 
pearing disease." The name seems to be 
appropriate because the bees disappear as 
the disease itself disappears or the colonies 
dwindle down. During the last few years 
this disease has in many places materially 
cut down the honey crop and in some cases 
has wiped out entire apiaries. In 1919, Her- 
man Ahlers of Oregon reported a loss of 
400 colonies from this cause. 

The maladj- usually shows itself just at 
the beginning of a honey flow. The symp- 
toms are almost exactly like those reported 
for the Isle of Wight disease, with perhaps 
the single exception that in the early stages 
the bees run about on the ground near the 
entrances trying to fly, and rushing as if 
they were in a mad race. Some of the 
bees have the wings out of joint. In front 
of the entrance there are numbers of dead 
bees with dozens of live ones rushing about 
in great distress as if trying to get away 
from something. In the more advanced 



stages the bees seem logy, and otherwise 
act as in the Isle of Wight disease. In 
1916 C. H. Bocock of New Market, Eng- 
land, who had made a special study of the 
Isle of Wight disease in his country, was 
sent to the United States by the Board of 
Agriculture. He examined a number of 
apiaries w^here it showed up, and reported 
that it seemed to be identical with the Isle 
of Wight disease in England, altho only in 
a mild form. 

The disappearing or Isle of Wight dis- 
ease in this country seems to be more viru- 
lent during wet seasons than during dry 
ones. As the climate in Great Britain is 
much more humid than that of the United 
States, it is possible that climatic condi- 
tions may prevent the disease, whatever it 
is, from being very serious in this country. 

It is, perhaps, premature at this time to 
come to any deflnite conclusions. In the 
first place, we do not know that our disap- 
pearing disease is the Isle of Wight dis- 
ease ; neither do we know whether Nosema 
apis is the exciting cause or even a con- 
tributing cause. 

In this connection it should be stated 
that Mr. Bocock found Nosema apis in 
specimens of bees affected with the disap- 
pearing disease; but, as already pointed 
out, Nosema apis has been found in per- 
fectly healthy individuals. This rather 
leads to the presumption that Nosema apis 
is only a contributing cause in connection 
with some other microbe. 

SOME STEAINS MORE RESISTANT THAN 
OTHERS. 

In the United States, Italian bees and 
their crosses are predominant among our 
most successful apiarists; and since the 
Italians are found to be more resistant to 
European foul brood, the best beekeepers 
are introducing them as rapidly as possible, 
especially if they have hybrids. In Great 
Britain black bees are predominant; and 
as this race is not nearly so resistant to 
European foul brood, it is to be presumed 
it is a more easy prey to this peculiar 
malady than a vigorous strain of leather- 
colored Italians. Indeed, there are some 
reports in the British Bee Journal showing 
that the leather-colored Italians are more 
resistant to the Isle of Wight disease than 
the ordinary blacks. It is equally true 



DRIFTING 



239 



that some strains of Italians, as with bee 
paralysis, have appeared to be much more 
resistant to the disease in Oregon than 
other strains of Italians. It is hoped that 
immune strains can be found for the Isle 
of Wight disease in Great Britain. 

THE MAY DISEASE. 

In Europe, especially in Germany and 
France, there has been reported a disease 
not unlike the Isle of Wight trouble, ex- 
cept that it is never seen after early 
summer. In France it has been called 
mal de mai; in Great Britain, "May dis- 
ease"; in Germany Maikrankheit. They 
all refer, of course, to the same condition ; 
but apparently the symptoms of this dis- 
ease are not the same as those of the Isle 
of Wight disease. It comes on in May and 
June, and then disappears. It is more in 
the nature of dysentery, and warm weather 
seems to abate it. It is probable that it is 
not the same condition as described for the 
destructive Isle of Wight disease. 

TREATMENT OF ISLE OF WIGHT DISEASE. 

The best authorities in Great Britain 
seem to feel that the only thing they can do 
is to destroy bees and combs, and disinfect 
the hives and everj-thing connected with 
the bees. The dead bees in the grass and 
hives, some believe, are also a source of 
infection. This may or may not be true. 
Some even go so far as to say that every 
colony should be burned in the yard, and 
that other hives, even several miles away, 
should receive like treatment. 

Experiments have been carried out to 
test the efficacy of various medicaments; 
but up to the present without success, and 
medicated syrup has hitherto proved value- 
less. The danger of the spread of the 
disease is from what have been termed 
"parasite-carriers" — that is, bees in which 
the parasite is present without causing the 
disease. 

The weather conditions in the United 
States are probably such that the Isle of 
Wight disease would not make very much 
headway here; still, it is best to take no 
chances. There should be no importation 
of any bees into this country from any of 
the British Isles or from any other terri- 
tory where it finds lodgment. 

See also Foul Brood. 



DISTANCES BEES FLY.— See Flight 
of Bees. 

DIVIDING.— Under the head of Arti- 
ficial SWARMIXG, IXCREASE, NuCLEUS^ and 

Swarming^ are shown various methods of 
dividing. But dividing, as it is ordinarily 
understood, has to do with the operation of 
increasing the number of colonies or stocks 
by taking part of the frames and adhering 
bees, with or without a queen, and putting 
them in another hive on another stand. 
Generally speaking, dividing is unscientific 
and wasteful, while artificial swarming or 
division on the plans described under Nu- 
cleus and Ixcrease are scientific and prof- 
itable, because they are worked in such a 
way as to secure a honey crop as well as an 
increase in the number of bees or colonies. 
Dividing may be performed so as to ruin 
all chances of a honey crop, and in addition 
leave the apiary with a lot of weak nuclei 
in a totallj^ unfit condition to go into winter 
quarters, for it is an axiom in beekeeping 
that one good, strong colony will secure 
more honey than that same colony unintel- 
ligently split into halves and put on two 
different stands. 

DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE 
HIVE. — See Bee Behavior^ Brood and 
Brood-rearing; also Development of 
Bees. 

DRIFTING.— This is a word that has 
been coined by beekeepers referring to 
an aggregation of bees in the air that have 
by mistake gone into the wrong hive. 
Young bees in their playspells (referred 
to under "Playspells of Young Bees," and 
under Robbing), not having thoroly 
learned the location of their homes, will 
drift to a hive or hives where many bees 
are flying strongest, and go in just as if it 
were their regular home. Even the old 
bees, when all the hives are set out of the 
cellar, will very frequently drift into the 
Avrong hive. The colonies that are making 
the biggest hubbub in front of the entrance 
will attract flying bees from their weaker 
neighbors. 

Drifting also takes place when a large 
number of similar hives are placed in one 
row. When the conditions at each entrance 
are practically the same, the bees become 
more or kss confused. Sometimes drift- 



240 



DRONES 



ing' under conrlitions like this results in 
robbing; and if there is any disease in any 
hive it will be carried all along the row. 
Under the head of Apiary is emphasized 
the importance of so placing the hives in a 
yard that each colony of bees can recognize 
its own entrance. The hives should face 
different points of the compass, and stand 
near some distinguishing object. Shrubs 
or bushes of different sizes, a tree, a stump 
here and a building there, all serve the 
purpose of giving each hive a location and 
an identity all its own. 

When the hives are placed in pairs there 
is not much danger of the bees of the weaker 
colonies drifting into the stronger ones, 
for the bees seem to know the difference 
between right and left in going back home ; 
but they do not readily distinguish their 
own individual entrance when the hives are 
painted the same color, and when each hive 
looks exactly like other hives in the row. 

The arrangement of the hives in the 
publishers' Cuban apiary, as illustrated 
under Apiaries, is very bad, and decidedly 
conducive to drifting. The hives would not 
have been so placed except that the apiarist 
was very much cramped for room. It would 
have been far better if he had reversed the 
entrances and placed the hives, some zig- 
zagwise and some square with the world. 

Many of those using the quadruple win- 
ter packing cases, having two entrances on 
the side, report considerable drifting and 
great variation in the size of colonies in 
the spring. Those having quadruple cases 
with one entrance at each side avoid this 
trouble. 

Drifting when taking bees out of the 
cellar can be avoided somewhat if the direc- 
tions are followed under Wintering in 
Cellars, subhead ''Time of Day to Take 
Bees Out." Drifting can be avoided when 
locating bees at outyai'ds by moving them 
toward night, and placing them on their 
stands when it is too late for them to fly. 
being careful to place the hives so that 
each colony will easily distinguish its own 
hive. Next morning they will mark their 
entrances. 

WHY are not drifting BEES STUNG LIKE 
ROBBERS. 

The novice will, perhaps, ask the question 
why, when bees drift into the wrong hive. 



they are not instantly killed by the guards 
at the entrance, the same as happens in a 
case of robbing. When bees drift, as al- 
ready explained, it is because a new condi- 
tion has been created, or because the young 
bees when at play have not yet thoroly 
learned their location. When, therefore, 
they go by mistake into the hive, they enter 
as tho it were their own hive. Robber bees 
(see Robbing) show by their actions that 
they are afraid of being grabbed by the 
guards of the hive they propose invading. 
Their guilty actions, seeking by stealth or 
quick dodging to get into the hive, betray 
them at once. On the other hand, the 
drifting bees show no such actions, and of 
course go right into the hive as if they 
belonged there. 

In the case of bees just out of the cellar 
or a lot of bees moved to an outyard, the 
conditions are entirelj^ different. When they 
rush out into the air, many bees scarcely 
know whence they came, and the result is 
they will return to the entrance of the 
strongest flyers, or where the greatest dem- 
onstration is being made in front of the 
entrance, and so go in without arousing 
suspicion. 

When bees are out for a playspell there 
will be a big hubbub in front of the hive 
whence they came. Other young bees in 
the air, or in near-by hives, attracted by 
their antics in the air, are quite inclined to 
join in the fun, for fun it evidently is. 
When the frolic is over, nothing can be 
more natural than for the whole bunch of 
them to go into the hive whether they 
belong there or not. If the hives are 
properly located, there will be very little 
drifting as a result of playspells. 

DRONES.— These are the male bees of 
the colony. They are large noisy fellows 
that do a great amount of buzzing, but 
never sting anybody, for the very good l-ea- 
son that they have no sting. The beekeeper 
who has learned to recognize them, both by 
sight and sound, never pays any attention 
to their noise, but visitors are many times 
frightened by their loud buzzing. 

If our colonies are prosperous, we may 
find eggs in the drone comb of some of the 
best hives as early as March, but not, as a 
general thing, until April. The drone-cells 
can be told from the worker at a glance 
by the size. (See Honeycomb; also Brood 



DRONES 



241 



AXD Beood-reakinG;, large cut.) Whenever 
eggs are seen in the large cells, it may be 
assumed they are drone eggs. It is not 
meant by this that the eggs that produce 
drones look any different from any other 
eggs that the queen lays, for in looks they 
are precisely the same. They are almost the 




Drone bee enlarged four times. 

same in every respect, for the only differ- 
ence is that the eggs that produce the 
worker-bees have been impregnated, while 
the others have not ; but more of this anon. 
The egg, like those producing workers, 
remains brooded over by the bees until it is 
about three days old, and then by one of 
nature's W'Onderful transformations it is 
gone, and a tiny worm appears, a mere 
speck in the bottom of the cell. This worm 
is fed as before, until it is about a week 
old, and is then sealed over like a worker 
larva, except that the cap to the cell is 
raised considerably more ; in fact, the cap- 
pings very much resemble a lot of bullets 
laid closely together on a board. (See 
Brood and Beood-rearixg.) The young 
drones will begm to cut the caps of these 
cells in about 24 or 25 days; the caps 
come off in a round piece, very much like 
those from a queen-cell. 

The body of a drone is hardly as long as 
that of a queen, but he is so much thicker 
thru than either queen or worker that no 
one will ever mistake him for either. He 



has no baskets on his legs in which to carry 
pollen, and his tongue is so unsuited to the 
gathering of honey from flowers that he 
might starve to death in the midst of a 
clover-field in full bloom. 

THE mating of QUEEN AND DRONE. 

The young drones are ready to leave their 
hive after thej^ are about two weeks old, 
and they do this shortly after noon of a 
warm pleasant daj'. They come out with 
the young bees as they plaj-, and first try 
their wings ; but their motions are far from 
being graceful and easy, and they frequent- 
ly tumble about so awkwardly that, as they 
strike against one's face, he might almost 
think them either drunk or crazy. It is not 
easy to decide how old a drone must be to 
fulfill the sole purpose of his existence, the 
fertilization of the queen, but it may be 
guessed anywhere from three weeks to as 
many months. Perhaps, he seldom lives so 
long as the last period named. 

Many facts seem to indicate that drones, 
as well as the queen, fly long distances from 
the hive — perhaps two miles or more. We 
have now satisfactory evidence that the 
meeting between queens and drones takes 
place not very high up from the ground. 
Several observers have reported seeing this 
meeting not far from the hives, during the 
swarming season. The queens and drones 
sally forth during the middle of the day, or 
afternoon, and in from 15 minutes to an 
hour, or possibly two hours, the queen 
returns with a white appendage attached 
to the extremity of her body, that 
microscopic examination shows to be the 
generative organs of the di'one. These facts 
have been observed by hundreds of beekeep- 
ers, and are well authenticated. In attempts 
to have queens fertilized in wire-cloth 
houses, we have, after letting the queens 
out, seen the drones pursue them until both 
vanished from sight. Still another fact: 
If one takes a drone in his hand some 
warm afternoon just as the drone has 
sallied from the hive, and presses him in a 
certain way, he will burst open something 
like the popping of a grain of corn, ex- 
truding the very same organ we find at- 
tached to the queen, and dying instantly. 

The manner in which the meeting of the 
drone and queen takes place has been wit- 
nessed a great many times. TVc give here 
the statements of a few observers, 



242 



DRONES 



The Rev. Mr. Millette of Whitemarsh, 
Pa., appears to have been the first who wit- 
nessed the actual encounter. The following 
communication from his pen, which we copy 
from the Farmer and Gardener for Novem- 
ber, 1899, settles the important fact, as it 
came under his observation in the preceding 
summer : 

In the month of June, an old stock threw 
off a second swarm in which there were four 
queens. During the process of hiving, one 
of the queens was observed on the wing, and 
in a moment was seized by a drone. After 
flying about a rod they both came to the 
ground in close contact; the writer instantly 
follow^ed them up; and, as the drone was 
about departing (having broken loose), seized 
both the bees, the queen in one hand and the 
drone in the other. They w^ere taken into 
the house and left at liberty to fly, when 
the queen flew to the closed window; but 
the drone, after crawling about on the hand, 
was laid upon the window seat, and in a very 
few minutes expired. Both the queen and 
drone had a milky-white fluid upon the ex- 
tremity of the abdomen, and upon pressing 
the drone there was no indication of his 
possessing the specialty of his sex. 

Later Mr. Carey related his own account 
of the occurrence, which we submit in his 
own words: 

About three o'clock p. m., on the 8th of 
July, I saw a young Italian queen enter her 
hive without any sign of impregnation. She 
came out again in a few minutes, and 1 
closed the entrance to the hive. During her 
absence, which lasted thirteen minutes, three 
drones came in front of the hive, and, find- 
ing the entrance closed, kept on the wing 
most of the time. When the returning queen 
was about three feet from the entrance, one 
of the drones very rapidly flew to her, and, 
clasping his legs about her, caused her to 
settle a little, and to come in contact with 
a long spear of grass. At the same time an 
explosion was distinctly heard, and they im- 
mediately separated — the drone falling to 
the ground perfectly dead, and having his 
abdomen very much contracted. The queen, 
after making a few circles in the air, en- 
tered the hive wdth the male organs of the 
drone attached to her. All these facts were 
witnessed by myself and R. C. Otis, of 
Kenosha, Wis., as we were seated on oppo- 
site sides of the hive, not more than six feet 
apart, so that there can be no possible ground 
of mistake. 

In later times a correspondent in Glean- 
ings in Bee Culture thus describes the act : 

On June 21, 1888, I saw this mating take 
place. The queen issued from the hive, took 
two circles, and came within five feet of my 
face, and was there met by a drone. They 



seemed to face each other, clinging by their 
fore legs, their bodies being perpendicular, 
and in this shape flew from my sight. It 
happened so unexpectedly that I hardly knew 
what was going on before it was too 
late to follow them. I could have easily kept 
up with them. I have described this because 
your book says they have not been seen, 
only as they were whirling about each other. 
I saw these fasten; and as they did so they 
turned and came together, square up and 
down; and as they flew away their bodies 
inclined like this / and each bee was using 
its wings. 

Myrtle, Pa. E. A. Pratt. 

One of our former apiarists, now Dr. W. 
I. Wood, lately told us he had seen the 
drone and queen come in contact face to 
face, exactly as Mr. Pratt describes. 

The late E. L. Pratt of Swarthmore, Pa., 
a queen-breeder of note, in Gleanings in 
Bee Culture for 190i thus wrote : 

I have this day witnessed the act of copu- 
lation between a queen and a drone. About 
2:30 o'clock on the afternoon of Thursday, 
July 2, I was standing near a fertilizing-box 
filling a feeder when my attention was at- 
tracted by an unusual commotion in the way 
of extra loud buzzing, as of drones on the 
wing. I looked and saw a queen rapidly 
flying toward the fertilizing-box, evidently 
her home. She was closely followed by two 
drones, one of which turned and flew off, but 
the other remained in pursuit. They were 
flying not six inches from the ground, and 
were not over eight feet from the fertiliz- 
ing-box when the act took place. It was 
done so quickly that I marveled at it, and 
I wish here to record the facts as I witnessed 
them. I could not see that the queen was 
flying in any but the usual way when return- 
ing to her hive, but the drone was unusually 
swift of wing. They were both flying rapid- 
ly; and as they flew the drone made two cir- 
cles about the queen as tho to head her off; 
and as these circles were made about the 
queen she rose slightly each time. Directly 
after making the second circle about the 
queen the drone flew at her as a worker with 
the intention of stinging in earnest. His 
abdomen was curved, and his wings rattled 
in about the same manner. Directly the 
drone was in contact with the queen there 
was a sudden lurch sidewise, and they went 
together some distance into the field until I 
lost sight of them. As they flew together 
they much resembled workers when they 
attempt jointly to bear off their dead. I 
remained by the fertilizing-box perhaps 
three minutes, and saw the queen return and 
enter, bearing the marks of having met a 
drone. I still lingered by the box, and soon 
saw a worker bear out the telltale white 
speck. I later opened the box, and saw the 
queen bearing the usual thread from the 
male contact. A queen bee is very swift of 



DRONES 



243 



wing; but I am convinced that a drone is 
ten times swifter; for to be able to encircle 
the queen in the manner this one did, such 
must be the fact. 

Our head queen-breeder, who, during the 
last ten years, has raised for us many thou- 
sand queens, has had exceptional oppor- 
tunities for observing the mating of queens 
and drones, says: 

I find that the meeting usually takes place 
not more than 15 feet from the ground. 

During the warmest part of the day the 
drones congregate in sheltered locations in 
such large numbers as to make a loud hum- 
ming noise. This attracts virgin queens out 
seeking their mates. In one instance in 
particular about 3 o 'clock in the afternoon 
a loud humming was heard near our bass- 
wood apiary. Investigation showed that it 
was made by an unusually large collection 
of drones in the air. Unfavorable weather 
had kept them in the hives for two days 
back, but now the sun was out bright, and 
both virgins and drones were coming out in 
astonishing numbers. When a virgin came 
from under the tree tops a number of drones 
(in some instances apparently 20 or more) 
would circle close about her, the bunch resem- 
bling a small but very active swarm. They 
would dash high and low for a few seconds 
when one of the drones would clasp her and 
they would fall together, the rest of the 
drones following them nearly to the ground. 
Four such swarms of drones were seen at one 
time after a queen. 

On two occasions I have seen drones meet 
with the queen close to the entrance of the 
hive. In both of these instances they met 
facing each other, clinging by their fore 
legs, their bodies being perpendicular. Si- 
multaneously a sharp sound like a miniature 
explosion was distinctly heard when they 
dropped to the ground. 

The manner in which the queen frees her- 
self from the drone is similar to that of a fly 
caught in a spider web, whirling around 
and around, while the drone clings to any- 
thing he can grasp. In this way the male 
organs are torn from him and carried away 
by the queen. 

DOES THE DROXE HAAT: OXLY O^Q-E PAEEXT? 



One of the most wonderful things about 
the drone, or male bee is that it is hatched 
from an egg that is unimpregnated. So 
wonderful, indeed, is this that the matter 
was for years disputed, and is even now, by 
many who have not looked into the matter 
and examined the evidence. What we mean 
by unimpregnated is, that queens that have 
never met the male bee at all will lay eggs, 
and these eggs will hatch, but they always 



produce drones, and never workers. Those 
who have had the care of poultry are well 
aware that the hens will lay eggs right 
along, if no cock is kept in the yard at all ; 
and a pullet will lay her full quota of eggs, 
even if she has never seen a male bird. 

Nearly the same is true with regard to 
the queen bees. If she fails to meet a 
drone during the fii'st 30 days of her life 
(if the bees do not kill her before), she 
usually begins to lay eggs; but she seldom 
lays as many, or with the same regularity, 
as a fertile queen. If no cock is kept, the 
eggs a hen lays, if she is allowed to sit, 
never produce any chicks. The eggs laid 
by a queen, under the same circumstances, 
as before stated, always produce drones. 
There is one more fact connected with the 
common fowl : If a male bird is put in the 
yard with the hen for one day only, good 
fertile eggs will be laid for many days, 
possibly a whole laying. If a Black-Spanish 
cock should get among a flock of white 
hens for a single day, all the eggs laid for 
many days afterward will produce chicks 
with more or less black feathers on them. 
The point to be observed is that the eggs 
of even the common fowl are fertilized as 
they are laid by the hen, or possibly a few 
days before. With the fowls, one meeting 
with the male bird suffices for the fertiliza- 
tion of an egg daih^, for a week or more; 
with the queen bee, for her whole life of 
three or even four years. 

The hen does not have the power of 
laying fertile or unfertile eggs at will; but 
a queen bee lays both fertilized and unfer- 
tilized eggs, alternating from one kind to 
the other in rapid succession. Skillful 
microscopists have carefully dissected eggs 
from worker-cells, and found the living 
spermatozoa in numbers from one to five. 
These living spermatozoa were precisely 
identical with those found in dissecting a 
mature drone. Again : Every egg a queen 
lays passes a little sac in her body contain- 
ing a minute quantity of some fluid; the 
microscope shows that this fluid contains 
thousands of these spermatozoa. Is it not 
wonderful that these spermatozoa should 
live four years or more in this little sac, 
awaiting their turn to be developed into a 
higher life whenever they should be re- 
quired to fertilize the egg that is to produce 
a worker-bee? 



244 



DRONES 



Again, the egg that is taken from a 
drone-cell contains no trace of spermatozoa. 
Therefore, like the unimpregnated egg of 
the common fowl, it should never hatch. 
Strange to say, it does hatch, and produce 
the drone. The first glimpse one gets of 
the little bit of animated nature is the tiny 
speck alive at the bottom of the cell. Does 
he grow out of nothing, without parentage, 
at least on the paternal side ? If his mother 
was an Italian, he is also an Italian; if a 
black queen, he is also a black. It is neces- 
sary to conclude, perhaps, that he is the 
son of his mother, and nothing more. The 
egg that has never been impregnated in the 
usual way, must, after all, have some living 
germ incorporated in its make-up, and this 
germ must come only from the mother. 

The reader will see how clear it is that 
drones are in no way affected by the fertil- 
ization of the queen; or, in other words, 
that all daughters of a purely fertilized 
Italian queen produce drones absolutely 
pure whether they have been fertilized by 
a black drone or not. 

DRONES FROM WORKER BEES. 

Drones are also hatched from eggs l^d 
by worker bees. These drones are usually 
smaller in size than those from a queen, 
because they are generally reared in worker- 
cells, and thfe question as to whether they 
are capable of fertilizing queens, so as to 
be of some value, like other drones, is one 
that has never been decided. Some facts 
have been brought to light that seem to be 
pretty good evidence on each side of the 
question ; but, so far, there is nothing very 
definite. 



from such stock as he chooses, and he can 
save the vast amount of honey that has so 
long been wasted by rearing and feeding 
an unnecessary number of queens. 

While extracting, we have found as 
many as several pounds of drone larvae in 
a single hive; and, to save the honey they 
would consume as soon as hatched, we used 
to shave their heads off with a very sharp 
knife. This is certainly rather expensive 
business. 

Since the life of every colony depends 
on the mating of its queen, nature is very 
lavish in providing a great number of 
drones in order that the virgin may be suc- 
cessful in her bridal flight, even tho there 
are very few bees in the immediate vicinity. 
But where several colonies are kept in one 
apiarj'', and especially where they are run 
for honey production, the rearing of so 
many drones is an unnecessary expense, 
the cost of which is nicely shown in an 
article written by G. M. Doolittle, in which 
he says : 

Taken in round numbers, a square- foot of 
comb will give 8000 workers or about 5000 
drones. It takes 24 days to perfect the 
drones while the w^orkers will emerge in 21 
days from the laying of the egg.. And it vyHI 
take about the same amount of food for the 
rearing of each, since both occupy the same 
space; and when all these 8000 workers have 
emerged from this foot of comb we have a 
fair-sized swarm of honey-gatherers added 
to the other forces of the hive, which Avill 
almost if not quite turn failure into a suc- 
cessful surplus. 

This general subject is covered in Combs 
and in a more technical article called Par- 
thenogenesis elsewhere in this book, and 
also under head of Queens. 



COST OP REARING MANY DRONES. 



REARING DRONES OUT OF SEASON. 



Until the invention and general adoption 
of foundation, there was no easy way of 
repressing the production of drones in far 
greater numbers than could ever be desir- 
able. (See Comb Foundation.) Since 
the introduction of that article, it is found 
to be quite an easy matter to make almost 
every cell in the hive a worker-cell. On 
the other hand, one can have a hive entirely 
filled with drone comb, and a good queen 
could be induced to raise nearly, if not 
quite, n full quart of drones at a time. By 
this means ong c^n have bis drones raised 



When the honey flow is drawing to a 
close, and the bees may be expected to be- 
gin disposing of their drones, take frames 
containing drone brood from the colonies 
having the best bees to breed from, and 
place them in an upper story of a strong 
colony. The colony should be made and 
kept queenless as long as it is desirable 
to have drones in the yard ; or, if not made 
queenless, should be given one pint or more 
of syrup (two parts of water to one of 
sugar) every day as long as drones are 
needed. The feeding must be kept up, for 



DRONES 



245 




THE LAMENT OF THE DRONES. 

Grace Allen, Nashville, Tenn. 



No more? 

Not ever, ever more within the hive 

No more to feel its friendly shelter 'round? 
No more to share its pulsing peace, alive 

With vibrant hum of motion and of sound? 
And we so powerful-winged and light of heart 
Of all this life we love are we a part 
No more? 

No more. 

Not ever, ever more within the hive. 

An unimaginable end has come. 
The things are turning dead that were alive 

And all the singing voices turning dumb 
And Life herself, who one time bade us be, 
Has turned away her eyes, which we shall see 
No more. 



bees are very easily discouraged; and if a 
stoppage occurs in the daily supplies they 
will not hesitate to pull the young drones 
out of their cells and sacrifice them without 
mercy. 

DRONES FROM DRONE-LAYERS. 

Queen-breeders find that one or more 
drone-layers of good stock, rearing fully 
developed drones, if supplied with plenty 
of worker brood, will furnish a fine lot of 
nice drones in and out of season; but 
drones from laying workers, or from queens 
that have never been fertilized are to be 
avoided. Drones from queens that have 
once laid worker eggs, and then failed, are 
as good as the drones from any queen. 

DESTRUCTION OP DRONES IN THE FALL. 

This does not necessarily occur in the 
fall, but may take place at any time in the 
summer ; and we have several times known 
the drones killed off between apple bloom 
and white clover, only because supplies 



And this the end? 

No end but this for those uncounted days 

Of banqueting, or those mad hours of bliss 
We went careening, careless thru the ways 

Of miracle and light? No end but this? 
No end but this. No proud sustaining thought 
Of deed with rapture or with patience wrought — 
No end but this. 

More and more 

The dripping night that stalks without the hive 

Draws round us dread and ghostly, grim and stark ; 
Within, the deepest shadows are alive 

With warmth and fragrance, and the very dark 
Dreams day to come. But tho the great sun burns 
A million dawns awake, the day returns 
To us, no more — no more. 

ceased, causing the bees to become discour- 
aged and give up swarming for the time 
being. There is no way in which one can 
tell so well that the yield of honey has 
ceased as by the behavior of the bees to- 
ward their drones. When, in the midst of 
the honey season, a worker is seen buzzing 
along on the back of a drone that seems to 
be doing his best to get away from the hive, 
it may be concluded that the yield of honey 
is failing. We do not know that we ever 
saw bees sting drones, but they sometimes 
pretend to do so. It is, probable that it is 
only a feint to drive them away. The poor 
drone, at such times, after vainly trying to 
go back into the hive, will sometimes take 
wing and soar aw^ay off in the air, only to 
return after a time to be repulsed again, 
until, thru weakness perhaps, and want of 
food, he flutters hopelessly in the dust, and 
so submits to the fate that seems to be a 
part of the inexorable law of nature and of 
his being. 

DRONES WITH HEADS OF DIFFERENT COLORS. 

This is a queer feature in natural history. 
Almost every summer some one writes or 



246 



DRONES 



sends specimens of drones with heads of 
different colors. The matter has been re- 
ported and commented on at different times 
in Gleanings in Bee Culture. Not only are 
drones with white heads occasionally 
found, but also with heads of a cherry 
color; again, of a bright green, and at 
other times yellow. Why should this pecul- 
iarity show itself in the drones more than 
in the queens and workers? Again, why 
should heads be the subject of these bright 
rainbow colors? Is there really any pur- 
pose or design in it? or is it just because 
it happened sof See Hermaphrodite Bees. 

RESTRAINING UNDESIRABLE DRONES. 

Drones undesirable for breeding purposes 
may be prevented from going out to meet 
the queens, by keeping them from going out 
of the hive, or by letting them go out into 
a cage thru which workers can pass and 
they cannot. This is done by taking advan- 
tage of the fact that a worker bee will pass 
readily thru slots in perforated metal (or 
between bars properly spaced) where a 
drone cannot. In the figure shown we give 
the form of the perforated metal. 

THE PROPER SIZE FOR THE PERFORATIONS. 

The oblong holes must be of such a size 
as to permit 'the easy passage of workers, 
but exclude not only drones but even 
queens (see Extracted Honey and 
Sv^arming). It is no great task to make 
the perforations drone-excluding; but to 
make them queen-exalnding at the same 




Perforated zinc. 

time, and yet not hinder the easy passage 
of workers, requires a very nice adjustment 
in the width of the perforations. The first 
sheet of perforated zinc was cut in Eng- 
land, and imported to this country. This 
had perforations 18-100 of an inch in width. 
While this answered a most excellent pur- 



pose, a few claimed that queens would oc- 
casionally get thru it. To obviate this, zinc 
was made with the perforations a little 
narrower. 

The width of this was 5-32 or 16-100 of 
an inch. While no queen succeeded in get- 
ting thru this, reports, as well as the 
author's experience, showed that this size 
was too narrow. It not only proved to be 
a great hindrance to the workers when 
their honey-sacs were empty, but, when 



Wood and wire honey-board. 

gorged with honey, they were scarcely able, 
if at all, to pass thru. Later, perforated 
zinc was made in this country on a different 
pattern, but with perforations exactly 163- 
1000 of an inch in width, or a trifle smaller 
than the foreign. Years of experience 
have shown that this is right for perforated 
metal but too wide for wire bars. 

In 1908 there was put on the market a 
new form of queen-excluder* consisting of 
wire bars held at the required distances 
apart by means of soft-metal cross-ties at 
every two or three inches. These bars con- 
sist of No. 14 hard-drawn galvanized wire 
that has been straightened in a wire- 
straightener so that it is true as a die. Con- 
trary to what one might expect, the spaces 
between these bars are more exact than the 
width of the various perforations in sheet 
metal. In the process of making, the bars 
are laid in metal forms having grooves that 
are spaced exactly right, and then a soft 
metal in a molten state is made to flow in 
certain cross-grooves of the metal form. As 
the metal cools almost instantly, the wires 
are held at exactly the right intervals. The 
smooth rounding edges of the bars afford 

* Invented by Frank G. Marbach, formerly of Medina, 
Ohio. 



DRONES 



^7 



less obstruction to the bees passing and 
repassing, and practical tests show that 
this form of excluder is much superior to 
the old perforated metal. On account of 
the rounding smooth edges of the wires, 
they must be slightly closer or 162-1000 of 
an inch. 

In the manufacture of the perforated 
zinc, unless the dies are verj' sharp, there 
will be a slight rough burr edge on the 
under side of the sheet. It is impossible 




Full-size wire excluder. 

to remove this edge without reducing the 
vddth. of the perforation. For this reason 
the wire excluder is superseding the other 
form of perforated zinc. 

The illustrations herewith shown give one 
an idea of how either form of excluder has 
been applied to di^one-traps and honey- 
boards. 

DRONE-EXCLUDIXG ENTRANCE-GUARDS. 

If a strip of perforated zinc or wire 
excluder is placed over the entrance, the 




Wire entrance-guard. 

worker bees can go out, but the drones 
cannot; but, as a simple excluder is liable 




Zinc entrance-guard. 

to get clogged if there are many drones in 
the hive, an arrangement known as the 
Alley trap is used. 



The plain guard is simply a strip of per- 
forated metal, 3% x 14 inches long, folded 
at right angles, as shown. Each end is then 
closed with a block 1% ^ 1% x i/^, 
fastened in place with a couple of double- 
pointed tacks. To use, it is placed tight up 
against the entrance as represented in the 
cut preceding. 




Perforated zinc Alley trap. 

When it is desirable to get the drones all 
out of a hive without permitting any to get 
back again, the guard is put over the en- 
trance and aU the bees are shaken in front 




Wire Alley trap, 

of the hive. The workers will, of course, 
crawl back on the combs; but the drones 
will have to stay out, and the queen* too, 
unless she is put in the hive. In the 
morning, when the drones are stiffened 
with cold, they may be fed to the chickens 
or otherwise destroyed. 

The drone-excluder just described is not 
automatic. Accordingly, the late Henry 
Alley of Wenham, Mass., devised the one 
shown next. 



'■■■■■■■■■ -■^— ■— ^- 

Alley's drone-excluder. 

It is to be observed that this is similar 



This method is sometimes used to catch the queen 
I colony of black bees. 



248 



DYSENTERY 



to the one just described, only it has a wire- 
cloth cone in the top. The drones, after 
making a fruitless attempt to pass the met- 
al, will enter the wire-cloth cone in the top, 
and escape ; however, none will go back the 
way they came, but will huddle together 
outside and await their fate. 

If it is desirable to get the drones into a 
box, so they may be carried to some other 
apiary, for instance, a cage is made with an 
upper story, and a couple of these wire 
cones conduct the drones " up-stairs." If 
any worker-bees should go up too, they can 




Manner of attaching Alley trap. 

readily go up thru the perforated zinc. 
This latter arrangement is shown in the 
cut above. 

As to how this trap may be used for 
catching swarms, see Swarming^ elsewhere, 

DYSENTERY.— When bees are seen 
covering the entrance to their hives with 
a yellow, brownish, or nearl}^ black, dis- 
agreeable-smelling excrement or stain, it 
may be assumed that they have the dysen- 
tery, or what is usually known as such. If 
the weather becomes very warm and pleas- 
ant, they will usually get over it after they 
have had a full flight. If, on the contrary, 
the symptoms show themselves before warm 
weather, and no opportunity is given the 
bees to fly, they may become so much worse 
as to stain their combs with the excrement, 
and finally die leaving a damp filthy-looking 
mass. 

CAUSE OF DYSENTERY. 

The real causes are bad food and long- 
continued low temperature that prevents 
bees from flying. In order to keep up sufii- 
eient animal heat the bees have to overeat, 
surcharging their intestine"?. The loner- 



retained fecal matter results in purging or 
dysentery. Any food alone would hardly 
produce the disease, as one rarely, if ever, 
finds bees suffering from anything they will 
gather, in warm summer weather. Aster 
honey (see Aster) or the sweet juices gath- 
ered from rotten fruit or cider are very 
productive of this complaint, and are 
almost sure to kill bees at the approach of 
cold weather. A woman once boiled up a 
mass of sweet apples and allowed the bees 
to extract the sweetness because, as she 
said, she could not afford to buy sugar 
for them. They all died of dysentery long 
before spring. Where dampness accumu- 
lates from the breath of the bees, and set- 
tles on the combs, diluting the honey, it 
may cause trouble. Sorghum syrup has 
brought on a very aggravated form, and 
burnt candy or sugar is almost sure death 
to bees during cold weather, altho such 
feed may be given with impunity in the 
middle of the summer. 

All candy or honey containing much 
gums or dextrins should also be avoided; 
for, except in a few rare instances in which 
another substance is involved, these gums 
or dextrins are the substances that cause 
dysentery. The dextrin content of the dif- 
ferent honej^s varies considerably, being 
greatly reduced during a rapid honey flow. 

While it is very certain that no such 
symptoms of dysentery are found in warm 
weather, it is also certain that a strong 
colony in a hive with soft, warm, dry 
porous walls, will stand an amount of bad 
food that a weak one, or one exposed to 
drafts of cold air, will not. A power- 
ful colony, if left with their hive uncovered 
during a rain storm, will soon di-y them- 
selves; and while they are doing this they 
remind one of a sturdy cart horse as he 
shakes the water off his hide and dries 
himself by his internal animal heat. While 
they have the health and numbei's to repel 
moisture in this way, they are safe against 
almost anything. But to help them to keep 
this internal strength, they should have 
close and comfortable quarters, very much 
such as we would need for ourselves to 
enable us to pass a severe winter's night in 
health and comfort. ( See Wintering Out- 
doors.) The hives often used are so large 
and barn-like, in respect to the winter's 
brood-nest, that comfort is almost out of 



DYSENTERY 



249 



the question, for it does little if any good 
to pile straw, corn-fodder, etc., over the 
outside of the hives while the cluster within 
has no sort of protection at all. If they 
were in a hollow tree, the diameter of 
which was so small that they could fill it 
completely, they would be in a much better 
place, especially if the sides were lined 
with soft dry rotten wood. 

There are two kinds of dysentery in 
Great Britain. One is mild, and comes in 
the spring, and disappears soon at the 
approach of warm weather. The other one 
is thought to be contagious, and is possibly 
a part of the Isle of Wight disease. See 
Isle of Wight Disease under the head of 
Diseases of Bees. 

the agency of the aphides in producing 
dysentery. 

The poorest winter food is, without doubt, 
the honey gathered from the aphides (see 
HoNEYDEw) ; or, at least, most complaints 
have been made of this honey. As bees 
seldom touch this, except during drouths or 
unfavorable seasons, it, no doubt, has been 
the cause of some of the mischief. If all 
the early honey is extracted from the brood- 
combs, and the bees left with nothing but 
this bad honey, gathered in the summer, the 
matter is much worse ; and many cases have 
been reported of colonies dying where the 
extractor has been used, while those un- 
touched had been free from the disease. 
The moral is, refrain from extracting too 
closely from the brood-apartment. Let the 
bees fill their brood-chamber with a good 
quality of honey, just before the yield 
ceases, extracting, toward the close of the 
harvest, only from the combs in the upper 
story, unless it is decided to feed them up 
for winter on sugar syrup or candy. There 
have been one or two favorable reports of 
wintering on the aphidian honey, from 
which it may be concluded that it is not 
always deleterious. 



MANAGEiiENT^ full particulars are given on 
how to house bees properly. 

Good food may be in the form of good 
honey or sugar-syrup stores well ripened. 
Any of the good table honeys make suitable 
food ; and there are many of the fall honeys 
that do very well. Aster honey, unless well 
ripened and sealed in the combs, sometimes 
brings on dysentery. Some winters it i=^ 
worse than others (see Asters). Honey- 
dew usuall}^ should not be used. It is gen- 
erally dangerous (see Honetdew). 

CURE FOR DYSENTERY OUTDOORS. 

If the affected colonies are outdoors, 
about the only real remedy is settled warm 
weather. Even one good warm day will 
often serve to alleviate the trouble, as it 
gives the bees a chance to void their excre- 
ment out in the open air, away from the 
hives and the combs. Otherwise the con- 
tinued confinement during an extended cold 
spell sometimes compels the bees to retain 
their faeces or excreta so long that they are 
finally forced to void it over the combs and 
over the hives. In such cases, where one 
has good clean combs of sealed honey he 
may take out the soiled combs and replace 
with the clean ones. At the same time the 
brood-nest should be contracted to a space 
the bees can fill. This work should never 
be done on a cool day — only when it is 
warm and balmy. But the practical bee- 
keeper of today does not fuss with colonies 
affected with dj^sentery ; for he knows that, 
as soon as warm weather comes, the trouble 
will disappear of itself, in all colonies not 
too far gone and too weak to recover. 

Combs taken out of the hive in cold 
weather, and stained with dysentery, may 
be given to strong colonies in late spring 
or summer to clean up. Indeed, there is no 
danger in hiving swarms in hives where 
colonies have died with dysentery during 
the previous winter. They will quickly 
clean up and use the stores that are left. 



PREVENTION OF DYSENTERY. 



DYSENTERY IN BEE-CELLARS. 



There are two important factors in 
the prevention of dysentery — protection 
against extremes of cold during winter, 
and good food. Under the head of Win- 
tering Outdoors^ Wintering in Reposi- 
tories^ Spring Dwindling, and Spring 



After a long and cold winter, if the 
temperature in the cellar goes much below 
40 degrees Fahr., or if the stores are of 
poor quality, there is a liability of some 
colonies being affected with dysentery. The 
best remedy is prevention. The cellar should 



250 



DZIERZON 



be dry, and the temperature should be be- 
tween 45 and 50 F. It should never go 
below 40 for a longer period than three or 
four days. If the temperature of the cel- 
lar can not be kept up, a small stove with 
a connection to a chimney should be used 
to bring it up to the requisite point. 

Some authorities think that dampness has 
' nothing to do with causing dysentery in the 
cellar; but dampness in combination with 
a temperature below 40 degrees for several 
weeks is a very common cause of dysentery 
in cellar repositories. We have one cellar 
that is perfectly dry, and where we control 
the temperature. In this we have but very 
little dysentery — in fact, almost none. At 
our outyards we have had damp cellars, 
and where, too, the temperature went down 
below 40 degrees. It is a most noticeable 
fact that in these cellars we had so much 
dysentery we had to abandon them. 

But what should be done if the bees do 
get dysentery? Suppose the food is bad, 
and the cellar one where it is not practica- 
ble to use artificial heat, at an outyard for 
example. If there are days during mid- 
winter when the bees can fly (and some 
localities do afford such weather for one 
day and possibly two), take the diseased 
colonies out on one such day and let them 
have a flight, then at night put them back 
in the cellar. A cleansing flight will do a 
world of good. • Some authorities disagree 
here; but our own experience has shown 
conclusively, over and over again, that it 
does pay. If the bees are suffering from 
an over-accumulation of poisonous fecal 
matter, why will there not be alm.ost in- 
stantaneous relief as soon as it can be 
voided? If the food is bad, give the bees 
better next year. Some recommend taking 
away all fall stores and feeding sugar 
syrup. For further consideration of this 
subject, see Wintering in Repositories. 

DZIERZON.*— The life of Dr. Dzierzon 
was a simple, uneventful one, similar to 
that of many clergymen in Germany. He 
was born on Jan. 16, 1811, at Lowkowitz, 
near Kreuzburg, Upper Silesia. He at- 
tended the school of Lowkowitz till his 
tenth year, and was afterward transferred 
to the University of Breslau, where he at- 
tained such excellence in his studies that. 



* From the British Bee Journal, Dec. 20, 1906. 



after having finished his course, he has been 
first in every class in his college, and left 
the University in the autumn of 1830 with 
a certificate as having passed No. 1. 

From early childhood j'Oung Dzierzon 
had a great partiality for bees. His father 
kept a few colonies in log hives, mostly 
placed in an upright position; these were 
at that time the kind in general use in 
Silesia. He always found the greatest 
pleasure in the contemplation of the inde- 
fatigable industry of bees, and while study- 
ing at the University he was in the habit 
of taking his walks near to an apiary, or 
where a colony of bees occupied a hollow 
tree, so that he might enjoj^ the sight of the 
industrious insects and listen to their joy- 
ful humming. 

His fondness for bees made him choose a 
calling in which it would be possible for 
him to follow the bent of his inclination, 

Dzierzon was ordained on March 16, 1834, 
and having acted as chaplain in the Schal- 
kowitz District of Oppeln till July, 1835. 
he received a clerical appointment at Karls- 
markt. This brought him a very sm.all in- 
come; but, as in succeeding years it suited 
him entirely, it never occurred to him to 
seek a more richly endowed living. The 
garden of his parsonage was a tolerably 
large one, and his first care was to arrange 
a place for bees. He soon stocked it with 
some colonies from his father's apiary in 
the old-fashioned hives mentioned above. 
His bees did very well in them. He, how- 
ever, was not content with these primitive 
hives, but proceeded to make various 
changes in them, so that he might have a 
more perfect control over his bees. These 
changes gradually led to the invention of 
movable combs, which enabled him to take 
out a full brood-comb, or honeycomb, and 
insert it in another hive. He introduced 
bars, to which the bees built the combs, and, 
as these were usually attached to the sides 
of the hives, (there being no side bars) 
Dzierzon conceived the idea of opening the 
hive at the back so as to enable him to cut 
the attachments. At the commencement 
Dzierzon used single hives called "Lagers" 
and "Standers," but afterward constructed 
hives to hold two, three, six, or eight colo- 
nies, in order to economize material and 
space. Owing to the advantages thus gained 
the number of his colonies increased in a 
few years to 400, and he was constantly 



DZIERZON 



251 



making new hives and planting out-apiaries 
in the neighboring villages. He had twelve 
of them, but his apiary at Karlsmarkt was 
chiefly used for observations and experi- 
ments, and, after his introduction of the 
Italian race,* for breeding these bees and 
keeping them pure. This apiary was vis- 
ited by numerous people desirous of in- 
creasing their knowledge in beekeeping, 
especially by schoolmasters, many of whom 
came by desire and at the expense 
of the Govemment.t He was at all 
times ready to communicate the re- 
sults of his experience to his visitors ; 
he also made known his views in the 
Frauendorf Journal, which enjoyed 
a large circulation at that time. 
These articles were afterward col- 
lected and published in the form of a 
pamphlet entitled "Pfarrer Dzier- 
zon's Improved Method of Beekeep- 
ing." This pamphlet was very in- 
complete, and induced Dr. Dzierzon 
to publish his views in a more com- 
plete form, which work, after pass- 
ing thru several editions, was pub- 
lished under the title of "Rational 
Beekeeping," the latest and most 
complete edition of which appeared 
in the year 1878. In 1880 this edi- 
tion was translated into English by 
H. Dieck and S. Studderd, and edited 
by C. N. Abbott, who then intro- 
duced it to British beekeepers. The 
last book he wrote, "Der Z willing - 
stock," was published in 1890. From 
1854 to 1856 he published the "The 
Bee Master of Silesia," but thd 
greater part of his observations and 
experiences appeared in the Bienen- 
zeitung. In this publication ap- 
peared his views on parthenogenisis. 



* Captain Baldenstein, when stationed in Italy, was 
the first to notice the exceeding industry of the Italian 
bee. When he retired from the army he settled in 
Switzerland, and procured a colony from Italy in Sep- 
tember, 1843. His observations impelled Dzierzon to 
make an eflFort to procure the Italian bee; and by the 
aid of the Austrian Agricultural Society he succeeded 
in obtaining, late in February, 1853, a colony from 
Mira, near Venice. Dzierzon bestowed much pains in 
maintaining the purity of his Italian bees, and thirty 
years after the first introduction he exhibited at 
Ncustadt, near Vienna, a perfectly pure descendant 
from his original stock. 

t Several of the governments of Europe took great 
interest in spreading among their people a knowledge 
of Dzierson's system of beekeeping. Prussia furnished 
monthly a number of persons from different parts of 
the kingdom with the means of acquiring a knowledge 
of this system ; while the Bavarian government pre- 
scribed instruction in Dzierzon's theory and practice of 
bee culture as a part of the regular course of studies in 
its teachers' seminaries. 



and for eight years, from 1845 to 1853, he 
had to fight hard to defend his theory, which 
met with the most strenuous opposition, 
and it was not until he introduced Italian 
bees in 1853 that he was clearly able to 
demonstrate the correctness of his state- 
ments. Baron von Berlepsch at first vigor- 
ously opposed it, but was at length con- 
vinced of his mistake, acknowledged his 
error, and openly declared he would come 




^^-^-^ 



C/7*' 



into Dzierzon's camp "with bag and bag- 
gage." Dzierzon's theory, according to which 
drones originate from unfertilized eggs, 
and all impregnated eggs produce females, 
gradually found adherents and recognition 
among men of science; and its correctness 
was proved by the microscopical and phj^si- 
ological researches by Professors Dr. von 
Siebold and Leuckart. 

In recent years M. Dickel made a violent 
attack on this theory, and stated that all 
eggs laid by the queen were fecundated, and 
that the bees themselves determined the sex 



252 



DZIERZON THEORY 



of the eggs by means of a secretion from 
special glands. Dickel and Dzierzon met at 
the annual congress of beekeepers in Salz- 
burg in 1898, where they vigorously de- 
fended their theories in the presence of a 
large gathering of beekeepers. Dzierzon's 
arguments were so forceful that they con- 
stantly elicited applause. He has had his 
partisans and detractors; some, like M. 
Perez, have discussed the theory most 
courteously; a few others have done so 
with extreme rudeness, especially to a man 
of his age. It is gratifying to find that 
Dzierzon lived long enough to see his 
theory triumphantly vindicated before he 
passed away from among us. 

From all parts of the continent;, and from 
many of the reigning sovereigns, Dzierzon 
has received distinctions and honors. One 
of the first which he received was that 
signed by Archduke John in his capacity as 
president of the Agricultural Society of 
Graz. The honorary title of "Doctor" was 
conferred on him by the University of 
Munich. At the Beekeepers' Congress at 
Darmstadt, the then reigning Grand Duke 
of Hesse invested him with the order of 
Ludwig, and fronrthe Emperor of Austria 
he received the Order of Francis Joseph. 
The Emperor of Russia conferred upon him 
the Order of St. Anne, and the King of 
Sweden the Order of Wasa. The photo- 
graph we reproduce from the Bienen-vater 
shows the venerable old man decorated with 
these orders. He has also been made an 
honorary member of a great many societies, 
and his name is known in every portion of 
the globe. 

To Dr. Dzierzon we are indebted for the 
various artificial substitutes for pollen. 
With his eye ever open to discover any 
means that would be of assistance to his 
bees, he observed them bringing from a 
neighboring mill rye-meal, before they were 
able to secure a natural supply for the food 
of the larvae; and ever since beekeepers 
have been in the habit of supplying the bees 
with artificial pollen when natural pollen 
is lacking in the spring. 

Dr. Dzierzon, like many other beekeepers, 
has had sad experiences of the virulence of 
foul brood. In 1848 this plague broke out 
in his apiary, destroying several hundred 
stocks, and leaving only ten untouched. 

So vigoi'ous was his fight against the 
disease that three years later, in 1851, he 



was able with pride to point to the 400 
colonies of healthy bees which he had 
worked up from the ten survivors of the 
disaster. 

His apiary passed thru several troubles. 
At one time 70 hives were stolen, then 24 
were lost in a flood, and 60 were destroyed 
by fire. 

In consequence of various ecclesiastical 
troubles which occurred at Karlsmarkt, he 
decided to leave the place where he had 
lived 49 years. He removed to Lowkowitz, 
the place of his birth, in 1884, and took up 
his abode with his nephew, the youngest 
son of his brother, whose wife accompanied 
him to the last in his visits to conventions 
of beekeepers. At Lowkowitz he lived a 
happ3', peaceful, contented life, his time 
being wholly taken up with his bees. He 
died on Oct. 26, 1906. 

To beekeepers his loss is great, and his 
name will always stand out prominently in 
the history of beekeeping in the nineteenth 
century. 

DZIERZON THEORY.— In 1845 the 
Rev. John Dzierzon enunciated what is now 
known as the "Dzierzon Theory," and thus 
in reality laid the foundation for much of 
our scientific and practical knowledge of 
bees. While he was not original in the 
discovery of parthenogenesis, he threw a 
great deal of light on the subject. (See 
Parthenogenesis^ elsewhere, and sketch of 
his life just preceding.) That the reader 
may know just what the theory was, we 
give below the several propositions as given 
by Dzierzon. 

I. A colony of bees, in its normal condi- 
tion, consists of three characteristically dif- 
ferent kinds of individuals — the queens, the 
workers, and (at certain periods) the drones. 

II. In the normal condition of a colony, 
the queen is the only perfect female present 
in the hive, and lays all the eggs found 
therein. These eggs are male and female. 
From the former proceed the drones; from 
the latter, if laid in narrow cells, proceed 
the workers, or undeveloped females; and 
from them also, if laid in wider acorn-shaped 
and vertically, suspended, so-called royal cells, 
lavishly supplied with a peculiar pabulum or 
jelly, proceed the queens. 

III. The queen possesses the ability to lay 
male or female eggs at pleasure, as the par- 
ticular cells she is at any time supplying may 
require. 

IV. In order to become qualified to lay both 
male and female eggs, the queen must be 
fecundated bv a drone or male bee. 



DZIERZON THEORY 



253 



V. The fecundation of the queen is always 
effected outside of the hive, in the open air, 
and while on the wing. Consequently, in 
order to become fully fertile, that is, capable 
of laying both male and female eggs, the 
queen must leave her hive at least once. 

VI. In the act of copulation the genitalia 
of the drone enters the vulva of the queen, 
are there retained, and the drone simulta- 
neously perishes. 

VII. The fecundation of the queen, once 
accomplished, is efficacious during her life, 
or so long as she remains healthy and vigor- 
ous; and, when once become fertile, she never 
afterward leaves her hive except when accom- 
panying a swarm. 

VIII. The ovaries of the queen are not 
impregnated in copulation; but a small ves- 
icle or sac which is situated near the termi- 
nation of the oviduct, and communicating 
therewith, becomes charged with the semen of 
the drone. 

IX. All eggs germinated in the ovary of 
the queen develop as males, unless impreg- 
nated by the male sperm while passing the 
mouth of the seminal sac or spermatheco, 
when descending the oviduct. If they be thus 
impregnated in their downward passage 
(which impregnation the queen can effect or 
omit at pleasure), they develop as females. 

X. If a queen remain unfecundated, she 
ordinarily does not lay eggs. Still, excep- 
tional cases do sometimes occur; and the 
eggs then laid produce drones only. 

XI. If, in consequence of superannuation, 
the contents of the sperriatheca of a fec- 
undated queen become exhausted ; or, if from 
enerv-ation or accident, she lose the power 
of using the muscles connected with that 
organ, so as to be unable to impregnate the 
passing egg, she will thenceforward lay drone 
eggs only, if she lay at all. 

XII. As some unfecundated queens occa- 
sionally lay drone eggs, so also in queenless 
colonies, no longer having the requisite means 
of rearing a queen, common workers are some- 
times found that lay eggs from which drones 
only proceed. These workers are likewise un- 
fecundated, and the eggs are uniformly laid 
by some individual bee, regarded and treated 
more or less by her companions as their queen. 

XIII. So long as a fertile queen is present 
In the hive, the bees do not tolerate a fertile 
worker. Nor do they tolerate one while cher- 
ishing the hope of being able to rear a queen. 
In rare instances, however, exceptional cases 
occur. Fertile workers are sometimes found 
in the hive immediately after the death or 
removal of the queen, and even in the presence 
of a young queen, so long as she has not 
herself become fertile. 

When this was put out originally in the 
Bienenzeiiung, it called forth most strenu- 
ous opposition. Even the Baron von Ber- 
lepsch opposed it ; but later on, Avhen Ital- 
ian bees were introduced, and the theory 
could be demonstrated, Berlepsch became 



its most staunch supporter. Indeed, he 
published a series of articles defending it; 
but there has been more or less opposition 
to it ever since. In 1895 Mr. Dickel made 
a violent attack on the theory, stating that 
all eggs laid by the queens were fecundated, 
and that the bees themselves determined 
the sex of the eggs by means of a secretion 
from the glands. For a number of years 
the European journals were filled with dis- 
cussion, some supporting Dickel and some 
Dzierzon. Finally, in 1898 the Dickel the- 
ory was shown to be untenable. 

Those who desire to see the original argu- 
ments in support of the theory will be 
interested in reading the booklet entitled 
"The Dzierzon Theory," by the Baron von 
Berlepsch, published by The A. I. Root Co. 
In the mean time the reader is referred to 
Parthenogenesis^, where more information 
is given on the subject. Some recent work 
by Nachtsheim seems to make Dzierzon's 
position still stronger. 

RECENT EVIDENCE IN PROOF OF DZIERZON 
THEORY. 

Any reliable evidence either for or against 
Dzierzon's theory, that the drones of the 
honeybee are produced from unfertilized 
eggs, is at the present time of more than 
usual interest to beekeepers. In the Janu- 
ary number of the American Naturalist T. 
H. Morgan describes some experiments 
made by Newell at Houston, Tex., in mat- 
ing Italian and Carniolan bees. 

When yellow virgin Italian queens were 
mated with grayish Carniolan drones, both 
the workers and queens which came from 
fertilized eggs were yellow, from which it 
was inferred that yellow is dominant over 
gray. The drones also w^ere yellow like the 
Italian mother. Now this, too, might have 
been caused by the dominance of the mater- 
nal color (yellow) ; or, on the other hand, 
it might have been caused by the fact that 
in accordance with Dzierzon's theory these 
drones inherited from the mother only, — 
that is, that the eggs that produced them 
were not fertilized by the drones. The ex- 
periment, therefore, as Morgan points out, 
is not decisive. 

The reciprocal experiment was, however, 
decisive. When gray Carniolan queens 
were crossed with yellow Italian drones, the 
workers and queens were yellow as before, 



254 



ENEMIES OF BEES 



due to the dominant yellow of the father. 
But the drones were gray like the gray 
Carniolan mother and the pure stock of 
Carniolan drones. That is, they inherited 
from the mother alone. Otherwise, they 
would have been yellow. This proves that 
thej' came from unfertilized eggs. Prof. 
Morgan characterizes these crosses as fur- 
nishing the long-sought evidence demon- 
strating that the drones inherit only the 
characters of their mother in accordance 
with Dzierzon's theory. 

According to Fabre's observations par- 
thenogenesis also occurs among the solitary 
bees in the genus Halictus. The males of 
this genus do not appear until fall. After 
mating with the females they fly about 
among the flowers for a week or so and then 
all perish, none surviving the winter. The 
fecundated females hibernate in their old 
nests, or in the crevices in stone walls, or 
other retreats. With the return of warm 
weather they reappear, dig new burrows, 
and provision their cells with little masses 
of pollen and honey, on each of which they 



lay an egg. From these eggs come only 
females, and at this season of the year there 
are no males of this genus in existence with 
which they can mate. This first generation 
of females soon build new groups of cells, 
the daughters of a single mother extending 
the old nest, and all using the old entrance- 
tunnel in common. The eggs of these un- 
impregnated females give birth to both 
males and females; thus in the second gen- 
eration both sexes are produced by parthen- 
ogenesis. After mating the males die, and 
the females survive the winter and the cycle 
is repeated as before. 

Fabre sums up as follows: "The Halicti 
have two generations a year; one in the 
spring, issuing from the mothers who have 
lived thru the winter after being fecundated 
in the autumn; the other in the summer, 
the fruit of parthenogenesis ; that is to say, 
of reproduction by the powers of the 
mother alone. Of the union of the two 
sexes females alone are born. Partheno- 
genesis gives birth at the same time to 
females and males." 



EGGS. — See Brood and Brood-rearixg. 

ELEMENTARY BEEKEEPING.— See 

A B C OF Beekeeping. 



EMBRYOLOGY OF BEES.- 

VELOPMENT OF BeES. 



-See De- 



enemies OF BEES.— Kingbirds and 

bee martins, and a few other insectivorous 
birds prey on bees. The author once saw 
a single kingbird capture six or eight bees 
in as many trips, on the wing. It would 
alight on the peak of the barn near the 
apiary, and then make a dive thru the air, 
grab one bee on the wing, return to its 
perch to dispose of its morsel, and then 
catch another. 

There have been a number of conflicting 
reports as to whether kingbirds do or do 



not swallow their victims. Some have as- 
serted that they do, and afterward expelled 
the ball of bees. At one experiment station 
a number of kingbirds were shot, and the 
conclusion, after examining their crops, was 
that they did not swallow bees. From obser- 
vations that have been made since, it ap- 
pears that the kingbird does not generally 
swallow worker bees. It grabs the bee, flies 
away, and after it alights on some perch 
with its victim in its beak, bites away until 
it absorbs the honey or juices, when it drops 
the carcass, and flies away far another, 
which it treats in the same way. Observers 
have reported seeing these carcasses of bees 
below the birds' favorite perches. 

There are other birds that do swallow 
bees. Cases are on record where they throw 
up the dead carcasses of the bees after they 
have absorbed the honey. 



ENEMIES OF BEES 



255 



...(S!^**^^"^ _ 



The 

bee-louse, 

magnified, 

sometimes 

found on 

young 

bees, 

queens, 

and 

drones. 




The loss of a few bees which the birds 
might kill would amount to nothing ; but in 
large queen-rearing yards, if the birds are 
allowed to go unmolested there is quite 
likely to be a loss of young queens ; for no 
doubt the birds select the largest and noisi- 
est-flying bees, and these, of course, will be 
queens and drones. If such be the case, 
the owner of a queen-rearing yard would 
do well to use his shotgun until everything 
in the way of bee-killing birds is destroyed. 



away with small patches of honey in them. 
The combs will be completely riddled during 
the winter time, if they are left where mice 
can get at them. On this account the honey- 
house should be mouse-proof ; and for fear 
that a stray one may by accident get in, it 
is well to keep a trap ready, baited with 
toasted cheese. If one does not have a tight 
room, he should make a tight box, large 
enough to hold all the surplus combs which 
have honey in them. (See Enteances.) 



MICE. 

Mice do harm only when they get into 
the hives, and this part of the subject will 
be sufficiently noticed under the head of 
Entrances. Mice sometimes make sad 
havoc among surplus combs, when stored 



PARASITES. 



The only bee parasite known is the 
Braula coeca, or Italian bee louse, and it is 
seldom seen except on bees just imported 
from Italy. 



256 



ENEMIES OF BEES 



The following from M. Lucien Iches, in 
" L'abeille domestique," Paris, 1905, quotes 
from J. Perez, Notes d^apiculture, and is 
about as authoritative as anything pub- 
lished. 

One day, having captured a bee with one 
of these lice I fixed its head with a pair of 
pincers sufficiently to keep it unmovable, and 
to capture the small parasite easily. Both it 
and the bee were left for a while on the table 
in my studio, under a glass. 

When I returned to them I was not a little 
puzzled to see the parasite in the most viva- 
cious and strange agitation. Seated on the 
fore part of the bee's head it was moving 
about with incredible vivacity, as tho pos- 
sessed of veritable rage. Now it would go to 
the margin of the bee's cap, with its fore 
feet raised, stamp and scratch as hard as its 
weakness would allow at the base of the 
bee 's lip ; then it would suddenly run back 
to the insertion of the antennae to renew its 
impetuous attack immediately. I was quite 
taken up by my first surprise, when I sud- 
denly saw all this fury turned to perfect 
calmness, and the little animal squatted on 
the edge of the cap and bent down its head 
to the bee 's mouth, which was slightly treni- 
bling, and sucked up a drop of moisture. 

I instantly understood. The movements I 
had just witnessed were preparatory to the 
animal's meals. When the louse wishes to 
feed it goes to the bee's mouth, where the 
motions of its feet, armed with bent claws, 
produces a tickling sensation, perhaps dis- 
agreeable to its host, but at least provoking 
some movement of the buccal organs, which 
slightly open and release a small drop of 
honey which the louse at once licks up. 

Thus the Braula cceca is not a real para- 
site of the bee in the true sense of the word. 
It is rather a guest — queer, if you like thus 
to consider it, like so many others existing 
among animals. 

SKUNKS. 

Skunks are justly coming to be regarded 
as one of the most serious enemies of the 
beekeeper; and, owing to the legal protec- 
tion given them in most States, together 
with their ability to multiply very rapidly, 
they are constantly becoming more numer- 
ous. Not only do they eat great numbers 
of bees, but by scratching at the front of 
the hives they keep the bees in an excited 
condition which is noticeable for several 
hours after the nightly raid of the skunk 
is finished. Young skunks that leave their 
nests and start foraging for themselves 
during midsummer and autumn seem to do 
the greater part of the damage, causing 
the colonies to dwindle rapidly at a time 
when they should be building up for winter. 



Skunks may be poisoned by putting 
strychnine or Rough on Rats inside of 
small chunks of beef, leaving the beef at 
night on the entrance of the hive at which 
the skunks are working, remembering to 
remove it early the next morning. This 
could not be done safely where valuable 
cats* or dogs w^ould be likely to get it. 
Some beekeepers have reported good results 
by stilling the poison into eggs. Others 
are protecting their yards by fencing them 
in with four-foot poultry-netting, one foot 
of which is folded at a right angle so as to 
be flat on the ground on the outside of the 
fence, the outer edge being held close to the 
ground by being weighted or staked down. 
The skunks apparently do not know enough 
to start digging back of that part of the 
netting lying on the ground. 

ANTS. 

Certain ants in the more southern States, 
particularly in Florida and Texas, will at- 
tack a colony of bees and utterly ruin it. 
For further particulars see Ants^ subhead 
"Ants in the South." 

spiders. 

Spiders as well as toads seem to have 
a rare appreciation of a heavily laden bee 
as it returns to the hive ; one should there- 
fore be careful that all spider webs be 
faithfully kept brushed away from the 
hives, and that they have no corners or 
crevices about them to harbor such insects. 
Be sure there is no place which the broom 
will not clear out at one sweep ; for where 
one has a hundred hives he cannot well 
spend a great amount of time on each one. 

Many of these so-called enemies probably 
take up the destruction of bees only as a 
chance habit, and that it is not always to be 
looked for nor expected. Common fowls 
sometimes get a habit of eating their own 
eggs; but it is so unusual aii occurrence 
that it can hardly be regarded as a matter 
of any very serious importance. It may 
be well at times to look out for the enemies 
that prey on bees; but, as a general thing, 
they are quite capable of fighting their own 
battles if they are given the proper care 
and suitable hives . 

It was L. L. Langstroth, just before he 
died, who showed how spiders may be of 



ENTRANCES TO HIVES 



257 



value to the beekeeper. If, he said, they 
have access freely to the combs stored in 
stacked-up hives in the apiary, there never 
need be any fear that moth worm or moth 
miller would be able to do any damage, for 
the spiders will shortly destroy them. 



WASPS. 

Wasps and hornets sometimes capture 
and carrj'^ off honeybees; but, unless they 
should take part in the work in great num- 
bers, there need be no solicitude in regard 
to them. 

MOSQUITO HAWKS. 

Mosquito hawks, sometimes called "dev- 
il's darning-needles," and "bee hawks," at 
certain seasons of the year, are very de- 
structive to bees in some of the Southern 
States, particularly in Florida. They give 
more trouble along the Florida rivers, es- 
pecially along the marshy lands, where they 
breed very rapidly. In April and May 
they come in such countless numbers that 
the sky is black with them. As the habits 
of these insects are predatory, they will at- 
tack any insects, including mosquitoes and 
bees. When they are very numerous, the 
bees have learned the trick of staying in 
the hives, so it is said, realizing that the 
mosquito hawks are their natural enemies. 
These insect hawks are so destructive at 
times that they weaken a whole apiary. 

One year, when the publishers of this 
work had some 300 to 400 colonies on the 
Apalachicola River, their apiarist there es- 
timated that the mosquito hawks did dam- 
age to the extent of a thousand dollars in 
four or five days. Arrangements had been 
made to move the bees north to escape this 
pest, but it was then too late. 

THIEVES. 

Thieves are sometimes troublesome at 
outyards, and once in a while at the home 
yard. The best way to end their depre- 
dations is to put up a sign or two offering 
fifty or a hundred dollars reward for the 
arrest and conviction of the guilty parties. 
The thief is immediately warned that a 
price is upon his head, and that he had 
better stop stealing. It is seldom that the 



reward money is ever called for, and fur- 
ther annoyance is stopped. 

THE WORST ENEMY. 

By all odds the most serious enemy to 
the bees and beekeeping is the careless or 
ignorant beekeeper himself who harbors 
disease in his hives, either because he does 
not care or because he does not know any 
better. Such a man places in jeopardy the 
interests of every other beekeeper for miles 
around. While bees do not ordinarily fly 
over two miles (see Flight of Bees), and 
one is usually safe if he is that far from a 
foul-brood apiary, yet in the course of 
a year or two the colonies in the diseased 
yard will die, when bees a mile and a half 
away can easily rob out the honey from 
these dead colonies, and carry the infection 
to their own yards. These in turn become 
diseased,' forming new centers of infection 
reaching out a mile or perhaps two miles 
farther. This, in fact, is the way bee dis- 
ease proceeds from yard to yard by rob- 
bing. To prevent this spread arises the 
need of foul-brood laws and bee inspectors. 
See Laws Relating to Foul Brood; also 
Inspectors. 



ENTRANCE GUARDS.— See Drones. 

ENTRANCES TO HIVES.— At the bot- 
tom of the hive is the usual and by 
far the best location for the entrance. 
Having the entrance below makes it 




^n^mi^ 




much easier for the bees to retain the 
warmth of the cluster. Moreover the bees 
when flying during chilly weather have 



258 



ENTRANCES TO HIVES 



less difficulty in entering the hive, and can 
easily remove bits of refuse comb, dirt, or 
dead bees from the bottom-board. 

On account of the tendency of returning 
bees to chill in cold weather, there should be 
a large alighting-board if the hive is raised 
off the ground; or if on the ground, there 
should be an easy slanting grade or door- 
step to the entrance. All grass and weeds 
should be kept down within at least a foot 
of the front of the hive; and it would be 
better if there were a full yard of clear 
space. Bees that come in heavily laden are 
often knocked down by bumping into tall 



yi iig i M T'M mi i Piiip i 







^-m^^ 



^' -'f 



A colony with an entrance too small where the 
bees have formed the loafing habit. 



weeds or sprigs of grass. While they ulti- 
mately take wing, making another attempt, 
and finally land in the hive, such obstruc- 
tions, if hindering to the bees, cause a loss 
to their owner. 



be surprised. When it is such an easy matter 
to cut away the weeds, or keep them away 
from the entrance with a little sprinkling of 
salt or with a wide board, it is "penny wise 
and pound foolish" to wear out the wings 
of our little servants trying to pass this 
obstruction, at the same time delaying them 
when every moment counts. Farmer bee- 
keepers especially seem to have the idea 




that bees will work for nothing and board 
themselves, and in three cases out of five 
one will find the entrances of their hives, 
what few they may have, all tangled up 
with grass and weeds. On mornings when 
there is a heavy dew such obstruction is 
very considerable. 

Very many use a scythe, lawnmower, or 
a common sickle, to cut down the grass. 
Others keep it down with a small handful 
of salt scattered around the front of the 
hive. Still others prefer to use a piece of 
board about a foot or more wide, and as 
long as the hive is wide. Rough unplaned 
lumber of the cheapest kind is better than 
clear planed stuff, as the bees can cling to 




It is impossible to estimate just how much 
the loss in honey is; but, if the actual fig- 
ures could be secured, the producer would 



it more easily. The boards should be 
cleated and laid directly on the ground, 
abutting up close to the bottom-board if it 



ENTRANCES TO HIVES 



259 



rests on or close to the ground. No grass 
or weeds can grow, of course, where these 
boards are laid ; and general practice shows 
it is cheaper and better to use such boards 
than to be compelled to use salt or cut 
down the obstructions every few days in 
front of the hive. 

One of the drawings contains a sugges- 
tion which can be very easily applied to the 
cleated boards just described. Bend some 
iron wires, about No. 8, with hook at each 
end. Drive one of the hooks into the board 
as here illustrated, and secure in position 
by means of a common blind-staple near 
the other edge. If the wires are cut right, 
this alighting-board can be easily hooked 
into the entrance and make a nice easy 
grade from the ground up to the hive. 
At any time these alighting-boards can be 
unhooked, the grass cut with a lawnmower, 
and the board replaced. 

SIZE OF SUMMER ENTRANCE. 

The proper size of entrance depends on 
the location, season of the year, size of 
colony, amount of protection, and whether 
the bees are wintered indoors or out. Dur- 
ing the height of the honey flow the aper- 
ture should be as large as the bottom-board 
or hive will permit — not less than % inch 
deep by the width of the hive. If too 
small there will be insufficient ventilation, 
causing loafing and clustering on the front 
of the hive, often resulting in swarming. 
(See Swarming.) 

Nuclei or weak colonies must have no 
larger entrances than they can easily de- 
fend. They should be as small as possible 
after the regular honey flow, for then it is 
that robbers are liable to rush in pellmell 
and overpower the guards of the little col- 
ony, depriving it of the scanty store it may 
have. See Robbing. A two-frame nucleus 
should not have an opening larger than 
will admit two or three bees at a time dur- 
ing the robbing season. When the honey 
flow is on, it may be larger; but it should 
be contracted as soon as the flow eases up. 

SIZE OF WINTER ENTRANCE. 

When cool weather comes on the en- 
trances of all colonies should be contracted, 
both strong and weak, and kept so during 
the entire winter if bees are left outdoors. 



Formerly the practice was to allow the full 
size; but experience has shown that this is 
a serious mistake in many localities. There 
is no more reason why the bees should have 
their doors wide open in midwinter, letting 



^Arr/?AA^C£^ ^Z OCU 




Contractive cleats for summer use. 

chilling drafts blow in, than that we should 
leave our doors open. A ten-frame Lang- 
stroth hive should have an entrance about 
% inch deep by one to eight inches wide, 
the length of the entrance depending on the 
climate and the size of the colony. During 
very severe weather it might be still 



jj^ 






OLD STYUC ENTRANCE BLOCK 



'<^^^% @ @ ^jzii-^ln-rT^^-:^-.^ 



A/EW STYLE BL OCK.jye ' A/OL ES 

smaller. With a contracted entrance it 
may be necessary for the apiarist to hook 
the dead bees out with a wire two or 



COMBINATION BLOCK- Ve'^ MOLES AND SLOT 



260 



ENTRANCES TO HIVES 



three times during the winter, and possibly 
once in the spring; for in no case must the 
opening be clogged up. 

Dr. E. F. Phillips, in charge of Api- 
culture, Bureau of Entomology, Washing- 
ton, D. C, recommends the use of a small 
entrance in the form of a circular hole 
from % inch to % inch diameter where 
the bees are packed in quadruple winter 
cases, such as are described under head 
of "Wintering" at the close of this work. 
A number of prominent apiarists all over 
the country have used very small entrances 
like this with excellent results during win- 
ter, but such small entrances are not prac- 
ticable unless there is at least 6 inches of 
packing on the sides of the winter case, 
then 6 inches on top and 4 inches on the 
bottom. With that amount of packing it 
is claimed the interior of the brood-nest is 
so warm that bees can easily pick up the 
dead and poke them out of the entrance. 
When hives are only single-walled and out- 
doors, so small an entrance would probably 
be too much of a good thing, as the dead 
bees would accumulate so fast that the en- 
trance would clog up. 

In California it is getting more and 
more the practice, even with small colonies, 
;o contract the entrance down to ^/2 inch 



- 




^4 


:^JS^V^-^ 



Hives owned by John Xippcrt, at Imperial. Calif. 

wide, or a space where not more than two 
or three bees can pass at a time, but as the 
bees can fly nearly every day during the 
winter, they can easily carry out any dead 
that may accumulate. The object of the 
close contraction of the entrance in Cali- 
fornia is to obviate robbing and to hold 
the heat in the hives. 

The use of very closely contracted en- 
trances during the winter, as advocated by 
California beekeepers, can be practiced to 
excellent advantage in other semi-tropical 
countries during that part of the year 



when the days are warm and the nights 
cold. 

It is customary to have some sort of cleat 
to reduce a wide entrance to a small slot. 
This, when inserted slot side down, reduces 
the opening to the proper size for outdoor- 
wintered bees. In cleaning out the dead 
bees the entrance-stop should be removed 
entirely, making the entrance the full size. 
Any dead bees that may have accumulated 
should be raked out and the stop put back. 
If it is discovered that the colony is weak, 
the slot should be reduced to one inch or 
less in width. At the same time the frames 
should be contracted to the number that the 
bees can reasonably occupy or cover. If 
they are compelled to keep a large room 
warm, they may die from cold. 




^'^^>^^^ 



The illustrations show very simple cleats 
which can be made at any planing mill, or 
can be cut at home, using nothing but a 
common hand saw and a chisel. These 
cleats give various-sized entrances ac!'o -d- 
ing to the way they are attached. Wlien 
the cleats are removed entirely the full 
opening of the hive is provided. 

If the new-style block contain hig % inch 
holes is used, at least two of the holes may 
be closed during very cold weather. 

No matter whether the slotted enti-ance, 
or one consisting of a series of holes, is 
used, it is very important that there be 
no doorstep or ledge to catch snow and 
ice. We have tested this out to our satis- 
faction, and some of the biggest beekeep- 
ers are emphatic in the statement that door- 
steps just beneath the entrances are far 
worse than useless. 

Under the heading Enemies of Bees 
reference was made to the depredations of 



EXTRA.\X^ES TO HIVES 



261 



mice during the winter. It often becomes 
necessary to screen the entrances of hives 
put in the cellar. W. D. Keyes of Wilkins- 
burg, Pa., uses a very simple device, con- 
sisting of two triangular blocks and a strip 
of coarse-mesh cloth, just coarse enough to 
let bees thru it and yet exclude the mice. 
It is very quickly applied; and, if there is 
one to each hive, it will make very little 
expense, especially considering that a 
mouse on even one frame of young brood 
may do enough mischief in a single colony 
to pay the expense of the excluder. They 
will seldom gnaw a % inch slot in an 
entrance-contracting cleat. For colonies 




Coarse wire mesh that will let bees thru but 
exclude mice. 



wintered outdoors such a contracted en- 
trance is all that is necessary for excluding 
mice. 

The accompanying illustrations show how 
the entrance is provided for in a modern 
dovetailed hive. The bottom is made up of 
an outside rim or framework, into which 




space, and on the other side %. The 
usual practice is to use the deep side up, 
and an entrance-contracting cleat as shown. 
While some prefer to use the shallow 
side of the bottom board up the year round, 
it is better to use the deep side, and then 
make the necessary contraction of entrance 
with the contracting cleat as shown. Dur- 
ing the warm part of the year, when bees 
need an abundance of ventilation (spoken 
of under Comb Honey^ to Produce^ and 
Swarming^ Prevention of), the wide or 
deep entrance is used witliout the entrance 




are inserted the floor-boards % inch thick. 
These slide into grooves so cut that on one 
side the bottom-board provides a % inch 



cleat. As cooler weather comes on, or if 
tlie colony is not strong, the cleat is inserted 
as shown in the above engraving. 

A PLURALITY OF ENTRANCES. 

While it is true that a plurality of en- 
trances may be a detriment in a brood- 
chamber, this does not necessarily hold 
good during the honey season when the 
hive is tiered up two or three stories high. 
It then becomes difficult, and wasteful of 
bee energy that might be better employed, 
to ventilate the whole hive from one en- 
trance, however large it is, for the bees 
have to maintain a current of air rushing 
in, and another going out at the same aper- 
ture. If queen-excluders are used the case 
is made worse. It almost goes without say- 
ing, that, during the period in which the 
honey is evaporated while in the combs, 
there should be more than one entrance 
to the hive — at least two, and, during very 
hot weather, more, one to each story, with 
the cover or roof slightly raised at the back 
to furnish additional means for the bad air 
to escape at the top of the hive. 

It is said by those who have tried this 
method of air control that it is a great pre- 
ventive of swarming, and it looks reason- 
able. The brood-chamber is far less crowded, 



262 



ENTRANCES TO HIVES. 



since the field workers arrive and depart 
from the upper entrance to a great extent, 
saving overcrowding of the brood-chamber, 
which surely leads to swarming. On the 
other hand, there is danger of the honey- 
chambers being rendered too cool by so 
many entrances ; but if this is the case, it is 
also too cool for honey-gathering, and the 
upper stories should be removed. If the 
colony is weak, upper entrances are unnec- 
essary; and in that case, also, the honey- 
chambers should be removed, since such a 
colony does not gather a surplus in any 
event. 

Some of our well-known writers on bee 
culture heartily recommend upper entrances 
—notably so Dr. C. C. Miller, C. P. Dadant, 
R. F. Holtermann, and, in early times, 
Adam Grimm, who, with the money he 
made with his bees, established a bank. 

Dr. C. C. Miller, in Gleanings in Bee 
Culture for June 1, 1907, writes: "Prof. 
Cook ssijs, p. 312, that bees ventilate so 
effectively at the entrance that it is best 
to have only one opening to the hive, evi- 
dently meaning at all times; and W. K. 
Morrison, page 686, asks if I subscribe to 
that doctrine. Emphatically, no.- If run- 
ning for extracted honey I would generally 
have one more opening than the number of 
stories in use — the regular entrance and an 
opening at the top of each story. Each year 
for years I have had one or more piles thus 
ventilated, and none has ever swarmed. 
Many years ago I learned from Adam 
Grimm to have an opening for ventilation 
at the top of the brood-chamber at the back 
end when running for comb honey. I gave 
it up because it interfered with the finish- 
ing of the sections near such openings. But 
I have gone back to it again, believing that 
such disadvantage is overbalanced by the 
gain in ventilation. You can't make me be- 
lieve that it is not easier for the bees to 
have one hole for the air to go out and an- 
other for it to come in than to make the air 
go both ways in the same hole."* The 



* It is a very interesting experiment to light a 
match and hold it in front of the entrance while the 
evaporation of nectar is going on in the hive. On 
one side the flame will be sucked into the entrance 
and on the other side the flame will be blown away 
from it. So strong is the current that the match 
will be sucked out in one case and blown out in the 
other. It shows that bees, like a series of little 
electric fans, are sucking fresh air in one side and 
forcing the air laden with moisture from evaporation 
on the other side. The direction of the air current 
can also be determined by the use of a little smoke 
or a light and fluffy feather. 



practical beekeeper will soon discover for 
himself when and how to use a plurality of 
entrances, for much depends on the climate. 
Evidently it does not work so well with 
comb-honey production as it does with ex- 
tracted ; yet even this may be satisfactorily 
arranged. It looks now as if plural en- 
trances were a long step toward swarm 
prevention by causing the field workers to 
leave the brood and confine their energies 
to storing honey in the upper chambers. 
See Swarming. 

ENTRANCES FOR INDOOR WINTERING. 

Authorities differ as to the size of en- 
trance that should be used for indoor win- 
tering. Some argue that, the larger the 
openings, the better. A few go even so far 
as to urge that the bottom-boards be re- 
moved entirely, one hive piled upon two 
others, leaving an opening between the two 
lower hives of about one-third of the size of 

D D n D 

nn nn nn nn 

the entire bottom of the hive. Others ad- 
vise a regular bottom-board, but an en- 
trance two inches deep by the full width 
of the hive; while others recommend no 
larger entrance than the bees have during 
the summer. 

The preponderance of evidence seems to 
be in favor of the last-mentioned size. Too 
much ventilation, even in a cellar where 
the temperature is reasonably under con- 
trol, has a tendency to induce too large a 
consumption of stores. Over-eating causes 
dysentery. When that happens in a bee- 
cellar the colony is doomed unless it can be 
given a flight on a warm day, as recom- 
mended under the head of Wintering in 
Cellars in the latter part of this work. 

The author's practice has been to use the 
same entrance that we have in the summer ; 
and so long as we used that size we had 
excellent results in wintering. One win- 
ter, for the purpose of experiment, we 
raised each individual hive off its bottom- 
board and inserted a rim three inches deep 
and of the same outside dimensions as the 
hive. The sides of these rims were open, 
but covered with wire cloth. The result 
was that we lost over 100 colonies out of 
the 230 put into the cellar, and the rest 
came out in a very weakened condition. 



EUCALYPTUS 



263 



The bee is essentially a warm-blooded 
animal. Experience has shown that in a 
cellar a temperature of 43 to 50 degrees 
F. with plenty of ventilation gives the best 
results. When the temperature is do^vn to 
40 or 42 less ventilation is required. An 
ordinary colony with ordinary summer en- 
trance in such cellar temperature will be 
able to warm the interior of its hive with- 
out too much expenditure of animal heat. 
When the bees are too cold they will eat 
largely of their stores, and in doing so 
bring on disease. 



and landscape trees. A number of the 
species are popularly known as gum trees 
because a resinous gum flows from incisions 
in the bark; others are called iron-bark 
trees from their very hard bark, and still 
others from their fibrous bark are termed 
stringy-bark trees. To this genus belongs 
the tallest tree in the world, E. amygdalina, 
which attains the height of 480 feet. 

By far the most widely planted and 
probably the best adapted to the climatic 
conditions of California is the blue gum, 
or E. globulus, which is found in almost 




The eucalyptus is of vast importance in California for brood-rearing. 



EUCALYPTUS.— A large genus of ever- 
green trees growing chiefly in the coast 
region of Australia and New Guinea. About 
150 species have been described, of which 
not far from 100 have been introduced into 
California. At the Forestry Station at 
Santa Monica there have been planted near- 
ly 70 species and varieties, the qualities of 
which are being tested and compared. To 
a much smaller extent they have been 
planted in Arizona and the Gulf region of 
Texas. Few eucalyptus will endure a tem- 
perature below 20 degrees, or above 120 
degrees F. They grow very rapidly and 
promise to become very valuable sources 
of timber and other commercial products, 
and are likewise very effective as avenue 



every town in the State from San Fran- 
cisco to San Diego, and inland as far as 
the edge of the Imperial Desert region. It 
is apparently as vigorous in California as 
in its native Australia. It is claimed to be 
the fastest growing tree in the world. 
Seedlings will average a growth of 50 feet 
in height in six years and 100 feet in ten 
j^ears; and under favorable conditions a 
seedling may reach a height of 35 feet in 
eight months, and in three years a height 
of 70 feet. In Australia old trees grow 
375 feet tall. The wood is very heavy, 
hard, and strong, and is valued at the same 
price as oak. It is used for innumerable 
purposes from telegraph poles, railroad 
ties, and shipbuilding to cabinet work and 



264 



EUCALYPTUS 



wagon wheels, as well as for fuel; while 
the leaves yield large quantities of medici- 
nal oil. Windbreaks of two or three rows 
of blue gum afford excellent protection to 
orchards. The cost of setting out and cul- 
tivating a plantation for two years is about 
$25 per acre, while the returns at the end 
of ten years will usually not exceed $160 
per acre. 

The bark of the blue gum is smooth and 
pale brown. The leaves are sword-shaped, 
6 to 12 inches long, tough, leathery, and 
bluish green in young trees, but dark green 
in older trees. The flowers are solitary (in 
most other species they are in small clus- 
ters), in the axils of the leaves and appear 
from December to June. The flower bud 
expands by the top of the calyx dropping 
off, when there is a "veritable starburst" 
of some 100 creamy-white stamens. A 
flower consists of the cup-shaped lower 
portion of the calyx, which is well adapted 
to hold the very abundant supply of nec- 
tar, and a ring of stamens, with the pistil 
in the center — there are no petals. The 
seed cases are round, top-shaped, or in the 
blue gum angular, and a pound of seed 
will produce over 10,000 plants. E. globu- 
lus was introduced into California in 1856. 

Other species of eucalyptus, which are 
promising commercially, are the sugar gum 
{E. corynocalyx), the red gum {E. rostra- 
ta), and the. gray gum {E. tereticornis) ; 
but none of them are comparable to E. 
globulus in rapid growth, value of timber, 
and ability to flourish over a wide range 
of conditions in California. The sugar 
gum is much used in southern California 
as a street tree and for windbreaks. It 
strongly resists drouth, but succumbs easily 
to frosts. The red gum has been largely 
planted in the Sacramento and San Joa- 
quin Valleys, and also withstands well the 
intense heat of the Imperial Valley. The 
gray gum endures drouth and cold better 
than many species, and can, therefore, be 
planted over a wide range of the State. 
The timber of all three species is strong 
and valuable. 

All of the species yield nectar, but most 
of them are so rare outside of experimental 
grounds that their value as honey-producers 
remains to be determined. The blooming 
time of the various species varies so widely 
that there are, at least, from three to seven 
iDecies in flower during every month of the 



year, and a species may even bloom twice 
in the same year. The blue gum [E. globu- 
lus) is the only species which is yet suffi- 
ciently abundant to be of much importance 
to apiarists. 

The honey is an amber of a rather in- 
ferior quality. Its chief value to beekeep- 
ers, however, is that it comes on during the 
winter in California and yields honey pretty 
much all winter. Some years there is a 
great deal more of it than others. Occa- 
sionally there will be enough secured to 
yield quite a surplus, but as a rule, it 
comes in just fast enough to stimulate 
brood-rearing and to supply enough more 
honey so that the bees do not have to draw 
upon their reserve supply left in the hive 
to prevent starvation in case there should 
be no winter flow. 

There are many localities in California 
where there is no eucalyptus. Its import- 
ance from a brood-rearing standpoint is so 
great that many beekeepers move their 
bees a good many miles to the eucalyptus 
to build them up during the winter, so that 
when the orange flow comes on they will 
be ready for the crop. 

Several species are reputed to yield fine 
honeys with exquisite flavors. The sugar 
gum {E. corynocalyx) secretes nectar copi- 
ously, and two or three bees may often be 
seen around a single blossom seeking a load 
of nectar. The flowers, which are in pretty 
white clusters about two inches broad, ex- 
hale a most agreeable odor suggestive of a 
ripe eantalope. The mahogany gum (E. 
robusta), which thrives in swampy locali- 
ties, is also very valauble. White iron bark 
{E. leucoxylon) with a vanilla-like fra- 
grance, and the honey-scented gum {E. 
mellilodora) are reported to be wonderful 
yielders of nectar and to be very eagerly 
visited by bees. They all bloom during the 
earlier half of the year when their value in 
stimulating brood-rearing is almost beyond 
estimate. 

But eucalyptus honey in America prob- 
ably belongs chiefly to the future. The 
commercial importance of eucalyptus cul- 
ture, which has now passed the experimen- 
tal stage, will lead to the planting of thou- 
sands of trees, which will offer a bee pas- 
ture of extraordinary richness. The Santa 
Fe Railroad Company, for example, ex- 
pects to cover 8000 acres in San Diego 



EXTRACTED HONEY 



265 



County with eucalyptus trees for ties and 
timber. If the nectar production of these 
immense plantations equals expectation, 
the possibilities of bee culture in California 
can hardly be overestimated. It is, how- 
ever, unfortunate that the blue gum, which 
financially is the most promising species, 
should yield a honey of inferior quality. 
For descriptions and illustrations of the 
more important species of eucalyptus and 
the methods of cultivation see Bulletins No. 
196 and No. 225, Agriculture Experunent 
Station, Berkeley, Cal., and Circular 59 of 
Forest Service, United States Department 
of Agriculture. 

EXTRACTED HONEY.— Up to the year 
1865 all liquid honey obtainable was pressed 
and strained from the combs — hence the 
term "strained" honey. Such a product is 
generally full of sediment owing to particles 
of wax, pollen, propolis, and dirt. The 
more modern product of liquid honey is 
extracted from the combs by centrifugal 
force. A reel holding two or more combs 
and revolving inside of a cylinder or can, 
throws the liquid honey from the cells, 
leaving the empty combs intact for the 
bees to fill up again. (See Extracting. ") 
The honey so obtained is called "extracted." 
It is free from impurities — moreover, it is 
not impaired in flavor by bits of pollen 
and propolis. Practically all the liquid 
honey on the market today is separated 
from the combs by the use of the extractor, 
and is, therefore, extracted honey. Occa- 
sionally there is a honey — for example, the 
far-famed heather honey of Scotland — that 
is so thick that it cannot be readily sepa- 
rated from the comb by centrifugal force, 
unless it is placed in a warm room for 
twenty-four hours before extracting. 

There are as many varieties and flavors 
of honej^s as there are of apples and other 
fruits. Extracted honey may be divided 
into two general classes, one suitable for 
table use and the other for manufacturing 
purposes. Among the first named are the 
light-colored honeys, such as the clover, 
basswood, alfalfa, sage, orange, tupelo, 
palmetto, and raspberry, all of which are 
of fine body and flavor, and of course suit- 
ble for use on the table. While it is not 
invariably true, yet generally the light-col- 
ored honeys are mild and delicious. The 
darker honeys are nearly always stronger 



in flavor and must be marketed in a locality 
where the consumers are accustomed to the 
flavor, or they must be sold for baking pur- 
poses. Hundreds, yes, thousands, of car- 
loads of dark honeys are used by the large 
baking concerns, for no artiflcial product* 
that has ever been produced quite takes 
the place of honey for keeping cakes soft 
and moist for months. Some cakes, like 
honey jumbles, contain a larger percentage 
of honey than others. Honey is also often 
used along with molasses and cheaper syr- 
ups in baking. See Honey as a Food. 

As is pointed out under Comb Honey 
there is some difference in flavor between 
comb honey and extracted, owing to the 
fact that the latter, especially if improper- 
ly handled, loses some of its aroma and 
because it usually has to be heated one or 
more times, as explained under Bottling. 
Overheating, even for a very short time, 
impairs the flavor of honey. Moreover, 
some producers in their eagerness to obtain 
all the honey possible extract it from the 
combs before it is fully "ripened." Honey 
when it is first stored in the cells is thin 
and watery, and does not have the exquisite 
flavor that it has when evaporated and 
changed chemically by the bees and sealed 
over. Honey which has been allowed to 
stay in the hive some time after it is sealed 
acquires a body and a richness that honey 
only partially sealed does not have. Some 
producers who use specially constructed 
evaporating tanks maintain that unripe 
honey may be evaporated by artificial 
means and made just as heavy in body as 
that evaporated by the bees. If an exten- 
sive equipment is used this is probably 
true, but the flavor is not as rich as tho 
the honej'- had been left on the hive, fully 
evaporated and capped over by the bees 
before being extracted. Most beekeepers 
who have tried to ripen honey artificially 
have not succeeded, and the thin honey 
which they attempt to sell not only lacks 
in flavor and body, but in many instances 
actually sours, irreparably damaging future 
sales and injuring the reputation of the 
producer. Unless honey is coming in so 
fast that there is not a reserve of combs 
to take care of it, it is penny- wise-and- 
pound-foolish to extract unripe honey. It 



* Invert sugar, when it is cheaper than honey, is 
somrtimes used as a substitute, but it lacks flavor. See 

IXVEUr SCGAR. 



266 



EXTRACTED HONEY 




A comb of honey with the cappings shaved off by a sharp knife. 




Uncapped combs being lowered into a honey-extractor. 



EXTRACTED HONEY 



207 




When the combs are whirled rapidly, the centrifugal force throws the honey out of the cells against the side 
of the can. 




The comb after being taken from the extractor is as good as new and is ready to be filled again by the bees. 



2C8 



EXTRACTED HONEY 



is not possible to produce an extracted 
honey that will have all the delicate aroma 
that it possessed before being removed 
from the comb, and every extracted-honey 
producer, therefore, should err on the safe 
side by letting the bees do their part fully. 
In 1870 A. I. Root extracted over three 
tons of honey from an apiary of less than 
fifty colonies. During the fore part of the 
season it had been allowed to become cap- 
ped over; but during the basswood bloom, 
when the bees were fairly crazy in their 
eagerness to bring in the nectar, some of it 
was extracted that was little better than 
sweetened water. This granulated when the 
weather became cold, and nearly all of it 
had to be sold at a loss. Almost all honey 
will granulate; but an unripe honey will 
do so, leaving a thin waterj^ part, which, 



New honey, even that which is fully 
capped over, often has a peculiar odor and 
taste. Sometimes, where there is a great 
amount of goldenrod a disagreeable smell is 
noticeable in the apiary while the golden- 
rod honey is ripening. In a few weeks, 
however, all this passes away and the honey 
shows nothing of the former disagreeable 
odor or flavor. In certain localities where 
onion seeds are raised for market, the 
honey, when first gathered, has so strong 
a flavor of onions that it cannot be used. 
Later on, however, much of the disagree- 
able quality disappears. 

Even basswood honey, when first gath- 
ered, is so strong, and has such a pro- 
nounced "twang" that it is often unpleas- 
ant. After standing, especially if left in 
the hives, it greatly improves. 




Unripe honey. Fermentation and consequent expansion 

if it does not sour, acquires in time a dis- 
agreeable brackish flavor. Unripe honey 
will often show the peculiar quality of 
pushing the bungs out of barrels, corks 
out of bottles, and it may actually burst 
cans, to the disgust of every one who has 
anything to do with it. 



caused the honey to leak out around the screw-caps. 

One season we could not attend to ex- 
tracting, when the honey was capped over, 
and so the fllled supers were raised up and 
supers of empty combs placed under them 
next to the brood-chamber. This occupied 
little time, and the bees were not hindered 
in their work. This was continued until the 



EXTRACTED HONEY 



269 



latter part of the summer, before any 
honey was extracted. While honey that 
has stood in the hives is somewhat thicker 
and harder to extract, it has a richness of 
flavor that can be obtained in no other way. 
Of course, in localities where there are 
honey flows from two or more sources it is 
necessary to extract after each flow, if one 
desires to keep the flavors separate. 

HOW TO KEEP EXTRACTED HONEY. 

It is usually best to sell the crop at once 
when the market is good; but sometimes it 
. is advisable to hold, awaiting a further 
higher price. It is impossible to recommend 
any invariable rule, for conditions are dif- 
ferent in different seasons. It is pretty 
safe to assume, however, that honey brings 
a better price before the holidays than 
after. 

Comb honey cannot be kept indefinite^, 
because there is danger that it may granu- 
late;* but, if extracted honey is properly 
eared for, it may be kept for years without 
deteriorating. All comb honey should be 
kept in a room as near summer tempera- 
ture as possible. The thermometer should 
not go below 70 degrees F., and no harm 
is done if it goes as high as ordinary sum- 
mer temperature permits, even 90 or 100 
degrees in the shade. Extracted honey 
keeps perfectly when stored in tin cans or 
in large tanks, even when the temperature 
is down to freezing or lower. At the low 
temperature it will granulate. For the 
purpose of shipping it is much better to 
have it in a granulated condition. Tanks 
holding more than 500 pounds are ordi- 
narily made of galvanized iron. Some 
objection has been made to this metal be- 
cause of the zinc contained in the spelter; 
but in the large-sized tanks no injury to 
the honey has ever been noticed. However, 
it would be a mistake to leave a very thin 
layer of honey for a long time in the bot- 
tom of a large galvanized tank, as the 
honey might take on enough of the zinc to 
be poisonous. In California and other 
Western States where great quantities of 
extracted honey are produced, it is custom- 
ary to store honey in large galvanized 
tanks, some of them practically good-sized 
cisterns above the ground. In hot climates 



See Comb Honey. 



the honey will remain liquid for some time 
and can be kept perfectly clear until cool 
weather comes on. If the honey has a 
tendenc}^ to granulate soon after extract- 
ing, it is not advisable to store it for any 
length of time in large tanks, but it should 
be drawn off into smaller cans of con- 
vienient size to handle after it granulates. 
In such cans it is not difficult to liquefy it, 
if desired. (See Bottling Honey and 
Granulated Honey.) It is an expensive 
matter to dig granulated honey out of a 
large tank. Some have attempted to sup- 
ply heat by means of a steam- jacketed 
tank, or by means of coils of steam pipes; 
but in most instances this, too, is expensive, 
and it is better to get honey into smaller 
cans as soon as possible. 

In some localities barrels are extensively 
used for storing. They require careful 
watching, however, on account of the dan- 
ger of leaking. The hoops need to be 
driven down occasionally to compensate 
for the slight shrinkage of the wood, of 
which there is danger, especially in a hot 
climate. The barrel should be thoroly 
waxed on the inside as described under 
Barrels. The bung should be left out, 
and the honey stored in a dry room. When 
ready to ship, the bung should be driven in, 
a piece of tin tacked over it, and the hoops 
tightened. 

IS extracted honey always pure"? 

Years ago adulterated extracted honey 
was marketed in considerable quantities; 
but in late years, owing to the enactment 
and enforcement of pure-food laws the 
adulterated product has been practically 
eliminated from the market. One may be 
nearly certain, therefore, that any liquid 
honey that he buys Avill be the pure product 
of bees. Some may be of poor quality, it 
is true ; but that does not signify that it is 
adulterated. See Adulteration of Honey, 
also Labels^ for a further discussion of 
this question. 

packages for shipping and selling 
extracted honey. 

For the shipment of honey, tin containers 
are much more satisfactory^ than wooden. 
When tin is used there is never any loss 
by honey soaking into the package, while 



270 



EXTRACTED HONEY 



in case of barrels or kegs the loss is some- 
times 2 or even 5 per cent, and this is con- 
siderable. Such loss is greatly reduced by 
waxing; but that in turn includes much 
additional labor. In the West, the dryness 
of the climate causes wooden packages, 
such as barrels and kegs, to shrink to such 
an extent that they are entirely useless. 
If tin containers are tight in the first place 
they will remain tight, and no degree of 
dryness wiU affect them. While they are 
somewhat more expensive, yet this disad- 
vantage is more than offset by the greater 
convenience and safety in handling. 

Yet whatever package is used, care should 
be taken to insure safe shipment. Every 
3'ear in this country an enormous amount 
of honey is lost by the honey-shipper's 




A honey can after being shipped loose in a box. Most of 
the honey had leaked out. 



carelessness in failing to provide proper 
shipping equipment when putting his crop 
aboard cars. Now railroads stand all loss 
in transit; and, therefore, in order to re- 
alize the necessary profit, excessive loss in 
transit compels them to raise the rates, and 
thus the shipper is ultimately obliged to 
pay from his own pocketbook for his fail- 
ure to provide strong shipping-cases. 

A round can as a container for honey or 
other liquid has long been condemned as a 



failure by the railroad companies. This is 
because of the fact that there is no way of 
keeping a round container upright and in 
its place on the car floor, and, once tipped 
over, it rolls about with every jolt of the 
car and gets battered or even knocked to 
pieces. As for the wooden jacket (a 
wooden veneer about Yg inch thick) it is 
about as good as nothing. The accompany- 




\ truck-load of round wooden-jacketed cans just as 
they were received after shipment. 

ing illustration shows the battered and 
leaky condition in which jacketed cans ar- 
rive at their destination. 

When such packages are used, not only 
is the honey itself liable to be lost in tran- 
sit, but often the honey runs down upon 
other merchandise in the freight car, caus- 
ing considerable damage. It is on account 
of these repeated instances of loss and dam- 
age caused by leaking honey, that some 
shippers have recently been advocating steel 
drums, holding 15 gallons or possibly 30 
gallons. These are especially advised for 
export shipments to foreign countries where 
the packages receive very rough treatment, 
as on shipboard. The only possible objec- 
tion to shipping honey in these drums is, 
that they are rather heavy and cannot be 
lifted without a hoist. Moreover should the 
honey granulate in them, it would require 
a long heating process to reliquef y it. When 
steel drums are used, they must be either 
tin lined or galvanized. 



EXTRACTED HONEY 



271 



By far the most popular package for 
shipping extracted honey in bulk is the 
five-gallon sixty-pound square can. These 
are usually shipped two in a wooden case 



have introduced smaller-sized cans holding 
one, one-half, and one-fourth gallon re- 
spectively. The gallon cans are usually 
?old in boxes of ten each. 




Standard two-can shipping case with strong partition in 

middle between the cans. Each 5-gal. can 

holds 60 lbs. of honey. 

as shown. Note the strong % inch parti- 
tion between the two cans. This is abso- 
lutely necessary for safe shipment. With- 
out this partition the ease is too frail to 
stand such a weight of honey together with 
the rough handling it is bound to receive in 
shipment. 

A very convenient device to use when 
pouring honey from the five-gallon cans is 
the screw-cap honey-gate, as shown. This 
simple gate may be made by any ene. Take 




a piece of heavy tin, 2l^ x 3, and make a 
square bend ^ inch from each long edge. 
A heavy piece of sole leather, 2x3 inches, 
of a size to fit into this, should be riveted 
firmly at the four corners. Solder to it a 
screw-cap the right size to fit the cans used, 
and with a tinner's punch cut a hole thru 
the cap, tin, and leather. A tin slide, to be 
pushed in between the leather and the 
folded tin, completes the device, which, 
when screwed on the can, is ready for use. 

To meet the demand for smaller tin 
packages the manufacturers of square cans 



HOW TO TEST TIN CANS FOR LEAKS. 

Ordinarily by looking into the can while 
it is held toward the light, one may deter- 
mine whether or not the can has leaks. 
Even a tiny hole will let in a bright ray of 
light which will be readily seen if the can is 
turned slightly toward one side or the 
other. 

If solder becomes loosened at some point, 
however, this test might not locate the de- 
fect. Therefore some beekeepers prefer to 
screw the caps tightly on the cans and then 
immerse the cans in hot water. The inside 
air expanding will cause small bubbles to 
escape from all leaks. Another plan some- 
times employed is to have a cap specially 
prepared for attaching the tube of an auto 
pump, and then forcing air into the can. 
If there is a leak, one will hear the sound 
of escaping air. 

HOW TO CLEAN SECOND-HAND CANS. 

Opinions vary as to the advisability of 
using second-hand cans. Frequently sec- 
ond-hand gasoline or kerosene cans may 
be bought for about half the price of new 
ones. Unless one is very careful in clean- 
ing, however, honey placed in them is like- 
ly to be ruined. The general consensus of 
opinion is that bright new cans are the 
cheapest for fine light honey. Honey that 
is dark or ill flavored may be shipped in 
second-hand cans if they are carefully in- 
spected and rigidly cleaned. If a can has 
held oil of any kind, it may be cleaned by 
putting a handful of unslacked lime into 
it with three or four quarts of boiling 
water. After the lime is slacked, it should 
be shaken well and afterward rinsed out 
tAvice with cold water. 

Rusty cans must never be used for honey. 
The rust not only discolors the honey, but 
it indicates weak spots in the tin, whi»:Ji 
may cause leaks almost any time. 

Some beekeepers insist that even new 
cans should be rinsed out with boiling water 
before the honey is put in them, to remove 
the dust or any other foreign matter. Oth- 
ers claim that it is so difficult to dry the 
cans after thev are thus cleaned that it does 



272 



EXTRACTED HONEY 




Friction-top cans and pails. 



not pay. If the cans are not carefully dried, 
the moisture left is almost sure to cause 
rusting. We have rarely found new cans 
that require rinsing. 

FRICTIOX-TOP PAILS. 

Among the smaller tin packages for hold- 
ing a gallon or less the friction-top cans 
and pails are very popular. The opening 
at the top is very large, and this adds 
greatly to the convenience in filling. The 
caps, when they are properly pressed into 
position, are absolutely tight and will not 
work loose. 

GLASS PACKAGES FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 

The appearance of extracted honey is 
beautiful. For this reason the lighter grades 
should be retailed in glass instead of tm. 
A tin package must depend upon its label 
for its attractiveness. Honey in clear white 
glass speaks for itself. The label does not 
need to be gaudy; in fact, it should serve 
only to call attention to the honey. There 
is a great variety of different types of jars 
from the smallest tumbler to the large two- 
quart Mason jars. Square bottles with large 



mouths using corks were very popular a 
few years ago and are still used quite large- 
ly. These are obtainable with a picture of 
a straw skep pressed in the glass on the 
front. 






Airlinei jars. 

Mason fruit jars are popular because 
they can be bought anywhere, and no one 
objects to buying them with honey, since 
they are always useful. Whenever possible 
select crystal-white glass rather than that 
of a greenish tint, for green does not show 
the honey to the best advantage. 




inriMf 







Taper-panel .iar 



Federal jar 



Round jar 



Tip-top jar 



Tumbler 



EXTRACTING 



273 



Paper milk-bottles have been used for 
honey to some extent; and while these are 
ve'-y satisfactory for granulated honey they 
do not answer for long shipments of liquid 
honey that is not granulated. For this rea- 
son they are not very popular. 

Extracted honey is one of the purest and 
best foods. It should not be classed with 
cheap sj^rups, and therefore it deserves the 
best and most attractive package. 

EXTRACTINGr.— To produce honey, one 
must have a big force of bees. The pro- 
ductiveness of an apiary can not be meas- 
ured by the number of colonies it con- 
tains, but by the number of bees in the 
individual colonies. The only way to 
achieve the best results is to see that each 
colony is in good working order by the 
time the flow opens, and to do this it is 
necessary to examine each separately in or- 
der to ascertain its condition. Special at- 
tention must be given to each queen; and 
every one that is in any way defective 
should be replaced with another that is 
young and vigorous. It will never do to 
retain a queen whose prolificness is doubt- 
ful, for the colony of such a queen will 
yield very little surplus, or, in all probabil- 
ity, none at all. It is far better to replace 
such a queen, even if another has to be 
bought. The next important thing to be 
careful about is the strength of each col- 
ony. If the honey flow begins a month or 
six weeks ahead, and the weak colonies 
have young prolific queens, an effort may 
be made to build them up to full strength 
in time for it; but if the flow is near at 
hand, it is better to unite the weaklings. 

In some localities, the main honey flow is 
preceded by a light flow from some other 
source, while in others there is a dearth 
until the opening of the harvest. Where 
the former is the case the bees will make 
good progress in brood-rearing, and the 
colonies consequently will build up nicely; 
but where there is but one flow, some colo- 
nies may be in the pporest kind of condi- 
tion when it commences. 

It is true that, if the colonies were pre- 
pared properly in the fall, and left with 
sufficient stores, they may need no further 
attention until the honey flow; but if they 
lack stores or necessary room for the queen 
to lay, the matter should not be neglected; 



for in order to get a good crop it is im- 
perative that at the begmning of the honey 
flow the hives be overflowing with bees. In 
the case of those colonies that need atten- 
tion, the number of bees actually present 
at the opening of the flow will depend en- 
tirely upon our manipulations begun some 
six or eight weeks previously. 

During these weeks the colonies should 
be kept always supplied with plenty of 
stores. At all times there should be at 
least from ten to twelve pounds of honey in 
the hive — more if possible; for during 
spring breeding great quantities of stores 
are needed, full colonies sometimes needing 
three or more pounds each week. It is 
necessary to have stores in excess of their 
actual needs, in order that brood-rearing 
may continue at the proper rate. There- 
fore close watch should be kept in order 
that the stores may not run low and thus 
curtail brood-rearing. 

If some colonies are short of honey, it is 
generally possible to find others in the 
apiary which can easily spare a few combs ; 
and if no disease is present in the apiary, 
these stores should be equalized; or lack- 
ing these stores it may be necessary to feed 
syrup or candy. (See Feedixg ix Spring.) 

However, the general opinion of the ma- 
jority of large producers is that it is better 
to avoid spring feeding if possible. If in 
need of stores they should be fed; but the 
better way, as mentioned before, is to have 
strong colonies of young vigorous bees with 
an abundance of good stores in the fall to 
last until the main flow begins in the 
spring. 

Just preceding the honey flow the queen 
should be continually supplied with plenty 
of room for laying. To move brood above 
too early in the season would be attended 
with danger of chilling the brood, since 
much of the heat of the lower story would 
rise to the upper one. But two or thrc^ 
weeks before the opening of the main honey 
flow, if the strong colonies become quite 
crowded with brood and bees, a super the 
same depth as the brood-chamber should 
be given immediatelj- above the lower story ; 
and, if the crowded condition seems to 
warrant it, it may be advisable to place 
one or two frames of eggs and larvae in the 
upper story, replacing with frames and 
empty combs or foundation. Combs are 
greatly to be preferred; for if foundation 



274 



EXTRACTING 



is used it will be necessary to feed syrup in 
order to get the foundation drawn out. 
When some brood is thus kept in the sec- 
ond story the bees become so accustomed to 
occupying the second story that when a 
heavy honey flow comes they store in the 
super with energy and enthusiasm. 

WHAT KIND OP HIVES TO USE FOR 
PRODUCING EXTRACTED HONEY. 

For most localities the best results will 
be secured in the long run with ten-frame 
hives of Langstroth dimensions. These may 
be either the double-walled pattern or the 
regular dovetailed style shown herewith. 
Eight-frame hives are advocated by some, 
but they require much more attention ; and 
the average beginner, as well as expert, 
will get far better results with ten-frame 
hives, for colonies in such hives not only 
swarm much less, but they produce more 
honey per hive. 

The supers that go above the brood- 
chamber to hold the surplus honey may 
either be of the shallow type, in which 
frames are used about half the depth of 
Langstroth frames, or they may be similar 
in dimensions to the brood-chamber, the 
frames used being identical with the brood- 
frames. There are advantages and disad- 
vantages in both, and it rests with the indi- 
vidual as to which kind is best. Briefly, we 
may say that the shallower supers are com- 
ing more and more into use. 



as short a time, if not shorter, than from 
the deep combs. It is certainly true that 
the shallow supers are lighter, more easily 
handled, and more safely hauled without 
breakage, may be put on early in the spring 
with less loss of heat from the brood, and 
that they make it possible to keep separate, 
in different supers, different flows of honeys 
varying in color and flavor, such as clover 
and buckwheat. 

Some advocate deep supers so that all 
the frames in the hive will be interchange- 
able, which is certainly a handy arrange- 
ment. Others compromise by having one 
deep super for each hive and two or more 
shallow ones. This arrangement makes it 
possible to give the queen access to two 
stories Avhen desired, and yet retains most 
of the advantages of shallow supers. 

In our own apiary we use the shallow 
supers, and, as we said before, we find an 
increasing number of producers are begin- 
ning to use them also. In either case it is 
best to space the frames further apart than 
they are spaced in the brood-chamber ; that 
is, even tho self -spacing frames are used in 
extracting-supers, it is best to remove two 
of the frames, so that the eight remaining 
ones can be spaced further apart. This 
will result in good fat combs that can be 
more easily uncapped than those that are 
spaced more closely together, so that the 
combs are thinner. 






Fig. 1. Ten-frame Standard hive 
bodv or brood-chamber. 



Fig. 2. Ten-frame shallow extract* 
ing super. 



Fig. 3. 



Jumbo deep hive body or 
brood-chamber. 



Some claim that there is no need of wir- 
ing the combs in the shallow frames to pre- 
vent breakage in the extractor — that the 
combs in the shallow frames are easier to 
uncap, and that the same bulk of honey 
may be extracted from shallow combs, in 



PUTTING ON SUPERS AT OPENING OF FLOW. 

Many make the fatal mistake of waiting 
until the last minute before purchasing 
their supplies. It is folly to go to the ex- 
pense and trouble of establishing an apiary, 



EXTRACTING 



275 



and then, when the time arrives to reap the 
reward of the labor, to lose it all simply 
because the goods have not come. Long 
before the harvest opens, the supers should 
be put together and painted, the frames 
nailed up, supplied with full sheets of 
foundation, etc. If the deep frames of 
Langstroth dimensions are used, they should 
be well wired to prevent comb breakage in 
the extractor; but with the shallow frames 
the wires are not necessary. 

We will assume that the colonies are in 
good condition for the honey flow, and the 
supplies all in readiness. The next thing 
is to put a super on each of the colonies 
not already supplied with a second story, 
and even on those if they seem crowded for 
room. Yet the supers should not be put on 
before the bees are ready for them, as noth- 
ing is gained, and it is harder for the bees 
to keep up the necessary heat, especially in 
cold climates. On the other hand, the put- 
ting-on of supers must not be delayed too 
long, for thus time would be wasted, and 
the bees on account of the crowded condi- 
tion would probably start preparations for 
a swarming. This should be avoided, since 
much swarming is bound to cut down the 
honey crop. As soon as there are indica- 
tions of honey coming in from natural 
sources in such quantities that the tops of 
the combs in the brood-nest begin to whiten, 
it is time to give supers to those colonies 
not already supplied. 

As previously stated, no matter whether 
shallow or deep supers are to be used, many 
prefer that the first super be a deep one, and 
that it contain one or two frames with eggs 
and larvae, together with frames of empty 
combs or foundation. Some advocate the 
use of this plan thruout the season but 
many continue this arrangement only until 
all danger of swarming is past, and then 
the queen is placed below and a queen- 
excluder between the two stories. This 
plan gives the queen plenty of room to lay, 
and so makes the colony less inclined to 
swarm. It also gets the bees into a habit 
of storing above— a thing that some Ital- 
ians are very reluctant about doing at the 
begmning of the season. The combs in the 
second story act as baits to induce the bees 
to go above. When the bees get well started 
they continue working above willingly. 
After that, as little exchanging or handling 
should be done as is consistent with success- 



ful management of the colony; for every 
time a hive is pulled to pieces the bees are 
hindered in their work and honey is lost. 
Any colony with a two-story brood-cham- 
ber, that still insists on crowding the brood- 
chamber with honey, has a poor queen that 
should be immediately replaced. 

There are some who advocate the non- 
use of queen-excluding honej^-boards be- 
tween brood-chambers and supers; but we 
strongly advise that, whether the brood- 
chamber is one story or two stories, it be 
separated from the supers above by a 
queen-excluder, for otherwise the queen is 
likely to go up into the extracting-combs, 
and, instead of nice white honeycomb, there 
will be a mixture of brood in all stages, 
and pollen, drone, and possibly queen-cells. 
By special management the queen may be 
kept out of the supers after the flow be- 
gins, even tho no excluders are used; but 



:ZZ-.-^-^i 



i 



Fig. 4. Seven-wire and Wood Qucen-cxcluding Honey - 
board. 



99 out of 100 who attempt this will fail. 
It is not necessary to state that honey ex- 
tracted from combs containing unsealed 
brood is unfit for table use. Furthermore, 
the queen, if allowed in the supers, will be 
in a most dangerous position, and every 
time the extracting-combs are handled will 
stand a chance of being kiUed. It is also a 
very difficult matter to find a queen if no 
excluder is used, for there would be so 
many more combs to look over. This would 
also be true in reference to the finding of 
queen-cells at swarming time. 

One of the greatest objections to the non- 
use of the queen-excluders is that it is im- 
possible to remove bees from a super by 
means of a bee-escape, if the super contains 
brood. It is plain to see, that, if there is 
any brood in the supers, the bees will not 



276 



EXTRACTING 



desert it and go down below. On one occa- 
sion, when in the height of extracting, we 
recollect seeing a queen and her attendants 
placidly located on a large comb of honey, 
apparently taking in the situation. The 
colony had had no queen-excluder over the 
brood-chamber and the queen was in the 




Fig 5. Hoffman frames, regular. 

super when the escape was put on. It was 
next to impossible to tell to what hive she 
belonged, and the whole proceeding meant 
extra work and worry that would have paid 
for many excluders. Therefore, a queen- 
excluding honey-board should go over the 
brood-nest. . 

The objection that used to be made by 
some to the use of queen-excluders was that 
they obstructed the passage of the bees into 
the supers, but with the new wood-wire 
construction this is entirely obviated. 

As soon as the first super is filled and 
the process of sealing has begun, remove it, 
put an empty one in its place, and over it 
put the nearly completed one. The colony 
will then be occupying a hive of three 
stories, in case full-depth supers are used, 
or approximately two stories, if the shal- 
low supers are used. Always put the empty 
super nearest the brood-nest, as the bees 
start to work in it more readily; and, as 
it is nearer, they have a shorter distance to 
travel. After the first extracting the empty 
combs can be put back again and it will be 
found that the filling and sealing is done 
jnuch more rapidly the second time, as the 
combs are already drawn out and the bees 
do not have to waste any time in comb- 
building. 



We have already mentioned the advisa- 
bility of spacing the combs further apart 
in the supers than in the brood-chambers, 
on account of the greater ease in uncap- 
ping the thick comb. Ordinarily, eight 
combs should be placed in a ten-comb super, 
the space between being regulated so that 
it is just the same. If this is not done, a 
part of the combs will be no thicker than 
ordinary brood-combs while others will be 
entirely too thick, or else the bees may pos- 
sibly build natural combs in between the 
frames. Let no one get the idea that, in 
order to space frames further apart, non- 
spacing frames should be used, for the reg- 
ular Hoffman frame is the best under all 
conditions. In localities where propolis is 
very plentiful, the metal-spaced Hoffman 
frame is desirable, altho it requires a little 
more care in uncapping the metal-spaced 




Fi-. G. 



Hoffman frames, metal-spaced pattern. 



frame to avoid dulling the uncapping-knife. 
The regular Hoffman frame, then, should 
be usually used in the super, altho the 
metal-spaced type is always better in the 
brood-chamber where propolis is plentiful. 

THE CONTROL OF SWARMING 

The extracted-honey producer does not 
have as much trouble preventing swarms as 
does the comb-honey man, since there is no 
objection to giving plenty of room as fast 
as the bees need it, and perhaps a little 
faster. In some localities bees swarm be- 
fore and in others during the honey flow, 
and in a few localities they swarm after 
the flow is almost over; but in any case, 
swarming is a hindrance to the best results 
in honey production. Bees which should be 
working with concentrated energy in one 
hive, if divided into half a dozen diminu- 
tive swarms, are generally of no use to 
themselves or to the beekeeper, so far as 



EXTRACTING 



277 



tlie production of surplus honey is con- 
cerned; and supers which would otherwise 
have been well filled are almost entirely 
emptied of what they may already contain 
in order to supply provender for the new 
swarms. It will be seen, then, that, in or- 
der to get good results, swarming must be 
kept under control, and at the same time 
the colony kept strong. See Swarming, 
subhead, "Prevention of Swarming." 

WHEN TO REMOVE HONEY FROM HIVES. 

We will assume again that the colonies 
were in good condition for the flow, that 
swarming was kept well under control, and 
that the supering was done judiciously so 
that now the attention may be turned to 
extracting. It is well to look over all the 
upper stories and mark those which con- 
tain sealed honey. Beekeepers, especially 
begmners, often like to rush matters and 
extract honey that is unsealed. This is one 
of the worst moves possible. 

Honey should never be extracted until it 
is thick and well ripened. As soon as the 
bees consider it just right they begin cap- 
ping it over. During hot weather, there- 
fore, combs at least three-fourths capped 
would probably be sealed in a few hours if 
left on the hive, and may, therefore, be 
safely extracted. But if honey is extracted 
before the bees have ripened it, it will be 
thin and of unpleasant flavor, and, after 
being kept for a time, fermentation will 
doubtless result. If such honey is sold, it 
will in all probability cause the loss of rep- 
utation with the wholesale honey-dealers, 
as well as with the local trade. 

It is not alwaj^s necessary to wait until 
the end of the flow before extracting, as it 
is sometimes advantageous to extract, be- 
fore the end of the flow, all ripe honey — 
that is, all honey that is sealed, as at that 
time there is no robbing to contend with 
since the bees are busy, and the combs ex- 
tracted will be ready for putting on again 
and getting refilled. As long as the honey 
flow lasts, only that which is well sealed 
should be extracted, the partly sealed combs 
being left until after the flow, in order to 
get the honey in the cells ripened as much 
as possible. We may mention here that 
some large extracted-honey producers pre- 
fer to leave all honey on the hives as long 
as possible, claiming that by so doing they 



get a nuich thicker and better grade. This 
is a very good plan for localities where 
there is no dark honey flow soon after the 
light flow. Where dark honey comes in 
soon after the light, or where there is a 
mixture of honey, it is better to extract the 
combs as soon as they are sealed in order to 
keep the different kinds of honey by them- 
selves as far as possible. When the flow is 
over, and aU the honey is removed, the 
combs should be carefully sorted, all the 
unripe honey extracted by itself and used 
for feeding, or sold for manufacturing 
purposes. Such honey should never be 
used for the table. 

If the honey is extracted as soon as sealed 
there will not be so large an amount taken 
from the hives at one time and therefore 
it may be extracted while still warm from 
the hive, so that in the extractor it will be 
thrown out of the cells quickly. On the 
other hand, if it is allowed to remain on 
the hives until the end of the flow, then 
removed, stacked up in the honey-house 
and extracted at a later date, it will be 
colder, and will consequently take more time 
to extract. 

Moreover, if the supers are stacked up 
on the hives until the end of the flow it 
requires more extracting-combs, and more 
supers to hold them, than if the combs are 
extracted about as soon as sealed. Hoav- 
ever, it is the opinion of some of the larg- 
est producers that it actually pays to ex- 
tract the honey all at one time after the 
honey flow, since at that time work is not 
so pressing, and more time can be given. 

The employment of this plan may result 
in a somewhat smaller crop the first year 
because of the necessity of the bees draw- 
ing out so much foundation; but it should 
be remembered that the same combs may be 
used year after year, probably for the re- 
mainder of one's lifetime. 

HOW TO FREE THE COMBS FROM BEES. 

Since the invention of the ventilated 
escape-board and double bee-escape, we do 
not advise any one, whether beginner or 
expert, to free the combs of bees by means 
of the smoke, shake, and brush method, 
which is too slow and troublesome, and 
during a dearth it is quite certain to start 
robbing. However, since the great major- 



278 



EXTRACTING 



ity of extracted-lioney producers used this 
method in the past, and many still use it, 
we shall discuss it briefly. 

When brushing bees from extracting 
combs a serviceable brush is necessary. A 
makeshift is never economical. Either the 




The Bristle bee-brush. 

Bristle or the Coggshall brush answers 
every purpose, and, what is of prime im- 
portance, they may be washed when they 
become sticky with honey. 

In case any disease is suspected the 
combs should never be brushed or shaken, 
for if robbers gain access to the smallest 
drop of diseased honey, the disease would 
be certain to spread. 

There is no question but that it is easier 
to get the bees from shallow combs than 
from the full-depth combs. Smoke may be 
used in either case, altho better results fol- 
low from its use on the shallow combs, 
since there is more of a chance for the 
smoke to go down thru. Some follow the 
plan of giving a vigorous smoking, and 
raising the supers and blowing smoke thru 
between the combs to get out the last few 
bees. The' combs then need but very little 
brushing to render them practically free. 

If any comb should chance to have many 
bees on it, it is held by the top-bar or end- 
bar as preferred, and given a sharp jarring 
shake so that the bees will be jarred off on 
the alighting-board in front of the hive. 
If they are shaken back into the super they 
collect on the other combs and have to be 
shaken again. After shaking, the few re- 
maining bees are brushed off. When brush- 
ing, the combs are held in the left hand by 
the end of the top-bar, both sides being 
brushed without turning the frame. As 
fast as the combs are brushed they are 
placed in an empty super near by; and 
finally, when the combs are all out, the 
super just emptied should be taken to the 
next hive to use in the same way. There 
is more or less objection to the use of 
smoke, one being that the bees are likely to 
uncap the honey to some extent, altho this 
is not so important in extracted-honey pro- 
duction as in comb-honey production. The 



greatest objection to the use of smoke is 
that it is quite slow, and uncertain in re- 
sults, and, furthermore, the honey is some- 
times tainted a little by the smoke, espe- 
cially that which is sliced off with the cap- 
pings. On this account some prefer to use 
practically no smoke, depending almost en- 
tirely on brushes for getting the bees off, 
each comb being taken out by itself, both 
sides brushed quickly, and then set into the 
empty super waiting. A large feather is 
sometimes used; but feathers irritate the 
bees, and it is better in the long run to use 
a brush especially for the purpose. It is 
probable that a combination of both the 
smoke and the brushing is better than either 
one alone ; but it must be remembered that 
all this work, if done during a time when 
no honey is coming in, must be carried on 
very rapidly, and the super and all the 
honey kept covered up every instant in 
order to be kept away from robber bees. 
When robbers once get to following the 
operator around the yard it becomes very 




How to hold the Coggshall bee-brush. 

troublesome indeed, and the best way is to 
work quickly and go from one place to an- 
other so rapidly, that they do not get a 
chance to start. 

When so many combs are being shaken 



EXTRACTING 



279 



and brushed, the trouser legs should 1)C 
tied around the ankles, or should be stuffed 
inside the stockings, since it is the nature 
of bees to crawl upward. Many beekeepers 
take the additional precaution of wearing 
fingerless gauntlet gloves in order to pre- 
vent the bees from crawling up the sleeves. 
By far the easiest and nicest way to free 
supers from bees is to use the Porter bee- 
escape, shown in the engraving. This is a 
little device which, when placed in a board 
between the supers and the brood-chamber, 
allows the bees to pass down thru into the 
brood-chamber, but prevents them b}^ means 




Porter Doubk' Bie-escape 



of delicate steel springs inside from get- 
ting back up again. These escape-boards, 
if placed under the supers in the after- 
noon, will almost entirely free the combs of 
bees the following day. Sometimes more 
time is required, but usually this is enough. 
The honey is then removed without knowl- 
edge of the bees; there is no danger of 
robbing, no stings, no loss of time, and no 
disturbance. There is not even any need of 
using a- smoker. If the colony has two 
supers, and the upper one only is ready to 
come off, the escape should, of course, be 
put between the upper and lower super, so 
that the bees will not be prevented from 
working in the super not yet finished. 

In the production of comb honey the use 
of the bee-escape for removing bees from 
the super is almost universal, and is rapid- 
ly becoming so in the case of extracted 
honey also. Formerly there were two ob- 
jections to the escape. It was found that 
in the 24 or 48 hours required for the bees 
to pass down into the brood-chamber, the 
honey became cold, and therefore much 
harder to extract. The second objection 
was that the bees did not leave the extract- 
ing-combs quite as readily as they did the 
comb-honey sections on account of the fact, 
probably, that there are always some un- 
capped cells, and the bees are slow in leav- 
ing thru the escape on this account. 



The first objection has been largely over- 
come by the ventilated or screened escape- 
board. As the name implies, the bee- 
escape, instead of being placed in the cen- 
ter of a solid board, is put in the center of 
a screen, bound with a wooden frame. The 
warmth of the bees below rises and keeps 
the honey warm — almost as warm as tho the 
bees were on it, so that it extracts easily. 

The second objection has been overcome 
by the use of the double bee-escape. If the 
combs are entirely capped over, the super 
may be taken off in the morning if the 
escapes are put on the day before. 

The ventilated escape-board, which is the 
invention of Arthur Hodgson of Jarvis, 
Ontario, has brought the escape into gen- 
eral use among the producers of extracted 
honey. 




Hodgson Ventilated Bee-escape Board. 

Another method for freeing sup3rs of 
bees (the carbolized-cloth method) is used 
by a few beekeepers. 

The beekeeper provides himself with five 
or six pieces of cotton cloth a little larger 
than the common super. These are soaked 
in a solution of one part of pure carbolic 
acid to nine parts of water. The surplus 
moisture is wrung out, and the damp cloth 
is laid directly on the super after the bees 
have been smoked somewhat. The hive- 
cover, or other board, is then put on top to 
prevent the cloth from drying out too rap- 
idly. When one hive is thus prepared the 
beekeeper goes to the next, and so on, until 
the cloths are all on. By that time the bees 
are practically out of the first super, and 
that cloth may be placed on another super, 
and so on. 

This method works best on shallow ex- 



2S0 



EXTRACTING 



tracting-suiDers, but is very effective on the 
deep supers. 

If the crude carbolic acid is used, the 
odor is stronger, and there is a little more 
danger of tainting the honey. Unsealed 
honey, especially, takes on this odor easily, 
and for this reason the liquid used should 
not be too strong. 

The advantage of the carbolized-cloth 
method over the others is that there is no 
danger of starting robbing, even if the 
honey flow is over, and the honey may be 
rem.oved from the bees almost immediately 
while it still holds all the heat from the 
bees. 

TAKING THE COMBS TO THE EXTRACTOR. 

If combs are taken from the Jiives to the 
extractor at a time when no honey is com- 
ing in, care should be taken to keep the 
combs covered so that no bees may gain 
access, for a little carelessness in this re- 
spect will make all kinds of trouble. 

There are various methods in use for 
transporting the combs of honey from the 
hive to the extracting-room. In small api- 
aries the tin comb-buckets with a tight- 
fitting cover holding half a dozen combs 
are very satisfactory. 




Comb-bucket. 

Others use larger comb-carriers consist- 
ing of a full-sized super, with tin nailed on 
the bottom, a handle across the top, and a 
tight-fitting cover in two halves hinged 
together in the center. 

Probably the majority of producers use 
a wheelbarrow with a specially constructed 
box or platform to hold several supers. 
Some apiaries are located where the ground 
is too rough for a wheelbarrow, but by a 
little work the rough places may be 
smoothed up enough to answer very well. 



Certain it is that it is easier to move sev- 
eral supers with a wheelbarrow than by 
any other plan. 

Sometimes a cart having two large wheels 
can be handled easier on rough ground 
than a wheelbarrow. L. E. Mercer of Cal- 
ifornia uses such a cart, equipped with 
pneumatic-tired wheels and a long box to 
receive the combs. 

With either a wheelbarrow or a cart it is 
advisable to use a specially constructed box 




Mercer's cart. 

or platform, for by so doing almost double 
the ordinary load may be carried with but 
little additional exertion. 

R. F. Holtermann of Canada Tays a 
wooden track at each extracting-yard from 
the building down thru the hives. 

A light four-wheeled .truck is loaded up 
with eight or ten full supers and pushed 
along with little effort to the extracting- 
room where the supers are slipped thru an 
opening in the side of the building. 

EXTRACTING HOUSE. 

Any well-ventilated bee-tight building 
will answer for this purpose, altho it must 
be large enough to hold the necessary ma- 
chinery, the supers of combs ready to ex- 
tract, and in some instances the cans of 
honey that have been extracted, altho in 
most cases it is better to store the honey in 
some other place and not fill up the ex- 
tracting-room in this way. The windows 
should be large, so as to admit plenty of 



EXTRACTING 



!S1 



light and air, and it would be better if they 
could be so arranged as to be removed en- 
tirely, wii-e-cloth screens taking their place. 
On the outside of the upper corners of the 
windows, honey-house escapes, made on the 
same principle as the hive-escapes before 
mentioned, should be attached, so that any 
bees taken into the room on one of the 
combs will go at once to the windows and 
make their escape. The door of the build- 
ing, instead of being made of screens, had 
better be solid, so that the bees will not be 
attracted to it and interfere with the oper- 
ator going in and out. The bees attracted 
to the building, then, will ordinarily be fly- 
ing around the open windows instead, leav- 
ing the door comparatively free from bees. 




Escape in Position on Honey-house Window. 

One who does not ow^n a bee-tight build- 
ing might do the extracting in any kind of 
open shed at night, but it is necessary to 
clean every thing up thoroly in the morn- 
ing or else the bees will take possession and 
make considerable trouble the next day. 



EXTRACTING FOB A TWENTY- 
TKIBTY -COLONY APIARY. 



OB 



The extracting apparatus and methods 
for the man with twenty to thirty colonies 
could still be used, even when the bee- 
keeper had doubled the size of his apiary; 
but usually by that time he begins plan- 
ning for much larger beekeeping, and 
therefore wishes to make changes in ac- 
cordance. 



EXTRACTTNG-APPARATUS NEEDED FOR A 20- 
OR 30-COLONY APIARY. 

For the beekeeper with 20 to 30 colonies 
a simple and practical outfit may be pro- 
vided at small cost. A honey-house 8 by 12 




Two-frame Reversible Honey-extractor. 

would be quite large enough for extracting 
his crop. For the work of extracting he 
will need a small two-frame extractor, and 
for convenience it should be made reversi- 




Root Automatic Four-frame Extractor ; patented April 
11, 1905, and patents pending. 

ble so that the baskets may be swung 
around to the other side to extract the 
other side of the combs. We do not rec- 
ommend a two-frame automatic extractor, 
as there is little if any advantage gained 
by its use, since the two baskets for the 
combs can be easily reversed by hand. 



282 



EXTRACTING 




This illustration shows at the left the strainer resting by two cleats on the top of the can. 

in center, and uncapping barrel at right. 



The extractor is shown 



The extractor should be securely attached 
to a solid box firmly bolted to the floor, the 
box being" of .the right height for drawing 
off the honey. The best location for the 
extractor is near the wall, where there is 
less vibration when in operation, for con- 
tinued vibration is apt to pull the can or 
box loose, especially if care is not taken to 
place combs of equal weight in the two 
sides of the extractor. For convenience in 
working, the extractor should be placed in 
one of the comers furthest from the door. 
Near this extractor, close to a window, 
where there will be plenty of light, should 
be placed the uncapping-receptacle. It is 
handy to have it on the same side of the 
room as the extractor, so that the combs 
may be handy to the extractor as soon as 
uncapped. This uncapping-receptacle may 
be made of a barrel with both ends knocked 
out, and a coarse screen nailed over the 
bottom; across the top, about one-third of 
the distance from one side, a two-inch strip 
of lumber should be nailed. (Rather than 
nailing this strip to the barrel, some prefer 
to attach cleats to the under side of the 



strip, so that it may be movable.) At the 
middle of this strip a sharp-pointed nail 
projects upward, about an inch, to hold the 
frames while uncapping. The barrel itself 
may be supported in the tub into which 
the honey from the cappings falls, the bar- 
rel being supported by means of four 
hooks made of heavy wire. A simpler way 
of supporting the barrel is to nail, to the 
staves, at the right point, a couple of cleats 
just long enough to go across and rest on 
the edges of the tub. The cleats have the 
advantage that they furnish handles with 
which to lift the barrel. 

If one cares to take the extra trouble, a 
cheap yet handier capping-receptacle may 
be made from a plain box, of any desired 
length, and about 19 inches wide, so that 
the uncapped combs can be suspended cor- 
nerwise in one end of the box until they 
are extracted. Near one end is a cross- 
piece with an upward-projecting nail-point 
for holding the frame while uncapping. 
The bottom of the box is covered with 
heavy screen, and supported from the shal- 
low galvanized-iron tray by half -inch cleats 



EXTRACTING 



283 




A handy uncapping receptacle made from a plain box of any desired length, and about 19 inches wide. The bottom 
of the box is covered with heavy screen, and supported from the shallow galvanized-iron tray by half-inch 

cleats nailed lengthwise of the box. 



nailed on lengthwise of the box. The box 
and tray are placed on a box at the requi- 
site height for easy uncapping, the outlet 
end of the tray being somewhat lower than 
the opposite end, and just above the recep- 
tacle into which the honey from the cap- 
pings is to drain. 

The straining-can may be placed wher- 
ever convenient, but should not be too far 
from the extractor, as this would involve 
extra labor when lifting pails of honey 
from the extractor-gate to the straining- 
can. In this can or barrel is suspended a 
large wet cheese-cloth bag attached to a 
barrel hoop supported by the top of the 
can. Too much honey should not be drawn 
from this can. There should always he 
enough honey left to cover the strainer; 
for if the honey gets low the cappings and 
bits of wax that would otherwise float on 
the surface of the liquid will collect on the 
strainer and soon clog it. 

The knives used in slicing off the cap- 
pings must be especially made. Large- 



sized butcher-knives may be used; but, 
ordinarily, these do not give good results. 







Gravity method of clarifying. A large cheese- 
cloth bag is supported in the tank. No honey is drawn 
off into cans until the tank is full, and then no faster 
than it is pumped in. All bits of cappings float to the 
surface of the bag, hence the cheese-cloth does not clog 
up. A heavy wire hoop in the bottom of the bag over- 
comes any tendency of the cloth to float. The honey is 
drawn otf into cans thru a funnel in the floor. 

We use and recommend the heavy Bing- 
ham knife, for we have never found any- 
thing else so effective. (See page 291.) 



284 



EXTRACTING 



EXTRACTING PROCESS FOR AN APIARY OP 20 
TO 30 COLONIES OR LESS. 

The supers of combs to be extracted 
should be placed within easy reach of the 
uncapping-receptacle. Then one at a time 
the combs are removed and held with the 
top-bar away from the manipulator, and 
the end-bar resting on the nail-point of the 
cross-bar. Holding the upper end of the 
frame with the left hand, and tilting the 
upper end slightly to the right so that the 
cappings may fall freely, begin at the 
lower end of the comb and with an ordi- 
nary uncapping-knife (dipped in hot water 
if desired) cut the cappings from the entire 
right side of the comb, performing the 
operation with a kind of sawing motion. 
If the comb contains any depressions the 
heel of the knife should be used. Then re- 
verse the comb, still keeping the top-bar 
away from you, and slice a thin layer also 
from the other side, using the cross-piece 
to scrape off any cappings that may adhere 
to the knife. 

The uncapped combs may next be placed 
one in each basket of the extractor, the top- 
bar being placed next to the hinge. It is 
quite worth while to use combs of about the 
same weight ; for if not perfectly balanced 
the extractor will run unsteadily, and may 
become loosened from its support. In case 
of old dark combs whose cell walls are 
strengthened by many layers of cocoons, 
there will be but little danger of the combs 
breaking. When new combs are extracted 
— those in which brood has never been 
raised — greater care will be necessary to 
prevent the combs from breaking out of 
the frames. Such combs should be extracted 
until about half of the honey is out of the 
cells of the first side. The combs should 
next be reversed and the opposite side en- 
tirely extracted, and then the remainder of 
the honey taken from the first side. 

The gate of the extractor should be kept 
closed until the honey comes almost up to 
the reel in the extractor; then, when the 
gate is opened the pail will fill quickly, and 
almost no time lost. Leaving the gate of 
the extractor open, so that the honey may 
run into the pail, as fast as it is extracted, 
is bad practice; for sooner or later one 
will let the pail run over on to the floor. 
After drawing the honey into the pail, 
from the faucet, it is then emptied into the 



straining tank, from which it is run into 
60-pound cans, or other receptacles in which 
it is to be stored. 

As fast as the combs are extracted they 
may be again placed in the supers and 
stacked up in the honey-house. Along to- 
ward night these may be piled five or six 
on each hive, over a queen-excluder, leav- 
ing the bees to clean out the honey still 
adhering. 

The best place for keeping honey is in a 
dry room of even temperature — about 70 
to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Honey should be stored in tin cans, and 
never in large tanks and left to candy, as 
it would be exceedingly difficult to remove 
it for bottling. 

EXTRACTING APPARATUS AND 

METHODS OF LARGE 

PRODUCERS. 

The apparatus and methods of the large 
producers differ from those of the small 
producers to such an extent that it seems 
well to enter into detailed description of 
extracting on a larger scale. 

FIRST EXTRACTORS. 

There are s.everal inventions that have 
revolutionized commercial beekeeping. One 
of these is the movable frame ; another, the 
honey-extractor. Like many other great 
inventions the first idea came as a discov- 
ery. In the year 1865 Major D. Hruschka 
of Venice accidentally discovered the prin- 
ciple which led to his invention of the ex- 
tractor in that year. His little boy while 
playing was whirling a basket around his 
head by means of a short piece of rope. He 
happened to have a piece of honeycomb in 
the basket and the centrifugal force caused 
a few drops of honey to be thrown out into 
the air. His father grasped the principle, 
which led him to construct a rude machine 
that actually extracted the honey without 
crushing the combs. Shortly afterward he 
perfected the device which was the first 
honey-extractor. 

Among the early extractors made in this 
country was one constructed by J. L. Pea- 
body. In this machine the whole can re- 
volved, and the honey ran out thru a hole 
in the center of the bottom. The same force 
that threw the honey from the combs, how- 



EXTRACTING 



2S5 



ever, held it to the sides of the can, and 
none would run out until the machine was 
stopped. In 1869 A. I. Root constructed 
what he called the Novice honey-extractor. 
This was so great an improvement over all 
that had preceded that it found a ready 
sale at once. Only the inside framework 
for holding the combs revolved ; and in or- 
der to combine lightness with strength it 
was made of folded tin bars and tinned 




Novice non-reversing extractor. 

wire screen. The crank was geared so that 
one revolution made three revolutions of 
the combs. 




Two-frame reversible extractor. 

Shortly after the two-frame Cowan ex- 
tractor was introduced into this country 
(1890), there came a demand from the bee- 
keepers of the West who produce honey by 
the carload for a larger machine. In re- 
sponse to this, four-, six-, and eight-frame 
Cowan extractors were made. The same 
principle of the swinging pockets was used 
in these large machines with this difference, 
that all the pockets were geared together so 
that when one of them was swung around 
they would all move. 



REVERSIBLE EXTRACTOR. 

When the honey from one side of the 
comb was extracted in the Novice machine 
the comb had to be pulled up and turned 
around in order to throw the honey out of 
the other side. About the time that A. I. 
Root was experimenting along this line 
Thomas William Cowan, editor of the Brit- 
ish Bee Journal, constructed what was then 
known and is still called the Cowan reversi- 
ble extractor. Several " baskets " holding 
the combs hung on hinges like a door, could 
be swung from side to side and either side 
of the comb could be next to the outside. 
The first side could be extracted, and then 
the pocket, or basket, swung around so that 
the honey could be thrown from the other 
side without taking out the comb and re- 
versing it. 

The illustration does not show the origi- 
nal extractor made by Mr. Cowan, but the 
Americanized machine. The original mech- 
anism has been greatly improved in work- 
manship and design. 



THE ROOT AUTOMATIC REVERSIBLE EXTRACTOR. 

In using the Cowan extractor when one 
desires to reverse, it is necessary to stop 
the machine, and with the hand catch hold 
of the pockets and swing them around to 




Ball bearings. 

the other position. The Root automatic 
extractor, as its name indicates, reverses 
the pockets automatically when the brake 
is applied. The lever acts as a brake until 
the extractor has been reduced in speed to 
a certain point when the hub of the reel is 



286 



EXTRACTING 



held stationary by the brake, and the reel, 
which continues to turn, accomplishes the 
reversing of the pockets by means of the 
reversing levers located on the top of the 
reel. This action is always positive and 
reliable. The strain of reversing is borne 
entirely by the brake, thus relieving the 
driving mechanism of all stress. 

Practically all extractors built are now 
equipped with ball bearings to reduce fric- 
tion. In the hand-driven machine this 
feature is of considerable importance. 

Another improvement is the slip-gear 
device. The function of the slip-gear is to 
disengage the crank and large gear wheel 
from the small pinion that drives the ex- 




sition. This permits the coiled spring to 
disengage the gear, and the reel, now free 
from the drag of the crank, may hum like a 
top. Mounted on ball bearings as it is, it 
will whirl for a considerable time, continu- 
ing to throw out the honey without any 
effort on the part of the operator, who can 
meanwhile be uncapping more combs. As 
soon as the honey is all out of one side the 
pockets may be reversed, the gears thrown 
into mesh again, and the process repeated. 



POWER-DRIVEN HONEY-EXTRACTORS. 

A few 3'ears ago a power-driven extrac- 
tor was a curiosity, only one or two such 
outfits being in use. Large extractors driven 
by gasoline engines have now become very 
common. Where access can be had to 
electric current, electric motors are also 
used, and in some localities water motors. 
However, on account of the fact that ex- 
tracting plants are usually in isolated places 



gears, 



tractor reel. After the machine has been 
brought up to full speed the slip-gear 
lever, shown by the dotted line in the illus- 
tration, is throwm down to a horizontal po- 




Idcal arrangement of extractor, pump, engine, tanks, etc. 



EXTRACTING 



287 



the gasoline engine is 
by far the most com- 
mon source of power. 
The engines have been 
perfected to such a 
point that they are very 
reliable and efficient. 
Twenty years ago it 
took an expert to start 
a gasoline engine, and 
sometimes another one 
to keep it running. Re- 
finements in design 
brought about by expe- 
rience of designers of 
automobile engines have 
rendered the farm gas- 
oline engine a really 
practicable and reliable 
source of power. There are a number of 
makes of very good engines that can be 
bought for a very low price; and since 
a li/2-horse-power engine driving the larg- 
est extractor would not consume more than 
two or three quarts of gasoline in a day, it 
can be seen that such machines are very 
economical. 

The method of transmitting the power of 
the engine to the extractor is shown in the 
accompanying illustrations. 

In view of the fact that it is not practic- 
able to stop and start the gasoline engine 
every time the combs are put in and taken 
out of the extractor, a friction-drive is em- 
ployed with means for engaging the power, 
so that the extractor can be stopped and 
started. In fact, any 
speed desired is ob- 
tained simply by the 
movement of a cam 
lever on the horizontal 
shaft of the extractor. 
The engine and the 
horizontal shaft of the 
extractor run all the 
time, the reel being 
started as the metal disc 
on the horizontal shaft 
is moved into contact 
with the paper pulley 
on the vertical shaft of 
the reel. 

When the small han- 
dle is in a horizontal 
position no pressure is a^S„r,he"Sp!.° I 




The cam lever in a horizontal position, the extractor at rest. 



exerted on the horizontal shaft, and the 
metal disc does not touch the paper- 
rimmed pulley on the reel. As this lever 
is moved upward into a vertical position 
the cam gradually exerts a lateral pres- 
sure on the spring, which forces the disc 
into engagement with the before-men- 
tioned paper-rimmed puUey. The reel 
starts smoothly without any jerk. In case 
of new fragile combs, when it is necessary 
to start very slowly at fost so that the bulk 
of the honey will be thrown out before the 
reel catches full speed, the cam lever may 
be moved very slowly into its vertical posi- 
tion, or the adjustable collar, against which 
the spring pushes, may be set to the left — 
that is, toward the metal disc — so that the 




vertical position. Tlie disk is thus crowded over 
heel on the vertical shaft so that the reel turns. 



288 



EXTRACTING 



spring does not push against it so hard. 
The lever may then be thrown into its ver- 
tical position instantly, and yet the reel 
will start slowly and pick up speed gradu- 
ally, not reaching full speed until the bulk 
of the honey is thrown out. 

Where the honey is very thick and the 
combs are new and not strengthened, there- 
fore, by layers of cocoons alwaj^s found in 
the cells of combs used for brood-rearing, 
it is often necessary to start the extractor 
slowly and let it run a few revolutions until 
perhaps two-thirds of the honey is thrown 
out of the first side of the comb; then re- 
verse, and extract all of the honey from the 
other side of the comb, finally reversing 
back again to the first side and extracting 
the rest of the honey there. This plan does 
away with the danger of comb breakage. 
Under such conditions requiring great care 
it can be seen that if all the honey were 
extracted from the first side, which would 
necessitate running at full speed, the entire 
amount of honey on the other side would 
probably crack the comb. On the other 
hand, if the combs have been used for 
brood-rearing for a time before they are 
put into use for extracted honey, they are 
greatly strengthened by the fibrous cocoons. 
With such combs, and especially if the 
extracting is done in hot weather, when the 
honey is not likely to be thick and waxy, 
it is not* necessary to observe so much 
caution. 

The friction drive has been in use several 
years, and has been found the most satis- 
factory form of drive for a honey extractor. 
It is not adapted, however, for a hand 
extractor, as the ratio of drive is about 1 
to 1— that is, equal. The paper-rimmed 
pulley on the vertical shaft may be raised 
or lowered, thus changing the ratio of the 
speed; and while this is of great advan- 
tage in case the engine speed is not exactly 
right, or the size of the pulley is too large 
or too small, nevertheless it is not possible 
to " gear up " enough to drive the extractor 
by hand with a crank. In other words, it 
would be impossible to turn the crank fast 
enough to extract the honey sufficiently. 
For this reason some of the smaller pro- 
ducers who desire a large extractor, but 
who do not wish a gasoline engine, prefer 
the older beveled-gear drive, with the ratio 
of 2 to 1 — that is, one revolution of the 



crank shaft means two revolutions of the 
reel carrying the comb. Beveled gears are 
not as well adapted for power, however, 
since they necessitate a loose belt and idler, 
a mechanism that is not quite as easily con- 
trolled. The friction drive has practically 
supplanted all bevel-gear drives for power 
purposes. 

Many beekeepers having less than 100 
colonies use power outfits, but when there 
are more than 100 colonies to be extracted 
from a gasoline engine and eight-frame ex- 
tractor will almost pay for themselves in 
one season. 

They do much quicker and more thoro 
w^ork. It is impossible to extract all the 
honey by hand; and the result is, the 
combs go back to the hives very wet. Some 
of this honey will be saved by the bees, but 
a large part of it is consumed and thereby 
as good as wasted. 

An important advantage of the larger 
extractors is their greater stability. With 
the two- or even four-frame size, it is nec- 
essary to put combs of equal weight oppo- 
site each other. Even then bracing must be 
done or else the can will tear itself loose 
from the floor. In case of the larger sizes, 
the difference in the weight of the combs 
does not throw the cans out of balance ap- 
preciably, hence no bracing or equalizing is 
necessary. 

CHOOSING AN EXTEACTOR FOR THE LARGER 
PRODUCER. 

For hauling from one outyard to another 
the four-frame automatic reversible ex- 
tractor is just the thing,, for it is small and 
compact. For a central extracting plant 
the six- or eight-frame automatic revers- 
ing extractor is the one to select, the latter 
sizes requiring power for turning, such as 
a gasoline engine, for they are too heavy to 
turn by hand except in an emergency. The 
large extractors have a great advantage 
over the small ones in that the combs can 
be kept in motion so much longer. For in- 
stance, in the large size eight combs can be 
kept going until eight more have been un- 
capped; and, of course, this longer time 
than is practicable, say, with a four-frame 
machine, means that the combs are extracted 
just that much cleaner. Any honey left in 
the cells is wasted. 



EXTRACTING 



289 



HONEY-PUMPS. 

Along with the adoption of power honey- 
extractors came the demand for pumps that 
would elevate the honey into tanks, for it is 
not always possible to build a honey -house 
on a side hill where the extractor can be 
located on one floor and the honey run by 
gravity into the tanks on a floor under- 



especially designed for honey are now ob- 
tainable, and they are perfectly satisfac- 
tory. Belted direct from the cross-shaft of 
the extractor they run all the time that the 
engine is running. Consequently, the ex- 
tractor can is kept empty, the honey being 
elevated to the tank as fast as extracted. 
It is not practicable, ordinarily, to elevate 
thick honey more than eight to ten feet. 




A closer view of the pump, showing the construction, method of helling, 
arrangement of pipe and hose connections and manner of tapping into honey-gate. 



neath. The earliest experiments with honey- 
pumps revealed the fact that very few 
water-pumps, even the rotary pumps, are 
suitable for pumping honey, for honey is 
very different in consistency from other 
liquids usually pumped. However, pumps 
10 



The use of the honey-pump permits plac- 
mg the extractor right oii the floor where it 
may be firmly anchored, and where it is 
far more convenient than if elevated on a 
platform, even tho the platform be low. 

Some have attempted to drive a honey- 



290 



EXTRACTING 



pump by means of a chain. We do not 
rega]-d this as advisable, for oi^easionally a 
bit of wood such as a broken corner of a 
frame or other foreign material may be 
thrown from the pocket of the extractor 
into the extractor can and find its way to 
the pump. In case the pump were posi- 
tively driven something would be sure to 
break. With a belt drive, the belt merely 
slips off. Then the pulley may be turned 
backward a few revolutions until the for- 
eign material, whatever it is, is removed. 
Uusually, if the pump is worked by hand, 
back and forth, the bit of wood may be 
broken up and work may proceed at once. 

THE LOCATION OF THE EQUIPMENT. 

If possible, instead of elevating the ex- 
tractor on a platform a foot or so high, it 
is a very good plan to cut a hole in the 
floor underneath the gate of the extractor, 
making a pit into which a large pail may 
be set to catch the honey. This allows the 
extractor to stand on the solid floor; and 
one who has not tried it can not realize the 
convenience of the plan. When the ma- 
chine is set down on the floor it is much 



the larger producer there are great advan- 
tages in having the honey-house built on a 
sidehill where there are different floor lev- 
els. The simplest arrangement of all is to 
have the honey from the extractor run by 
gravity into the straining or settling tank, 
which must be, of course, in a lower room. 
Where this is impossible the honey-pump 
is a necessity for a complete equipment. 

UNCAPPING THE COMBS. 

In dry climates under certain conditions 
honey may be ripe enough to extract when 
it is but half-capped over — that is, when 
only the upper half of the comb is capped ; 
but under ordinary circumstances it is 
much safer to wait until the combs are al- 
most entirely sealed or capped, for the 
honey will be thicker and richer. See the 
discussion on this subject under Extracted 
Honey. 

There are various sizes and shapes of 
knives used for cutting the cappings from 
the combs. Some begin at the top of the 
comb and cut down; while others, the ma- 
jority, perhaps, begin at the bottom and 




BOTTOM OF QTRAINSR Ta 
SHOW SUPPORTS FOR 
WIHE BASKET. 



Pettit honey-Strainer. 



easier to get the combs in and out, and a 
great deal of time is saved. Of course, if 
there is a basement to the extracting-house 
or to some other building close by into 
which the honey can be run thru a pipe 
into a tank, so much the better. 

As is pointed out under Buildings, for 



cut upward. No definite rule can be laid 
down ; for the way that might be the easiest 
for one operator might be the hardest for 
the next. Each producer should uncap with 
the kind of knife and stroke that seems the 
most natural. Some use a common butcher 
knife with a long blade. The very great 



EXTRACTING 



291 




The supers of honey loaded on a car, on the wooden track, ready to be pushed to the extracting-house. 



majority of producers use a knife original- 
ly designed by T. F. Bingham. 




be held about vertical. As the knife is 
pushed upward toward the upper end-bar, 
the frame should be leaned to the right so 
that the cappings as they are sliced from 
the comb may fall directly into the recepta- 
cle underneath as they drop from the knife. 
If the frame is held straight or leaning 



Bingham improved uncapping-knife. 

The shank connecting the blade with the 
handle has a semi-circular projection on 
each side, folded at a right angle, to afford 
a good grip for the thumb and forefinger. 
As the blade is on a different plane from 
the handle one can get a better hold and in 
a position to exert more leverage by grasp- 
ing the shank itself with the thumb and 
forefinger, the rest of the fingers encircling 
the flat handle, as shown. 

A right-handed operator, to uncap, should 
hold the frame with top-bar away from 
him and one end-bar resting on a nail- 
point sticking up about an inch from the 
center of a cleat nailed across the top of 
the receptacle to hold the cappings. The 
combs should be held by the left hand on 
the upper end-bar and top-bar. When the 
knife first starts cutting the cappings on 
the lower end of the comb, the frame should 




slightly to the left, a sheet of capping may 
slide back upon the comb and be held there 
by capillary attraction of the honey, and it 
requires extra time and fussing to scrape 
it off again. 

After one side of the comb is uncapped, 
it may be swung around on the nail-point 
to expose the other side. Many prefer to 
turn the frame end for end rather than to 
swing it around in order to keep the top- 
bar always to the outside, the idea being 
that, the end-bar being narrower, it is not 
so much in the way of the knife. 



292 



EXTRACTING 



When uncapping one should not try to 
take off merely a very thin layer of cap- 
ping, for it does no harm to uncap deep, 
since the wax and honej^ cut off are by no 
means wasted. A good rule is to uncap 
down to a level even with the side of the 
top-bar. Combs which have been used for 
brood-rearing are a little harder to uncap 
the first time, owing to the layers of co- 
coons; but when these have once been 
shaved down even with the side of the top- 
bar they are very easy to uncap on subse- 
quent extractings. The cocoons toughen 
the comb so that it is not so easily crushed 
out of shape by the knife nor broken in the 
extractor. 

The point of the knife should be started 
on the nearest lowest corner of the comb 
and pushed toward the top-bar until the 
cappings are cut from the end of the comb. 
Then the knife should be started toward the 
other end-bar by a sawing motion. It is 
much easier to uncap bulged combs. There- 
fore, in a ten-frame super, for instance, it 
is not a good plan to put in the full ten 
combs. Eight combs equally spaced in an 
extracting super contain the same amount 
of honey, or even more, and the comb, be- 
ing bulged, can be much more quickly un- 
capped since there will be few depressions. 

A cold knife must be kept very sharp, 
and there is need of constant scraping or 




washing to keep the wax from gumming 
up the sharp edge, thus interfering with 
the work. A dull cold knife or one that is 
badly gummed up and very dirty does not 
make a clean cut, but tends to crush the 
comb. 

Because of the necessity for frequent 



cleaning and sharpening, an increasing 
number of producers prefer to work with 
a hot knife, and especially in case of thick 
honey there is no question but that a hot 
knife will do quicker and faster work with 
less strain on the wi'ist. When ordinary 
knives are used it is customary to have two 
of them, one to be left in hot water over a 
small stove, while the other is used to un- 
cap both sides of a comb. 

Where the honey is thick and cold some- 
times a knife heated in hot water will be 
cooled off by the time it is half way thru 
the cappings of one side of the comb, so 
that it is little better than a cold knife. 
In fact, the wax has a tendency to gum up 
a warm blade even more rapidly than it 
does one that is entirely cold. The blade 
should be either hot or cold, therefore, and 
not lukewarm. 

Because of the necessity of frequent 
changes in and out of the hot water a knife 
heated by steam, popularly called the steam 
uncapping-knife, has become very popular 
in the last few vears. 




Steam -heated uncapping-knife. 

A piece of non-rusting metal is soldered 
on top of the knife-blade, and steam is in- 
troduced thru a tube near the shank of the 
knife, circulates over the blade, and blows ■ 
out thru a small opening at the point. This 
knife keeps hot continuously, the wax melts 
off, and, consequently, there is no gumming 
up, nor delay necessitated by scraping and 
cleaning the edge of the blade. A piece of 
rubber tubing containing some fabric in its 
make-up conveys the steam to the knife 
from a small boiler over a stove. Tubing, 
known as air-pressure tubing, carries the 
steam satisfactorily, and yet it is flexible 
enough not to interfere Avith the action of 
the knife. 

A regular copper boiler or other can 
may be used for a boiler, if one takes the 
precaution of making a safety valve as 
shown in the next illustration. Any tinner 
can make such an arrangement with a 
super spring and small tin cap, and it also 
furnishes a very convenient openinp- for 
filling the boiler. 



EXTRACTING 



293 



DISPOSING OF THE WET CAPPINGS. 

When the cappings fall from the uncap- 
ping-knife they are saturated, of course, 
with honey. There are two different meth- 
ods in use of separating the wax and the 
honey. The first embodies the principle of 
draining the cappings until practically all 
of the honey is separated; and the second, 




Steam honey-knife and boiler, showing construction 
of the safety valve, made of super spring at filler hole. 

an entirely different principle, which con- 
templates melting the cappings as fast as 
they are sliced from the combs so that the 
melted wax and the honey by reason of 
their different weights separate at once, the 
wax floating on top of the honey. The de- 
vices which operate on the draining prin- 
ciple are usually called uncapping-boxes 
or cans, while those w^hich melt the cap- 
pings are called capping-melters. We will 
consider first the uncapping-can. See "Ap- 
paratus Needed for a 20 or 30 Colony 
Apiary" — page 281. 




Dadant uncapping-can and the German press. 

In any method of draining cappings it 
is very important to stir up the cappings 
frequently with a stick. This serves to 



break up the small particles of comb, which 
would otherwise hold the honey and pre- 
vent it from draining out freely. The effi- 
ciency of the draining method depends 
upon the thoroness with which the cap- 
pings are stirred and punched with a good 
heavy stick. 

The Dadant uncapping-can, as can be 
seen from the illustration, operates on the 
same principle as the cracker barrel and 
the tub. The upper can containing the 
cappings has a screened bottom, in order 
that the honey may escape more easily. 
The honey, as it drops into the lower can, 
may be drawn off from time to time thru 
the gate at the bottom. The cappings in 
the upper part, after draining over night, 
should be dumped out into some other re- 
ceptacle for the further draining of the 
small amount of honey still left in them. 

An uncapping-can which is provided with 
a plunger and screw by means of which 
great pressure can be applied to the semi- 
dry cappings, is the German press. 

A burlap sack is supposed to be hung in 
the can and held in place by the comb-rest, 
which has notches cut to fit the top of the 
can. When the bag is full the top is pinned 
together with nails, the comb-rest removed, 
and the cross-arm carrying the screw and 
plunger put in position. The plunger is 
run down slowly, the honey gradually be- 
ing pressed out so the cappings are made 
nearly dry. The plunger and screw are 
removed; a circular cleated division-board 
put on top of the first bag of cappings; 
another empty sack put in, and the process 
repeated. At the end of the day the pres- 
sure may be applied to two or even three 
sacks of cappings and left on all night. 
In the morning the bags of practically dry 
cappings may be removed, and later on if 
desired the cans may be set over a stove, 
steam generated in the lower part, and the 
cappings melted into wax. 

Several apiarists use for an uncapping- 
box a long square tank made of galvanized 
metal. It is six feet long, two feet high, 
and two feet wide. 

The slatted framework at the bottom is 
made a little smaller than the can so that 
it may be easily removed for washing. 
There is only 1^/^ inches space under the 
cleats, so the gate at the end of the tank is 
left open all the time. In this way nearly 



294 



EXTRACTING 




Townsend uncapping-box. 



all of the space inside the tank is available 
for the storage of cappings. 

A tank of this size will hold all the cap- 
pings for one whole extracting of the aver- 
age-sized yard. A short-handle fork is used 
for handling the cappings, and each day the 
accumulation from the day before is pitched 
toward one end of the tank, and in this way 
the honey from the new cappings does not 
have to drain thru the dry ones again. 

Still another plan, that has come into use 
recently, consists of a series of cleated 
trays. One tray is supported just high 
enough so that one end can rest on the top 
of a common wash-boiler to catch the honey. 
The cappings fall from the knife directly 
on to the tray, and are spread around occa- 
sionally. When the first tray holds all the 
cappings that can be put on without fall- 
ing off, they are spread out somewhat and 
another tray put on top of it, and the proc- 
ess repeated. The weight of the two trays 
above presses the honey out of the cappings 
below. The longer the work continues, the 
greater the weight on the lower trays. Fi- 
nally, the under trays may be removed, the 
dry cappings scraped off, and the trays 
used over again. 

Each tray has a solid tin bottom, two 
sides and one end of which are turned up 
to prevent the honey from dripping off. 
The open end, which should be the lowest, 
is placed over the wash-boiler. The cleats 
are evenly spaced and rigidly held by per- 
forated metal nailed on top. When one 
tray is full and the next tray put on top, it 
should be so placed that the open end is 
perhaps a half -inch beyond the end of the 



tray beneath, so that the honey may drip 
directly into the boiler, and not on the end 
of the tray beneath. 

The total outfit of trays is not very ex- 
pensive, but this plan, of course, does not 
lend itself very well to a portable outfit. 

CAPPING-MELTERS. 

There is no plan of draining cappings 
which secures all of the honey. A small 
percentage is always left, for the process 
of draining cannot be kept up indefinitely, 
owing to the tendency of the honey to 
granulate. The cappings after several days, 
tho they may look hard and dry, really 
contain considerable honey, the exact 
amount depending upon the efficiency of 
the plan used. Of course, when these cap- 
pings are transferred to a solar wax-ex- 
tractor the honey and wax are separated, 
but the honey is darkened and injured by 
the process. 

To separate the honey and wax immedi- 
ately so that everything can be cleaned up 
when the extracting is over, capping-melt- 
ers have gradually come into use. It can 
not be denied that it is a great convenience 
to get rid of the cappings as fast as the 
work progresses, for it is hard work to 
handle cappings that are heavy with honey. 
When the day's work is finished, nothing is 
left but a layer of melted wax, which, after 
it has cooled over night, needs only scrap- 
ing to be ready for market, the honey 
meanwhile being in shape to strain and 
empty into the main tank with the rest. 



EXTRACTING 



295 



Honey that has been taken from the cap- 
ping-melter strains quickly because it is 
warm. 

If the capping-melter is crowded too fast, 
or if one having a too limited capacity is 
used, it may clog up so that a quantity of 
the honey will be confined and thus sub- 
jected to the heat for a considerable length 
of time. Under such circumstances it is 
likely to become darkened and scorched 
slightly in flavor. With a properly designed 
melter, however, or one that is large enough 
for the work on hand, there is scarcely any 
difference to be noted between the honey 
that has gone thru it and that which has 
been extracted from the combs in the reg- 
ular way. It is true that if honey has been 
allowed to cool under the wax, it takes on a 
waxy flavor, which, while not disagreeable, 
is yet pronounced enough to enable one to 
distinguish it from the rest of the honey. 
On this account a separating can should be 
used to separate the honey from the hot 
wax as soon as possible. 

There are some localities where honey in 
cappings candies very quickly — sometimes 
in 24 or 48 hours, and under these condi- 
tions a capping-melter is almost a necessi- 
ty. When one desires to melt up granu- 
lated honey or granulated comb honey, a 
capping-melter is the very best arrangement 
to use, because there is practically no dan- 
ger of scorching the honey, and yet the 
work maj' be done quickly. 

One of the simplest capping-melters is a 
hot-water jacketed can having a gate at the 
bottom for an outlet on the principle of a 
double boiler. The melter is not adapted 
for the largest apiaries as it is designed 
for a single-burner stove only. 

The Peterson capping-melter shown in 
the illustration, is a simple construction. 




Peterson capping-melter. 



the long shallow pan having a double bot- 
tom, the space between being filled with hot 
water. The water compartment is extended 
beyond the edge of the table, as shown, so, 
if desired, knives may be placed in the 
water to heat. 

This melter is large enough to be heated 
by a two-burner stove, hence it has a much 
greater capacity than the round-can design 
described above. Furthermore, there is space 
at the end of the table for the uncapped 
combs to rest upon before they are placed 
in the extractor. The open end of the long 
trough is about an inch lower than the 
other end so that the honey and melted wax 
run down into the separating-can beneath. 



DISPOSIXG OF THE WAX AND HOXEY THAT 
RUN FROM THE MELTER. 

When capping-melters first came into use 
the stream of hot wax and honey was run 
directly into a pail or can, and as soon as 
it was full another w^as put in its place. 
This plan is objectionable in that it re- 
quires too many cans of hot wax standing 
around in the way. Furthermore, the honey 
underneath takes on a taste of the wax to 
some extent, if it is allowed to remain in 
contact with it until the wax cools. To 
overcome this difficulty a gate may be pro- 
vided at the bottom of the can, so that the 
honey maj^ be drawn off whenever the can 
becomes full. Care must be taken, of course, 
to shut the gate before any wax begins to 
run out. In this way the wax remains in 
the can until the next day, when it is emp- 
tied out in the form of a solid cake. 

A much better arrangement, however, is 
a separating-can made according to a prin- 
ciple first described by R. C. Aikin of 
Colorado. As shown in the illustration of 
the Peterson capping-melter an ordinary 
wash-boiler may be used with a tin parti- 
tion soldered near one end, coming to with- 
in one-half inch of the bottom of the can. 
Some honey should be left in the boiler 
before the work is started. When the new 
wax and honey run in, the wax floats on 
top of the honey in the larger compartment 
of the boiler, the honey alone escaping into 
the small compartment, since the levels in 
the two compartments will be nearly the 
same. When the boiler is full the honey 



296 



EXTRACTING 



will escape continuously from an outlet in 
the end of the boiler, while the wax will 
remain in the large compartment. 

In actual use this separating-can should 
be insulated by being placed inside a 
wooden box, having a cover fitted over the 
top with a funnel to receive the wax and 
honey. It would be all the better if some 
insulating material could be wrapped 
around the boiler before it is enclosed in 
the box. 

E. L. Sechrist of California uses a spe- 
cially made separator, as shown herewith. 




Scchrist's honej' and wax separator. 

He provides a wax outlet, but if the sepa- 
rator is large enough this is not necessary. 
A small stream of drizzling wax is a 
nuisance. If a can as large as a wash- 
boiler is used, it will hold all the wax for 
the average day's run even in an extensive 
yard, and, therefore, the wax part of the 
outfit requires no attention. When the work 
is over for the day, the cover of the box is 
removed so that the wax will have a chance 
to harden, and the next morning it may be 
lifted out, the honey drained off, the under 
side of the cake scraped to get rid of the 
refuse, and the wax will be ready for 
market. 

STRAINING HONEY. 

A convenient arrangement for straining 
honey is to have a large piece of heavy 
wire screen attached to the top of the 
straining tank. This should be pressed 
down in the middle so that it is four or five 
inches lower than the top of the tank. The 
wet cheese cloth may then be laid on this 
screen without the necessity of tying around 
the top of the tank. When one cloth is 
clogged so that the honey strains too slow- 
ly it may be drawn over to one side and 
left to drain while another cloth is placed 
in position without delay. 



S. T. Pettit of Aylmer, Ont., Can., de- 
vised a very convenient can strainer having 
a large surface of cloth supported by a 
coarse wire-screen basket as shown. 

We have used such a strainer, but find it 
is a little more convenient to have instead 
of the opening in the center of the bottom 
of the strainer a gate soldered to one side 
near the bottom. If the strainer is used 
for filling cans the stream of honey may be 
shut off by means of the gate when the can 
is full. Fresh cloths can be substituted 
for those that are clogged at any time. 

To do away with cloth strainers E. W. 
Alexander used an ordinary ten-quart milk- 
pail, cutting out the sides and bottoms. 
These were united by upright tin braces, 
as shown in the illustrations. 

The open spaces were filled in with a 
fine mesh of brass wire cloth securely sol- 
dered in place. The honey is poured thru 
such a straining pail into the tank. It is 




Alexander honey-strainer. 

necessary to have two or more pails so that 
one may be in use while the other is being 
cleaned. 

THE GRAVITY METHOD OF STRAINING AND 
CLARIFYING HONEY. 

Of late the gravity principle of strain- 
ing has received much attention on the part 
of honey-producers on account of its sim- 
plicity and freedom from vexatious delays 
necessitated by changing filled-up cloths 
and washing straining surfaces. Briefly, 
the plan consists in the use of a relatively 
tall tank sufficiently large for holding a 
day's extracting and containing nothing by 
way of equipment except a suitable gate at 
the bottom and a float to break the current 
of the honey when it is poured in at the 



EXTRACTING 



29' 



top, thus preventing an active circulation 
of the new honey with the rest of the honey 
in the can. The plan is to draw no honey 
from the bottom until the tank is nearly 
full. If the honey is not allowed to circu- 
late carrying particles of cappings and bits 
of comb down to the bottom, the honey 
when drawn off at the gate is found to be 
very clear. The last of the honey can not 
be drawn off in this way, for it will contain 
too much of the cappings. The last few 
inches, therefore, should be dipped out and 
strained or poured into the uncapping 
tank or box. 

In extremely hot weather when the honey 
is comparatively thin, the gravity system 
alone leaves little to be desired ; but, in cool 
weather, or whenever the honey is quite 
thick, it is found that, in order to be clari- 
fied sufficiently, the tank must stand for 
several days. This makes necessary a some- 
what elaborate outfit of expensive cans in 
order that the work may not be hindered. 
For a small outfit one tank alone would be 
sufficient. 

The only additional equipment necessary 
beyond a regular storage tank is an addi- 
tional can without a bottom, a little higher 
than the regular tank preferably, and 
smaller in diameter, altho no exact ratio 
between the two diameters is necessary. 
Over the lower end of the smaller can 
cheese cloth is stretched and tied firmly. 

The straining can is set inside the large 
tank, the cheese cloth resting on the bottom 
of the latter. Two or three inches of clear 
honey should be poured in at the start to 
prevent the cheese cloth from becoming 
clogged. As the new honey is poured in it 
gradually percolates thru the cheese cloth 
into the main tank outside, the level in the 
two cans always remaining the same, or 
practically the same. As the work pro- 
gresses the inner can should be raised so 
that the cheese cloth will be several inches 
from the bottom of the tank. This should 
not be done, however, until the main tank 
is half -full. It will be seen that all foreign 
material that will float will be kept away 
from the cheese cloth. When the work is 
over the inside tank may be raised so that 
all of the honey in it will strain out. How- 
ever, as long as the cheese cloth does its 
work the process is continuous, for the 
honey may be drawn out of the main tank 
as soon as it becomes full. From this time 



on it should be drawn off only fast enough 
to keep it from running over. The greater 
the depth of honey about the cheese cloth 
strainer the less the probability of the cloth 
becoming clogged. 

When the work is over and the main 
tank finally emptied the cheese cloth will 
strain the last of the honey inside the 
straining tank without clogging apprecia- 
bly. One cloth will last much longer with- 
out clogging than if all the honey were 
poured thru it in the regular way, for by 
this plan the refuse floats to the top and 
the strainer really has comparatively little 
to do. 

HEATING THE HONEY TO FACILITATE 
STRAINING. 

In some localities the honey when ex- 
tracted is so cold and thick that it is 
almost waxy, and straining or clarifying 
even on the principle above described be- 
comes something of a problem. Under such 
conditions it is necessary to do the extract- 
ing in very hot weather, or else in a room 
artificially heated. If the extracting is 
done late in the season when the weather 
has turned cool, it is sometimes necessary 
to keep the combs in the heated room 24 
hours or longer before the honey is thin 
enough to extract and strain quickly. 

By means of power extractors, even very 
thick honey may be extracted, but a power 
extractor does not help much on the strain- 
ing problem. 

Several large producers have used an 
extractor having a double wall, the space 
between filled with hot water or steam. As 
the honey runs down toward the outlet it is 
warmed to such an extent that it strains 
easily. If an engine of fairly good size is 
used (two- to three-horse power), the hot 
water surrounding the cylinder may be 
piped to the extractor. In other words, the 
space between the two walls of the extrac- 
tor serves as a water tank, and the waste 
heat of the engine is made use of for 
warming the honey. 

Ordinarily, a simpler and better plan is 
to run the honey from the extractor thru a 
pipe, either by gravity or by means of a 
pump, which pipe in turn passes thru a 
larger pipe containing hot water heated 
either by the cylinder of the engine or by 
means of a stove. 



298 



EXTRACTING 




E. L. Sechrist, formerly of Fair OakS; 
CaL, pumped his honey into a special tank, 
which is water- jacketed, heated by a stove 
underneath. The honey is thus heated be- 
fore it passes into the strainer. The illus- 
trations show the location of this equip- 
ment. 

Some beekeepers have tried running the 
honey as it comes from the extractor thru a 
trough having a stove underneath to warm 
the surface of the trough and thus raise the 
temperature of the honey. This plan is a 
little dangerous, for it is necessary to have 
considerable heat, since the honey runs 



thru the trough rapidly, and there is dan- 
ger the honey along the edges may burn. 
A better way is to run the honey thru a 
pipe submerged in water heated by a stove. 

AUTOMATIC DEVICES FOR RINGING A BELL 
WHEN A CAN IS FULL. 

In drawing honey into a 60-pound can 
from a tank, it is a great convenience to 
have an automatic alarm that will give due 
notice when the can is nearly full. Several 
beekeepers have gone still further and 
worked out ingenious devices to shut the 
gate on the tank automatically when the 




Scree nedl^indot^ 

Pump 
Wax Separator- K^ 



im/M////WM/MW.>///////>r 



Wash up Canj^ 



Extracting End. 
Storage for filled 
and Empty Supens. 



A 

Supers 




Uncapping 

End of 

box 



Oram ^(x^P 
poller for Steam Knift 



A 
Supers 



High Floor. 



Floor Plan or Honey House. 

cscreened l^indokv 
^ — 15 



^>y>yy^^yyy/!^/!^/^^^^^^ 






screened VJmdow 

Heater Tank 

^A6o lb. Can. 
-Can Filler 



Canning Section. 
Storage for Empty 
and Filled Packages. \ 



■Loyv Floor 




EXTRACTING 



290 



can is full. These are quite complicated, 
however, and unless one is a natural-born 
mechanic they are likely to be more of a 
bother than help. A simple alarm, on the 
other hand, is of practical benefit. 




E. D. Tcwnsend's arrangement of strainer and sealer, 
illustrating the Hutchinson automatic alarm. 

W. Z. Hutchinson used regular platform 
scales with the weight set at about 58 
pounds exclusive of the weight of the can. 
When the beam rises, the electrical circuit 
is completed and the bell rings. The oper- 
ator shuts the gate off at just the right 
time. 

The bell is an ordinary 
doorbell, and the current 
is furnished by any dry 
battery. The method of 
making the connection is 
very simple. In brief, two 
wires run from the bind- 
ing posts on the battery to 
those on the bell. One of 
them, however, is broken, 
and one of the ends fas- 
tened to the scale beam at 
the pivot, and the other 
located just above the out- 
side end of the beam. 

It can be seen that when 
the can is full the scale 
beam rises and comes in 
contact with the copper 
wire just above it, and the 
bell rings. All the connec- 



tions must be kept tight, and occasionally 
the end of the scale beam must be bright- 
ened with a bit of sandpaper, also the wire 
where it makes contact on the scale beam. 
Any corrosion at these points would result 
in failure of the bell to ring. 

In case one has no scales a simple bal- 
ance may be used of hard wood at least an 
inch thick, about 30 inches long, and 12 
inches wide, and balanced on hinges or a 
knife edge in the middle. A can filled with 
honey to within an inch and a half of the 
top should be put on one end and an empty 
can on the other under the honej-gate. 
When the empty can under the gate fills to 
the same point — that is, an inch and a half 
from the top, it will overbalance and sink 
down a couple of inches until it strikes a 
block containing the arrangement to com- 
plete the electrical circuit and ring the bell. 
A mark should be placed at the proper 
place on the board, and the empty can al- 
waj's put in exactly the same place. A 
rather large funnel is necessary with this 
arrangement ; otherwise, when the can over- 
balances and settles down, the honey might 
be spilled, because the opening would not 
be exactly in line with the gate. A good 
stiff board is necessary that will not curve 
out of line with the weight of two 60- 
pound cans of honey. 




An electric alarm to give warning when the can is nearly full. A can 
nearly full of honey is placed on one side of the balance, up close to a box 
in the center containing the dry battery and bell. When the can at the left 
Dverbalances the one on the right, the circuit is completed and the bell rings. 



300 



EYE, COMPOUND 




Fig. 1. — Ommatidium of adult 
eye of bee; 1, lens; c. c, crystal- 
ine cone; o. p. c, outer pig- 
ment cells; c. p. c, corneal pig- 
ment cells, which, in the early 
stages, secrete the lens ; r, h. b., 
rhabdome ; ret., retinula ; ret. 
n., nuclei of retinula cells; b. 
m., basement membrance. 

Fig. 2. — Ommatidium of pupa ; 
lettering as in Fig. 1 : p. g. m., 
pigment forming in retinula. 

In Fig. 1 the pigment is not 
shown in the center portion of the 
retinula cells. 



EXTRACTING-HOUSES.— See Build- 
ings. 

EYE, COMPOUND.— An examination of 
the large compound eyes of a bee will show 
that the outside is made of hexagonal areas, 
thousands in number. Each of these hex- 
agons is the outside of one of the elements 
of which the compound eye is composed; 
and, since they are all constructed alike, a 
description of one will serve for all. Each 
of these elements is called an ommatidium. 
If, then, we take a section thru one of the 
compound eyes parallel with the top of the 
head of the bee, we shall get some of them 
cut lengthwise, thereby showing best the 
structure, altho it is also necessary to cut 
other sections at right angles to this plane 
in order to get the shape of some of the 
parts. The figures which accompany this 
show the ommatidium cut lengthwise. An- 
other figure shows an ommatidium from 
the pupa state. 

The outside portion, already mentioned, 
is the lens layer I, and is composed of chit- 
in, as is all the rest of the outside covering 
of the bee. The section shows this cut 
open, so that only two sides of the hexagon 
are shown. 

The next lower structure is the crystal- 
line cone c, c, which is composed of four 
cells, of which only two show in the long 
section. In the pupa stage the boundaries 
are much clearer, and the nuclei larger than 
they are in the adult eye. This cone is 
clear, and, like the lens above it, gathers in 
the rays of light so that they can act on the 
nerves below just as the lens in the human 
eye gathers together rays of light so they 
can affect the nerves behind it. 

Directly in line with the cone is a long 
rodlike structure which runs clear to the 
bottom of the ommatidium, called the 
'' rhabdome," r}ib. This probably contains 
the end of the nerves, which are sensitive 
to light. 

Around the rhabdome are eight retina 
cells ret, which have poured out a secretion 
while in the pupa state to form the rhab- 
dome. 

Around the cone and retina cells there 
are pigment cells o. p. c. and c. p. c, that 
keep the light from passing from one om- 
matidium to the other, and thus making a 
confused image, just as the inside of a 



FARMER BEEKEEPERS 



301 



camera is painted black to avoid reflec- 
tions. In the human eye we also find pig- 
ment, which is also located just behind the 
nerve-endings, and answers the same pur- 
pose. There are two kinds of these pig- 
ment cells. The ones at the base of the 
cone, 0. p. c, are two in number, and do 
not extend below the base of the cone. The 
other pigment cells, c. p. c, extend from 
the lens to the base of the ommatidium, and 



are generally twelve in number. The pig- 
ment in these cells is located principally at 
the outer portion of the eye; and the ret- 
ina cells also contain a pigment, thus mak- 
ing a complete sheath of pigment around 
the nerve and nerve-endings in the middle. 
The nerve lines in the eye extend down 
along the eight retina cells, and at the bot- 
tom come together, and the united nerve 
extends toward the brain. See cut. 



FAIRS, EXHIBITS AT.— See Honey 
Exhibits. 

FARMER BEEKEEPERS.— Sometmies 

the professional class of honey-producers 
have a feeling of antipathy, if lot disgust, 
toward the farmer who keeps a few bees, 
especially if he is in the immediate neigh- 
borhood. In some cases, at least, there is 
some justification for that feeling. Some 
farmers have too many irons in the fire. 
They do a little of everything to make a 
little mone}^, but they do nothing particu- 
larly well. 

A farmer of this class usually has hard 
luck. His buildings are in a tumble-down 
condition, machinery out -4n the weather, 
his fences down, his stock ill fed, and, on 
top of it all, he is in debt. When he keeps 
bees he allows them to take care of them- 
selves, his swarms get away from him, 
hives are robbed out, and, if weakened by 
disease, foul brood is scattered far and 
wide. He does not take any agricultural 
paper, much less a bee journal, and sells 
his honey at any old price. 

He never gets any honey unless the sea- 
son is extraordinary. It is no wonder that 
the real progressive beekeeper finds such a 
farmer a menace to his business. 

Fortunately, the majority of our farmers 
are well-read, comfortably well off, and if 
they keep bees they secure fair returns 
from them. There is nothing that will yield 
for him larger returns for the money in- 



vested than bees. His wife and children 
may just as well get a little money on the 
side by keeping bees as by keeping chick- 
ens; and the chances are two to one that 
they will make more money, and at the 
same time keep the home supplied with 
the most delicious sweet that the world has 
ever known. Such a class of farmers are 
adding dignity and strength to their call- 
ing; and when they keep bees they get a 
better seeding from their clover fields; 
more and better fruit from their orchards 
(see Fruit Blossoms and Pollination) ; 
plenty of honey for the family, and a little 
extra clean cash. 

It is not an uncommon thing for a few 
hives on the farm to bring in a net return 
of five and even ten dollars per colony. 
For the money invested there is nothing 
like it. 

Of course it is only fair to say that some 
years on the farm the bees will not do 
much; but it is a poor farmer beekeeper 
who cannot make the bees pay their own 
way during poor seasons, and even make 
handsome returns when the season is good. 
The farmer who has an orchard and raises 
alsike, sweet clover, or alfalfa, will be able 
to keep his few colonies more than busy. 

We contend that every up-to-date farmer, 
especially if he raises clover seed or fruit, 
should keep bees. See Fruit Blossoms; 
Hac'klot Beekkeping; Bees and Fkuit- 
(jrowing; Bef:s and Poultkv; A B C of 
Beekeeping, 



302 



FEEDING AND FEEDERS 



FEEDING AND FEEDERS.— Feeding 

is practiced for one of two purposes — to 
stimulate brood-rearing at times of the 
year when no honey is coming in from 
natural sources, or to supply food to colo- 
nies that are short at the approach of win- 
ter. These will be referred to later under 
separate heads. Whenever possible, feed- 
ing should be avoided; for at best it is a 
messy job, expensive, and, in the case of 
the beginner, liable to cause robbing. In 
a good locality it may be possible to avoid 
feeding altogether. Especially would this 
be true in those places where there is 
plenty of buckwheat or fall flowers. To 
buy sugar by the barrel every fall is very 
expensive, and the beekeeper should lay his 
plans to avoid it as far as possible. In 
many cases fall feeding is made necessary 
by extracting too closely, in some cases 
even from the brood-nest. This is bad 
practice and decidedly poor economy. But 
there are times when it is necessary to give 
the bees food either to keep up and stimu- 
late brood-rearing or to prevent actual 
starvation. 

When the honey already in the hives at 
autumn is of good quality, and nicely sealed, 
it would be folly to extract it, put it on the 
market, buy sugar, make syrup, and feed 
it to the bees. There would be very little 
gained by it, even if the honey sold at a 
higher price,' and the sugar syrup were 
cheaper. Where the natural stores are dark, 
of poor quality, or bad honeydew, it m^ight 
be advisable to extract and put in their 
place sugar syrup. Yet of late years it has 
been our practice to let the bees have every- 
thing of their own gathering, provided it is 
nicely ripened and sealed in the comb, no 
matter what the source; and it is very sel- 
dom we lose bees in outdoor wintering by 
reason of poor food. 

Where ones does not have combs of nice 
stores sealed, it will be necessary to feed 
sugar syrup. The cheapest and best food 
for this purpose is ordinary white granu- 
lated sugar. Some of the brown sugars may 
be used; but experience has shown that 
they are not so good, and not so cheap in 
the end, altho selling at a lower price. 

Sugar syrup when capped over makes an 
excellent food for winter. It does not cause 
dysentery, and is cheap; but it is not the 
equal of good honey for breeding, as it is 
lacking in some of the necessary food ele- 



ments in honey. (See Hoxey as a Food.) 
On the other hand, sugar syrup is a little 
better as a winter food. It is less stimu- 
lating — that is, less inclined to start up 
premature breeding in late winter or early 
spring. 

It is usually poor practice to extract good 
honey out of the brood-nest. While at times 
the natural stores might bring twice as 
much as the same weight of sugar syrup, the 
labor of extracting and the wear and tear 
on the colony itself in feeding and evap- 
orating the syrup down are so great that 
no economy is effected. Ordinary sugar 
stores should be supplied only to make up 
the deficiency, if any. 

In midwinter, if the bees are short of 
food, they should be given candy made of 
granulated sugar. See Candy for Bees. 

The difference in cost between a first 
quality of extracted honey and sugar syrup 
when sealed in the comb is so little that, if 
there are combs of good natural stores, 
rather than extract them it would be bet- 
ter to set them aside, and then in the fall 
give these combs to such colonies as had an 
insufficient supply. But in any case it 
would be wise not to use all such combs, 
because, in the spring, it is sometimes very 
handy to have them ready, in case of an 
unexpected shortage, so that they can be 
placed right down at the side of the brood- 
nest of a colony. If combs of sealed stores 
are not to be had, it is advisable to give 
cakes of candy, as described under Candy 
for Bees. 

HOW to make the syrup. 

Something will depend on whether the 
bees are to be fed for the purpose of in- 
ducing brood-rearing or to give a supply 
for winter. For stimulating, a syrup made 
of one part of sugar to two of water by 
bulk is about right. If the water is hot 
the sugar will dissolve more readily. For a 
winter food given early in the fall the pro- 
portion should be about two parts of sugar 
to one of water. For late feeding, just be- 
fore cold weather comes on, the ratio should 
be about two and a half to one. When 
made as thick as this the syrup is liable to 
go back to sugar to some extent, and some- 
times it is necessary to put in about a tea- 
spoonful of tartaric acid to every 20 pounds 
of sugar. Others find it better to use honey. 



FEEDING AND FEEDERS 



303 



The proportion then of honey will be about 
one-third by bulk of the amount of water 
used. If honey is used care should be taken 
to see that it comes from hives where there 
has never been any foul brood. In our 
own practice we have never found it neces- 
sary to use either honey or acid. 

A • syrup made by mixing sugar and 
water in equal parts does not necessarily 
require heat. The water may be poured 
into a receptacle cold, and sugar stirred in 
until the volume of the sugar equals that of 
the water. The stirring will have to be con- 
tinued until the sugar is dissolved. If there 
is any quantity to be mixed in that way, an 
ordinary honey-extractor serves as a very 
excellent agitator. The machine is filled 
nearly half -full of water, when the sugar is 
poured in little by little while the reel is 
being turned. It will have to be revolved 
until the sugar is all dissolved. After a 
vigorous turning of the crank, even after 
the sugar is thoroly mixed, there will be a 
number of small air-bubbles. These will 
all disappear if the syrup is allowed to 
stand for a while. When the proportion of 
the sugar is two to one or two and a half to 
one, it is advisable to use hot or boiling 
water. 

Syrup can be mixed in a common wash- 
boiler where heat is employed. In that case 
the boiler is put on the stove and filled with 
the requisite quantity of water. After it 
has come to a boil, the sugar is slowly 
stirred in, a little at a time. While on the 
stove the mixture must be kept thoroly 
stirred to prevent the undissolved sugar 
from settling on the bottom and burning. 
Care should be taken about that, because 
burnt sugar or syrup is liable to be fatal to 
the bees. 

In many cases syrup has to be prepared 
at the outyard. Or perhaps the good wife 
objects to having her stove messed up. 
While an oil or gasoline stove will heat the 
water, either one is very slow. Some use 
and recommend a good-sized common gal- 
vanized washtub, such as can be obtained 
at any hardware store at a comparatively 
low price. This is placed outdoors on four 
or five stones of suitable size. The right 
proportion of water is poured into the tub. 
A fire is then built under, and when the 
water comes to a boil the granulated sugar 
is slowly stirred in. After it is all dis- 
solved, the fire should be scraped out from 



under the tub to prevent overheating or 
burning. This work should be done on a 
cool or rainy day when the bees are not 
flying; otherwise one would start robbing. 

FEEDERS. 

There have been hundreds of feeders in- 
vented and put on the market. Some of 
them are very complicated, and the more 
so the less useful. If one desires to keep 
down his investment he may use common 
tin pans. These can be placed in the upper 
story of the hive and filled with syrup. On 




Simplicity-feeder. 

top of the syrup should be laid a strip of 
cheesecloth that has been dampened in wa- 
ter. The bees will crawl up on the cloth 
and get the syrup without danger of drown- 
ing. One objection to pans is that, after 
the feed is all taken, the cloth is likely to be 
stuck down by the dried crystals. Boiling 
water will, however, very soon clean them. 

A feeder that has been used very largely 
is the Simplicity trough feeder. It is an 
excellent feeder, cheap in price, and occu- 
pies very little room on top of the brood- 
frames; or it may be used in front of the 
entrance at night when the weather is 
warm. It should not, of course, be placed 
there during the day on account of the 
danger of robbing. 

Another feeder that has been used very 
largely consists of a common wooden but- 
ter-dish, or pie-plate, such as one gets at 
the grocery when he buys butter. A hun- 
dred of these can be nested together so as 
to take but very little room, and the price is 
insignificant. It is not necessary to use 
cheesecloth with the butter-dish. Set it on 
the top of the frames, and fill it with syrup. 

FEEDERS ON THE ATMOSPHERIC PRINCIPLE. 

The principle of giving chickens water on 
the atmospheric principle has been applied 
to feeders for bees. A common Mason jar, 
for example, filled with syrup, and covered 
with a common saucer, whec inverted will 



304 



FEEDING AND FEEDERS 



make n vei-y good fecdei- for boos. But in 
order to provide for a proper flow, three or 
four toothpicks should be put between the 
jar and the saucer. At this time the saucer 
will be right side up, and the jar upside 
down. As fast as the bees take out the 
syrup air will enter the jar, and syrup will 
flow into a saucer. 

The device is rather crude and unhandy. 
A better atmospheric feeder may be made 
out of a Mason jar and cap in this way. 
Break or remove the porcelain in the top of 
the cap, and then punch two or three holes 
about the size of a common pin. Fill the 
jar full of syrup, screw on the cap, and 
invert. In that position it must be held by 
some contrivance where it will be secure 
from robbers and where the bees can go 
under and take the syrup thru the above- 
mentioned perforations. 

Manufacturers make a special Mason jar- 
cap with perforations; and with this cap 
they supply a block of wood bored to re- 
ceive a Mason jar when inverted. This will 
hold the jar % of an inch above the bottom 
of the hole in the block. Thru the bottom 
is a mortise or slot that communicates with 
the entrance of the hive when the feeder is 
attached to the hive. This is done by in- 
serting the projection into the entrance. 




Boardman entrance-feeder. 

The Boardman, of all the feeders here 
shown, is the handiest. It does not require 
the opening of the hive, and, what is of 
some importance, permits the apiarist to 
see at a glance by looking down a row of 
his hives what feeders are empty or nearly 
so. One can take a wheelbarrow load of 
filled cans, lift the empty ones out of the 
blocks, and substitute filled ones. It is the 
work of but a few minutes to supply every 
colony in the apiary with a filled can of 
syrup. This is especially convenient during 
a dearth of honey when it is desired to keep 



up brood-rearing for increase. For furthn- 
particulars regarding this feeder see Fi:eiv. 
TNG TO Stimulate farther on. 

The pepper-box feeder is another form 
of atmospheric feeder that has been adver- 
tised quite extensively. While this can be 




Pepper-box feeder. 

inserted into an entrance block like the 
Boardman, it is not so easy to determine 
when it is empty. Ordinarily it is used in 
an upper story or super above the brood- 
chamber. 

THE ALEXANDER FEEDER. 

This is a very popular feeder, and some 
prefer it to anything else. It is on the 
principle of the Simplicity trough feeder 
and is a little longer than the width of the 
hive. The bottom-board is shoved forward 
the width of the feeder, and into the space 
left vacant is placed the feeder. The pro- 
jecting end is used for filling, after which 
it is closed by a wooden block. 




Alexander feeder. 

While this feeder is very handy, it does 
not, like the Boardman, regulate the sup- 
ply of feed. The bees will empty it in an 
hour or two, and then be inclined to rob, 
because the large amount given stirs them 
up to the point of excitement. One serious 
objection to the Alexander feeder is that it 
is sometimes difficult, owing to the uneven- 
ness of ground, to adjust the feeder to the 
back end of the hive. See Feeding to 
Stimulate fai-ther on. 

friction-top feeder. 

Perhaps about as handy a feeder as any 
is the friction-top feeder, Avhich has been 



FEEDING AND FEEDERS 



305 




The 5 and 10 pound friction-top pails that are used 
so largely make the simplest and best kind of feeders 
for supplying winter stores. Punch the lid full of 
very fine " holes, till with syrup, about two parts of 
sugar to one of water (warm if weather is cool), and 
crowd the lid down tightly. 



coming into favor during recent years. This 
feeder is a five- or ten-pound friction-top 
l)ail having a lid punctured with about 130 
holes made with a three-penny nail. 

The feeders are filled with a syrup, 2 or 
2V2 parts of sugar to one of water, the 
density depending upon the lateness of the 
season. In cold weather the syrup should 
be quite thick and warm. Over the colony 
to be fed, an empty super is placed, and 
one of these pails of syrup inverted imme- 
diately over the cluster and covered with an 
old sack to prevent the heat of the cluster 
from escaping above. Some strong colo- 
nies will take the contents of a ten-pound 
pail in a day. If not taken as rapidly as it 
should be, the residue of the cold feed 
should be removed and replaced by warm 
syrup. 




Invert tlie piiil over the liole in the escape-board 

directly above the cluster in the brood-chamber. There 

is plenty of space to permit the bees to work over the 
whole surface of the lid. 




THE DOOLITTLE DIVISION-BOARD FEEDER. 

For cool-weather feeding, or fall or win- 
ter feeding, the Friction-top feeder and the 
Doolittle are superior to those previously 
mentioned. 

The Doolittle has the same outside di- 
mensions as an ordinary brood-frame, but 
is two inches wide. It will hold about 6 
lbs. of syrup, and usually about four feed- 
erfuls will supply a colony with enough 




Or, dispense with the escape-board altogether and 
put the pail directly on the top-hnrs of the brood- 
frames. Cover all around with an old sack. The syrup 
cannot run out any faster than the bees take it. 



Doolittle feeder. 

stores for winter, provided the syrup is 
made two and one-half to one as already 
described. We often use the Doolittle feeder 
during cool weather or in the fall, and, as a 
general thing, we fill it with warm syrup. 
It may be used as a dummy or a division- 
board. 

THE MILLER FEEDER. 

Where one desires to feed 20 to 25 lbs. of 
syrup at a time, all in one feed, the Miller 
feeder is the best of anything we have ever 
tried. It is a little less in dimensions than 



306 



FEEDING AND FEEDERS 



the inside of an ordinary super to a hive, 
and is always used in connection with a 
super or upper brood-chamber. For late 
feeding, where one desires to do the work 
all up at one time, he can feed with this 
feeder 25 lbs. of thick syrup. If the 




Miller feeder. 

weather is cool and the syrup hot when 
poured in, the bees will take it down in a 
single night. The feeder can then be trans- 
ferred to some other hive. 

The peculiar merit of this feeder is the 
fact that the entrance to it is directly over 
the center of the brood-nest. Bees can rise 




up thru the space E shown in the sectional 
drawing, follow the direction of the arrows, 
and reach the syrup. The syrup in the 
compartments B B will rise to a corre- 
sponding level in the two outside passages 
under A. 

FEEDING V^ITHOUT A FEEDER TO PREVENT 
STARVATION. 

If one has been so careless as to allow 
his colonies to reach the point of starva- 
tion, and has no feeders on hand, he may 
feed thick syrup or honey known to be free 
from disease by placing a brick under the 
front of the hive in order to give the hive a 
backward tilt, and then pouring the feed 
over the tops of the frames at the back of 
the hive. Care should be taken not to cause 
robbing by giving a colony so much feed 
that it will run out at the entrance or out 
between the hive and bottom-board in case 
the bottom-board is loose. 

FEEDING TO STIMULATE BROOD- 
REARING. 

As previously intimated, feeding to stim- 
ulate brood-rearing is a very different prop- 



osition from feeding to supply the bees 
with the necessary winter stores. In the 
case of the former, it is desired to get a 
large force of bees (not stores) for the 
approaching harvest or the approaching 
winter, the method of procedure being the 
same in either case. To stimulate brood- 
rearing, approximately half a pint of syrup 
daily should be fed; but if that amount 
be given in an ordinary open feeder, such 
as the Simplicity, Doolittle, or Alexander, 
the bees will take it all up in about an 
hour's time. The result, if the syrup is 
given in the morning or during even the . 
middle hours of the day, is to excite the 
colony unduly. Bees will rush out into the 
open air to ascertain where the sudden 
supply of food may be obtained. If a 
whole apiary is fed in this way, there is a 
general uproar of excitement, often fol- 
lowed by robbing of some of the weaker 
colonies and nuclei, for the bees in the field 
will pry into everything. An entrance un- 
guarded is immediately attacked; and un- 
less there is sufficient force to repel the 
onslaught, robbing will get so far under 
way that it may result in the robbing-out 
of the attacked colony. But this is not all. 
When the supply of syrup in the feeders 
fails, bees are apt to be cross, sometimes 
attacking passers-by or stock in the fields. 
This is particularly so if robbing gets un- 
der way. For these reasons it is usually 
advisable to feed toward night. 

Happily we are able to avoid all this 
trouble by using a feeder that will make 
a quart or a pint of syrup last during the 
entire 24 hours of the day. In the case of 
a nucleus, the amount can be so regulated 
as to last 36 or 48 hours. 

When the supply of food comes in very 
slowly, about as it would come in from a 
very moderate honey flow, enough to give 
the bees and queen encouragement to keep 
up brood-rearing, they will rear more brood 
than if the supply is intermittent. All ex- 
citement — that is, uproar in the air — as 
well as robbing is avoided. It is impossible 
to fix the Simplicity, Alexander, and Doo- 
little feeders so that they will not give out 
the syrup too fast; but we can regulate 
the friction-top, pepper-box and Board- 
man entrance-feeders. This is accomplished 
by using lids having but three or four 
holes or perforations. 



FEEDING AND FEEDERS 



307 



For stimulating this slow feeding is a 
great convenience, because one can give his 
bees a supply of food to keep up the nor- 
mal functions of the colony for two or 
three days. For very slow feeding one 
hole is better than more. A strong colony 
will require more openings than a weak 
one ; and in all cases syrup for stimulating 
should be in the proportion of about 66 
per cent water and 33 per cent sugar, 
thoroly stirred until the sugar is dissolved. 

Perhaps the reader does not own any 
friction-top, pepper-box or Boardman feed- 
ers, and 3-et would like to practice slow 
feeding as herein directed. All he needs to 
do is to procure a quantity of self -sealing 
tin cans that can be readily obtained at 
the ordinary grocery. Thru the top punch 
a hole just large enough to admit a com- 
mon pin. If this hole does not prove large 
enough to let out sufficient food, two holes 
may be used, or even three, depending 
upon the size of the colony. The can should 
then be filled with sjTup, and the top 
pushed firmly in place. 

Experiments have shown that this scheme 
of slow feeding will raise more brood for 
the sugar used than where the same amount 
is given intermittently in open feeders like 
the Simplicity, Alexander, and the Doolit- 
tle. For our work, we prefer the Board- 
man entrance-feeders because we can see 
at a glance thru the glass when the syi'up 
has been used up. If the supply has been 
taken, it is very easy to put a filled can in 
the place of the empty without disturbing 
the hive or the bees. 

FEEDIXG FOR WINTER. 

If colonies are to be wintered on sugar 
syrup mainly, the general practice is to 
feed some time in September, and, as a 
rule, this is, perhaps, the best time to feed. 
Still, in many localities in central United 
States, there is warm weather in October 
sufficient to start brood-rearing, and much 
of the stores fed in September may be con- 
sumed so that what is left is not sufficient 
to last until the new honey flow. For this 
reason it is often unsafe to feed in Sep- 
tember and give no further attention to the 
bees. There are other cases when, for one 
reason or another, feeding may be delayed 
imtil cold weather begins. If one is iian- 
ning a number of outyards it is impossible, 



without hiring a large force of men, to feed 
all these yards at once, and by the time the 
last yard is reached it may be rather late. 
But before we begin the actual work of 
feeding we make a preliminary canvass of 
the whole apiary. This we do by "hefting" 
each hive; that is, we lift up either the 
front or back of the hive. A little practice 
will enable one to determine approximately 
the amount of stores in each hive, provided 
there is not too large a force of bees. In 
that event, we must allow for a correspond- 
ing increase. As we go over each hive we 
mark on the cover with a piece of chalk the 
number of pounds that will be required. If 
the colony is a strong one, we allow for a 
total of 25 or 30 lbs. if it is to be wintered 
outdoors; or if indoors, about two-thirds 
that. We aim to have each colony strong 
enough so that it wiU require an average 
of about 30 lbs. each for outdoor wintering. 
After all the hives are marked we proceed 
to the actual work of feeding. 

For this late fall feeding we know of no 
better feeders than the Miller. The MiUer 
feeder will hold at least 25 lbs. of feed at a 
time, but the friction-top feeder holds only 
ten pounds, so that if one wishes to give a 
colony a large feed at one time, two or 
more feeders must be given the colony. 
Both of these feeders can be quickly put on 
or taken off without much disturbance to 
the brood-nest. On the other hand, if the 
colonies are not quite as strong as they 
should be, so that some contraction is nec- 
essary, the Doolittle division-board feeder, 
holding about 6 lbs. of thick feed at a time, 
may serve a better purpose. During the 
season, any combs that are too old, or 
which, for some reason or other, are not 
perfect, whether due to drone-cells or ir- 
regularities, can be gradually pushed to 
the outside of the brood-frames; then in 
the fall, when it is time to put in the 
feeder, provided the division-board feeders 
are used, these defective combs can be very 
easily taken out to be melted up later, and 
with no loss of brood. Furthermore, if the 
colonies need feeding, these outside combs 
will not contain much honey. On a cool 
day an outyard can be looked over very 
quickly, and the old combs that are on the 
outside of the brood-nest removed with 
very little trouble. If a follower is used, 
the removal of one comb and the follower 



308 



FEEDING AND FEEDERS 



makes room for the feeder; but, if the 
combs completely fill the hives, two combs 
must be removed. 

The best time of day for putting feed 
into the feeder is toward the close of the 
afternoon. It is not advisable to do the 
work in the morning or early in the day, 
for the reason that the bees become ex- 
cited, and robbing might be started, espe- 
cially if it were warm enough for the bees 
to fly. Right here is a point in favor of 
the chilly-weather feeding, for there is no 
such danger of robbing, of course, when 
the bees cannot fly on account of the cool 
temperature. 

We prepare the feed at home and carry 
it to the yards hot, in the regular five- 
gallon honey-cans, as these are about the 
largest-sized cans that can be handled con- 
veniently by one person. If two were do- 
ing the feeding a larger can might be used. 

While the syrup is still hot we load it 
into the wagon or auto truck, six or eight 
cans at a time, and carry it rapidly to the 
yard. When we reach the edge of the 
apiary, we take the cans, one at a time, and 
locate them thru the yard where the mark- 
ings on the hives show that we shall need 
them. If the cans have good strong handles 
we are able to carry two at a time, one in 
each hand; but the difficulty is that the 
handles are liable to tear loose from the 
can at one end and drag thru the hand, 
cutting the fingers. For this reason we 
prefer to carry one can at a time in the 
arms. If a small rope sling were used, two 
cans could be carried without danger. 

When we are ready to commence feeding 
we fill a large sprinkling-can, with the rose 
removed, and proceed at once to pour the 
syrup into the feeders. On the covers of 
the hives are marked the number of pounds 
of syrup which each hive is to receive. It 
is likely that not all of the hives will need 
feeding a second time, so the second day 
the work can be done even more quickly 
than the first time. When it is not too 
cool the. bees will have taken the syrup in 
one feeder in 24 hours' time; but if the 
weather is very cold they will require 48 
hours; but this time can be materially re- 
duced if the syrup is given hot. We would 
always give it hot if it is cold enough so 
that the cluster is contracted. After all 
the colonies have been fed we go over them 
again, this time making a careful examina- 



tion of the brood-nest. If more syrup is 
required, we mark the hives again and 
later on feed only those that may be short. 

FEEDING IN FREEZING WEATHER. 

Tho colonies have been wintered well 
when fed after cold or freezing weather, 
much the safer plan is to have it all done 
not later than October, for the Northern 
States, that they may have the syrup rip- 
ened and entirely sealed. If the weather is 
not too cold, one can feed with the friction- 
top or Miller feeder as previously inti- 
mated. If one has been so careless as to 
have bees that are in need of stores, at the 
beginning of winter, we would advise 
frames of sealed honey if they can be ob- 
tained; and if not, candy. See Candy. 

If hot syrup is covered with cushions or 
something equivalent, it may be fed at any 
time, altho it does not seem to be as satis- 
factory under all circumstances as combs 
of sealed stores. 

When feeding in cool or cold weather, 
one is very apt to chill the cluster, or leave 
openings that will permit the warmth of 
the cluster to pass off. We have several 
times had colonies die in the spring after 
commencing feeding, and we imagined it 
w^as from this cause alone. When they first 
commence raising brood in the spring, they 
need to be packed closely and snugly. 
Making a hole in the quilt or cushions 
above the cluster, and placing the feeder 
over this so as to close it completely, does 
very well, but is not, after all, as safe as 
giving the feed from below. For feeding 
in early spring, where the colony is weak, 
we would prefer candy or combs of sealed 
stores. 

FEEDING IN THE SPRING, OE 

FEEDING ENOUGH IN THE FALL 

TO LAST TILL THE NEXT 

HONEY FLOW. 

Some years ago it was the general prac- 
tice to feed in the spring to stimulate 
brood-rearing, such feeding taking place 
as soon as settled warm weather came on. 
The purpose of this was to get a large 
force of young bees for the coming har- 
vest; but in later j^ears the tendency on 
the part of our best beekeepers has been 
toward feeding enough in the fall to last 



FEEDING BACK 



309 



not only all winter but during the spring 
and until the honey flow. Experience seems 
to show that spring feeding very often does 
more harm than good by over-stimulation. 
Brood is expanded beyond the capacity of 
the bees to cover and keep warm. Robbing 
is often induced. Beginners especially are 
apt to overdo it; and even a veteran will 
sometimes get his colonies so strong before 
an extra supply of nectar comes in, that 
swarming will be brought on prematurely. 

This question of feeding heavily in the 
fall to last until the honey flow the follow- 
ing 3'ear, or feeding moderatel}' in the fall 
and stimulating the following spring, de- 
pends somewhat on the locality, and very 
largely on the man himself. Many bee- 
keepers of experience, especially in some 
localities, can doubtless practice spring 
feeding to advantage ; but as a rule begin- 
ners will do better to give all their colonies 
enough in the fall. 



WHEN" ROBBERS ARE BAD, FEEDING AT NIGHT. 

During the early fall of 1887 we found 
our apiary almost on the verge of starva- 
tion, the previous summer having been 
very dry. Robbers were unusually vigi- 
lant, and it was almost impossible to per- 
form any manipulation with the hives with- 
out getting a perfect storm of robbers in 
the brood-nest. Feeding during the day 
was out of the question, and j'et the colo- 
nies must be fed in order to prepare them 
for winter. Accordingly, to circumvent the 
robbers we fed at night by the light of lan- 
terns. Contrary to what we might expect, 
the bees gave us very little trouble by fly- 
ing against the lanterns. As the bees took 
up all the feed in the feeders during the 
night, and the robbers had had no oppor- 
tunity to investigate during the feeding, 
everything was comparatively quiet the next 
morning and also during the following day. 
We fed very successfully in this way some 
three or four barrels of sugar. Altho in 
the preceding paragraphs we have recom- 
mended feeding toward night, in the case 
above mentioned we fed from about 7 p. m, 
in some cases until 10 :30 P. m. Perhaps 
we should also remark, that, if it is incon- 
venient to work at night, feed on the first 
rainy day. Put on a rubber hat, coat, and 
rubber boots. As long as it rains, bees will 



not molest. Rain does not interfere with 
work as much as one might imagine. 

FEEDING BACK.— This subject is one 
interesting a large number of beekeepers in 
the comb-honey class, the main object, per- 
haps, being to prevent unfinished sections. 

Many who attempt to feed back, fail on 
account of the many difficulties encoun- 
tered. J. E. Hand of Birmingham, Ohio, 
has made a thoro study of this subject, and 
he finds that, while the work can be profit- 
ably done, much attention must be given to 
the details, since there are many things to 
take into consideration. 

It is more practicable, he says, to use a 
feeder in which the honey can be given 
below the brood-chamber instead of on top, 
as this is the more natural way for the 
bees, and they take it more readily. The 
Quinby feeder has a tin tray, 2 inches deep, 
enclosed by a wooden frame of the same 
depth, which is the same width as the hive, 
but 2y2 inches longer. The tin tray is ex- 
actly the same length as the hive, and when 
in use is pushed to the back end of the 
frame surrounding it, leaving a space of 
2V2 inches in front for the bees to pass out 
and in the hive. The other end of the tin 
tray projects 2^/2 inches beyond the hive at 
the back to alloAv space for filling it. A 
framework of slats lengthwise of the feeder 
sits in the tray for the bees to travel over 
while working in the feeder so that they 
may not be drowned. The feeder rests 
squarely on the bottom-board, and the hive 
covers the feeder except the 2^/^ inches at 
the back end, which space is covered by a 
little board. The bees cannot get into the 
place where the feed is poured in, and the 
honey (about six quarts) flows evenly un- 
der all parts of the hive, where it can be 
quickly taken up by the bees. 

Many fail in their attempt at feeding 
back because they select the wi^ong time of 
the year. It is best to begin right after the 
main honey flow has ceased before the 
work in the supers is over, and use fresh 
honey the day it is extracted. At this time 
the bees naturally go right on as tho the 
flow had not stopped. It is best to give 
about six quarts of thinned-down honey to 
each colony every other day. The interval 
between the feeding allows the bees time to 
remove the honey from the brood-cells, 
where it is first placed, to the supers. No 



310 



FEEDmCr OUTDOORS 



definite rule can be given for thinnijig 
down the honey, since the density varies so 
much. For average honey enough water 
must be added so that the sj'^rup will be 75 
per cent honey and 25 per cent water. 
Very thick honey needs more water, while 
thin honey needs less. 

It is necessary to have the brood-chamber 
well occupied by brood, for bees never do 
well in supers over brood-chambers con- 
taining much capped honey. The first 
requisite, then, is a good queen, which will 
be able to hold her own against any amount 
of feeding. The brood-chamber must be 
contracted, furthermore, so that the queen 
will be able to keep every comb filled with 
brood. In this connection the sectional 
hive is very convenient for the reason that 
one section msij be removed, thus contract- 
ing the brood section and still allowing 
brood in the shallow frames to be under 
the entire super. It is quite important, 
however, to have the combs in the brood- 
chamber as new as possible, for the bees 
are quite apt to carry up bits of comb to 
be used in capping cells in the supers, and 
old dark comb will discolor the super- 
cappings to quite an extent. 

The thinned-down honey should be put 
into the feeder just before sundown, so 
that there may be no uproar that may 
cause robbing. It is not desirable to have 
more than two supers of sections on the 
fed colonies at a time. As soon as the 
combs in the super next the brood-chamber 
are nearly capped, this super should be 
raised up and the upper one placed under 
it next to the brood-chamber. As soon as 
the top super is finished and capped solid 
to the wood, it may be removed and a fresh 
super placed next to the brood-chamber. 
Of course it is not essential that combs be 
built out and capped solid to the wood. 
The combs all capped over, except cells 
next to the wood, would grade No. 1. 

CAUTION : FED-BACK COMB HONEY LIABLE TO 
GEANULATE. 

Under Comb Honey, to Produce^ sub- 
head, " Bait Sections," reference is made 
to the fact that bait sections or fed-back 
comb honey is more liable to granuate than 
ordinary comb honey. Dealers have com- 
plained that the former granulates very 
rapidly on their hands; and when they 



know it they will not accept it unless for 
immediate sale. It should be sold in one's 
own locality, and sold as early as possible. 
While not all of it will granulate, the his- 
tory of such honey is decidedly unfavorable. 

FEEDING OUTDOORS.— After what 

has been said elsewhere in this work re- 
garding the danger of exposing sweets in 
the open air during the robbing season, it 
may seem the height of folly to recommend 
what appears to be the same thing that 
has been condemned ; but, as will be 
shown, this outside feeding may be prac- 
ticed without the bad results that follow 
from the exposure of sweets under other 
conditions. It is well known that, when 
bees are busy in the field in a natural honey 
flow, hives can be opened without anj" rob- 
bing. Now, then, if the bees can be kept 
busy by making them go after food, set 
outdoors, that is of the consistency of raw 
nectar, much the same result will be arti- 
ficially accomplished. 

But proceeding farther the question may 
be asked, "Why feed outdoors at all if the 
proper stimulation can be given by placing 
the food inside the hives that need it, rather 
than supplying all colonies alike, irrespec- 
tive of whether they need stores or not?" 

While it is ordinarily better to feed each 
individual colony according to its needs, 
there are times when one can feed a whole 
apiary by placing a weak syrup in an out- 
door feeder. At any time when robbers in- 
terfere with the manipulations of the colo- 
nies, sweetened water outdoors diverts the 
meddlers by making a sort of artificial 
honey flow. When the bees can gather any- 
thing from the fields they are not disposed 
to rob. In the same way if the bees can be 
kept busy artificially, much the same re- 
sults can be accomplished. This can be 
done with an outdoor feeder and sweetened 
water, as explained farther on. If one 
engages in queen-rearing, or desires to ex- 
tract when bees will ordinarily rob, an 
outdoor feeder can be started so that the 
necessary work can be performed easily 
and secure from pilfering bees. Again, it 
will sometimes happen that the whole api- 
ary is on the verge of starvation, and out- 
side feeding can be used to tide the bees 
over until the expected honey flow starts, 
or until feeders can be installed on the 
hives and colonies fed in the regular way. 



FEEDING OUTDOORS 



311 



Outdoor feeding cau also be employed to 
advantage to "call the bees off" when rob- 
bing the neighbors' preserves during the 
canning season. The same calling-off proc- 
ess can be used when the bees are robbing 
candy-stands or stands where lemonade or 
cut melons are on display for sale. 

Within a quarter of a mile of our home 
yard there is a fairground, and sometimes 
we find it necessary, if bees are inclined to 
rob, to start outdoor feeding the day before 
the fair opens, and keep it up during the 
fair. If there is a severe dearth at the 
time, bees are inclined to meddle with the 
candy-stands and soda-fountains. While 
the amount they actually steal is insignifi- 
cant, their presence "drives away trade." 

DISADVANTAGES OF OUTDOOR FEEDING. 

Having said this much in favor of out- 
door feeding of a whole apiary, it should 
be clearly and emphatically stated at the 
outset that it is an expensive way of feed- 
ing bees. When a colony can take the 
syrup from an ordinary feeder, either at 
the entrance or on top of the hive, and 
place it in the combs, the wear and tear on 
the bees is nothing as compared to that 
which takes place when the bees are com- 
pelled to leave the hives, fly to the feeder, 
scuffle with each other, and then rush back 
in pellmell haste to their hives to unload. 
Nor is this all. 

One year, when robbing was very bad, 
and when we desired to keep on with our 
queen-rearing operations, we fed for sever- 
al weeks in outdoor feeders. It was very 
noticeable that the field bees had their 
wings badly worn, and at the end of the 
queen-rearing operations the fielders were 
conspicuous by their absence, and only 
young bees were left. While outdoor feed- 
ing stimulates brood-rearing, it does so at a 
large cost. Besides the wear and tear on 
the wings themselves, there is the labor of 
reducing a nine-to-one sugar sjTup or 
sweetened water (nine parts of water to 
one of sugar) to a well-ripened sugar 
syrup of two and one-half parts of sugar 
to one of water. When feeding in the hive, 
the syrup should be never weaker than one 
part of sugar to one of water; and it is 
often two parts or even 2V2 parts of sugar 
to one of water. It will be readily seen 



that outdoor feeding of bees involves an 
enormous drain on the colony. 

There are also other serious drawbacks 
to outdoor feeding. It feeds all the bees 
in the vicinity, the neighbors' included, and 
might perhaps be instrumental in the 
spread of foul brood. It also causes a dis- 
proportionate amount of syrup to be given 
to the colonies. The strong ones will have 
a great deal more than their share, and 
the weak ones considerably less. By feed- 
ing within the hive, one can regulate the 
supply for each colony or nucleus. 

HOW TO FEED OUTDOORS. 

While an expert can set out unfinished 
sections for bees to clean, as spoken of 
under the head of Comb Honey, to Pro- 
duce, subhead "Unfinished Sections," the 
practice on the part of the beginner should 
be discouraged. But he can feed outdoors 
without stirring up an uproar by feeding 
a very thin syrup, about nine parts of 
water to one of sugar. As already ex- 
plained, this is virtually sweetened water. 
At the beginning a little stronger syrup 
will have to be made in order to start the 
bees. Then it can be weakened down to 
the nine-to-one basis. 

We prefer the regular trough feeder for 
the purpose — either the Alexander or the 
Simplicity. Twentj^-five or fifty of them 
will be required, aU set out in a row on a 
couple of 2 X 4 scantling properly leveled 
up. When these feeders are not available, 
two or three common washtubs can be used, 
but the surface of the sweetened water 
should be covered over with sticks or corn- 
cobs to prevent the bees from drowning; 
and there should not be much more than 
an inch of liquid in the tubs, or at least not 
more than will be required to supply the 
bees all day or as long as it is desired to 
keep them busy. If the sweetened water is 
left Qut over night during warm weather, it 
is liable to sour, so that a supply greater 
than the bees can take up for the day 
should never be given. 

To prevent the bees from crowding, it is 
desirable to use a large surface ; hence it is 
recommended to use two or three tubs with 
an inch of sweetened water in each rather 
than one tub with three inches of liquid. 
When the surface is comparatively small. 



3l2 



l^^LIGHT OF BEES 



the bees crowd each other in a way that is 
injurious to their wings; and by spreading 
the feed no bee will be compelled to crowd 
against its neighbor. 

FENCE.— See Comb Honey. 

FERTILE WORKERS.— See Laying 
Workers. 

FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS BY 
BEES. — See Pollination. 

FIREWEED.— See Willow-herb. 

FIXED FRAMES.— See Frames, Self- 
spacing. 

FLIGHT OF BEES.— The distance bees 
go in quest of stores varies very greatly 
according to conditions. Usually on level 
country, more or less wooded, they do not 
go over one and one-half miles. If, how- 
ever, there is a dearth of pasturage within 
that distance, and plenty of it along some 
river bank three to five miles away, they 
may or may not go that far. When bees 
go out after stores they evidently try to 
find their nectar as near the hive as possi- 
ble. They will not go over half a mile if 
they can get a sufficient supply within that 
distance; but in most cases that range 
does not supply enough pasturage, and it is 
evident they keep increasing their flight 
until they go as far as one and one-half 
miles. If they are unable to secure enough, 
and if there is forage on beyond, they 
often go farther. 

Bees will sometimes fly over a body of 
water or a valley from an elevation three 
or even five miles, particularly if there are 
fields in sight that are somewhat showy. 
Whether they have a long-range vision or 
not has not been proven ; but the fact that 
they will find white patches of buckwheat 
five miles away across a valley is somewhat 
significant. In a like manner they will go 
across a valley four or five miles to orange 
bloom in California. Whether they are 
guided by sight or smell in either case is 
difficult to prove; but it is quite probable 
that a breeze will carry the odors of a buck- 
wheat field or of an orange grove in full 
bloom to bees five miles away. While we 
might not be able to detect odors at such a 
distance, the scent orcfans of the bee are 



much more acute than ours; and they 
might and probably would get a knowledge 
of its presence in a given locality. 

As a general rule, as stated at the outset, 
bees do not fly much over one and one-half 
miles. Where they have to go greater dis- 
tances their wings sometimes show wear, es- 
pecially if they have to pass thru shrub- 
bery. 

We once had one yard located in an aster 
district. The supply of nectar gave out in 
the near-by fields; but Ave traced somo of 
the bees of that yard to asters five ^ iles 
away. That fall there was a very r.qjid 
decimation of bees. Colonies that Avere 
strong just before the asters came into 
bloom dwindled down to three- and two- 
frame nuclei. The surviving bees had their 
wings badly frayed. The presumption is 
that in dodging thru and over shrubbery in 
their long flights they tore their wings moi-e 
or less, with the result that large numbers 
of them never got back home. 

When bees are going to and from the 
field, they fly as low as possible to avoid the 
wind. Instead of flying over shrul)bery 
they will dodge thru it for forage on the 
other side. At other times they will fly 
over it. We have observed, however, at 
one of our yards, that bees would go no 
farther than a piece of woods half a mile 
away. The probabilities are that, on rising 
to the height of the trees, they encountered 
a current of wind in the opposite direction. 
It is a well-known fact that bees cannot fly 
against a strong wind, 

THE RANGE OF FLIGHT AND ITS RELATION TO 
OUT YARDS. 

In the location of outyards one should 
take into consideration the general lay of 
the land and the character of possible bee- 
forage. In ordinary white-clover regions 
Avhere there are patches of woods, build- 
ings, or much shrubbery, bees do not fly 
much over one and one-half miles; but 
when clover ceases to yield, and basswood 
can be found two or three miles away, 
those same bees will fly farther; and when 
conditions are right, they will fly from 
three to five miles, and even seven miles 
across a body of water. But locations that 
furnish such long ranges are very rare. 

The fiight of bees will determine some- 
what the size of the beeyard. If they do 



FOUL BROOD 



313 



not go farther than one and one-half miles, 
probably not more than 50 colonies can be 
kept in the location, and possibly 30 would 
be better. 

In some parts of the country as many as 
500 colonies can be kept in one place. The 
late E. W. Alexander kept 500 colonies at 
Delanson, N. Y., on a hill overlooking a 
valley. He traced his bees five miles from 
home many times, and secured large crops 
of honey. J. F. Mclntyre, at his cele- 
brated Sespe apiary near Ventura, Calif., 
kept over 500 colonies. (See Apiary.) 
In both of these cases it is evident that the 
bees would have to fly at least five miles in 
order to get the proper yield per colony. 
When an apiary of 50 colonies secures a 
good yield, the presumption is that the 
bees do not fly very far ; and it sometimes 
happens that 30 colonies will do better than 
50. In that case they should be located 
about three miles apart, making a radius of 
flight of one and one-half miles. 

FIGWORT {Scrophularia marilandica 
L.). — Also called heal-all, square-stalk, and 
carpenter's square. A strong-smelling herb, 
3 to 6 feet tall, with square stems, opposite 
leaves, and small greenish-purple flowers, 
growing in woodlands and hedges from 
Massachusetts to Kansas and Louisiana. 
The abundant nectar is secreted in two 
large drops by the base of the ovary. In 
1879 a small fleld of figwort at Medina, 
0., made a remarkable showing. Honey- 
bees visited the flowers from morning until 
night during the entire period of bloom- 
ing. On the average a flower was visited 
once a minute. After the nectar was re- 
moved other drops would exude in about 
two minutes. At one time this plant ex- 
cited a considerable furore among beekeep- 
ers, as it was thought that for artificial 
pasturage it would exceed anything then 
known. The honey obtained would not 
warrant, however, the large expense of its 
cultivation. The flowers are also very fre- 
quently visited by wasps. Several other 
species of figwort occur in this country. 
5*. nodosa is a European species. 

FOOD VALUE OF HONEY.— See 

Honey as a Food. 

FOUL BROOD.— The term foul brood 
covers two brood diseases — one known as 
American, or the old-fashioned diseased 



brood, caused by Bacillus larv.T, and one 
the European, a disease of comparatively 
recent introduction, caused by Bacillus plu- 
ton. There is some evidence to show that 
European foul brood was present in this 
country as early as 1S90; but it was not 
until 1899 that the author discovered that 
there are two distinct foul brood diseases 
here. See Gleanings in Bee Cultuke, 
page 858, for 1899. Shortly after, others, 
including the foul-brood inspectors of New- 
York (where the European foul brood was 
first found), also recognized the difference. 

The American foul brood, often called 
"ropy" foul brood, because the dead mat- 
ter assumes a gluey, sticky, tenacious char- 
acter, was well known in Europe, and has 
been referred to by Dzierzon and other 
^Titers. But Moses Quinby of St. Johns- 
ville, N. Y., was the first one to recognize 
it in the United States and prescribe for its 
cure. 

The Quinby cure is the basis of the only 
successful mode of treatment known and 
recognized today, altho some, since Quinby, 
have proclaimed themselves as the original 
discoverers of it. 

Foul brood, either American or Euro- 
pean, is (unless it be the careless beekeep- 
er) the most serious enemy, not even ex- 
cepting severe winters, with which a bee- 
keeper has to contend. So serious is it that 
the old-time box-hive beekeepers — the kind 
who take no bee journal and who read no 
bee book — are being practically eliminated. 
Localities that once had bees on every farm 
have practically no bees today except some 
in the hands of specialists who keep bees 
for the bread and butter they can get out 
of them. There is another class who are 
still represented, and they are the pro- 
gressive farmer and the professional man 
of the towns and cities (the backlot class) 
who are well enough posted to know how to 
combat foul brood successfully in either one 
of its two forms. 

Foul brood, chiefly the American, has 
^^TOught such destruction in this country 
that the United States census for 1910 
shows a large falling-off of bees on the 
farms. While there has been an increase of 
beekeepers among the professional class in 
our cities and towns, there is no denying 
the fact that the farmer beekeeper in the 
Northern States has been practically driven 
out of the business bv disease. No more 



314 



FOUL BROOD 




Combs showing the irregular, mottled, scattered cells with their perforated and sunken cappings of American 

foul brood. 



can it be said that "bees work for nothing 
and board themselves." They might have 
done so under the old box-hive system, be- 
fore foul brood had made its fearful in- 
roads, but they can do so no longer. While 
the loss of so many farmer beekeepers is to 
be deplored, there is some satisfaction in 
the fact that the industry of beekeeping is 
now being placed on a higher plane — in the 
hands of the intelligent and progressive 
backlotters and farmers. The reader of 
these lines belongs to this class; and he 
need have no real dread of any disease that 
affects bees, if he will follow the simple 
directions for their treatment that are 
given in these pages. While, of course, he 
will and should fear foul brood (not be- 
cause it can put him out of business, but be- 



cause it can annoy him), he should not get 
the idea that he can not control it, nor 
that it can prevent him from securing a 
crop of honey. Foul brood does, however, 
cause some apprehension in the minds of 
the queen-breeder and the men who sell 
bees; for under state laws there are severe 
penalties for shipping diseased bees or in- 
fected combs into territory where no dis- 
ease exists. In this connection it is proper 
to remark that some forty States and Prov- 
inces have stringent foul-brood laws. 

But, perhaps, the most important thing 
for the reader now to consider is how to 
know foul brood when it shows itself in the 
yard. It is comparatively easy to hold 
either disease in check at its very start, but 
quite another proposition after they get a 



FOUL BROOD 



315 



strong foothold. Every beekeeper, there- 
fore, should know the important symptoms 
of both American and European foul 
brood. After he actually sees combs af- 
fected with either disease, he will have a 
much better knowledge of them, of course; 
but as seeing the disease involves danger, 
especially if the combs are sent by express 
or mail, he will have to depend on photo- 
graphic representations and a description 
of the symptoms as here given. 

In the first place, American foul brood 
had a run in our own home apiary some 30 
years ago ; and so severe was the attack be- 
fore we learned how to cure it that we lost 
over half of our colonies and a honey crop, 
to say nothing of the ruin of a very profit- 
able trade in bees and queens which had to 
be summarily discontinued. During the two 
or three years that we combated the disease 
we acquired an experience that was valua- 
ble — of the kind that Josh Billings told 
about when he said that " Egsperiense 
teeches a good skule, but the tuishun kums 
rather hi.'^ And it was "hi" with us. In 
addition to this "experience" we have trav- 
eled extensively over the United States, vis- 
ited apiaries where foul brood, both Amer- 
ican and European, was present and under 
treatment. The author has seen the two 
diseases, each in its incipient and advanced 
stages, and he has seen how they can be 
successfully combated by the simple meth- 
ods that are now recommended by our foul- 
brood inspectors. Besides this he has had 
hundreds and hundreds of specimens of 
affected brood sent from all parts of this 
country; and at one time our office seemed 
to be the only place to which samples of 
brood could be sent for diagnosis. But in 
later years the United States government, 
thru its Bureau of Entomology, has been 
making a study of foul brood; and its 
corps of apicultural experts are now pre- 
pared to render assistance in the way of 
information, so now it is no longer neces- 
sary nor advisable to send samples to our 
office. Indeed, we advise against it, be- 
cause the Bureau, having trained experts 
and a bacteriologist, with microscopes and 
laboratory, are able to make a much more 
accurate diagnosis of all samples of af- 
fected combs or diseased brood sent in. 
The sample should be wrapped in oiled or 
paraffined paper and inclosed in a strong 
wooden box. 



AMERICAN FOUL BROOD. 

As a general thing, the beekeeper will 
not discover it in its incipient stages. He 
is not expecting it, and, if it comes, does 
not see it. His first intimation of its pres- 
ence will be occasional cells of sealed brood 
showing sunken, greasy cappings and cells 




Typical American Foul Brood. 

with irregular perforations. American foul 
brood is confined mainly to brood that has 
died after the cells have been sealed; but 
25 or 30 per cent of unsealed cells will 
show dead brood, and the dead larvas in 
both sealed and unsealed will vary in color 
from a yellowish brown to a dark brown, 
and finally to a brownish black. The larva 
that has just died holds its shape. As the 
disease advances it begins to shrink, and 
the dead matter becomes so rotten and 
putrid that the skin breaks, and on the 
lower side of the cell is seen a melted-down 
mass of matter that is very ropy — that is 
to say, sticky and tenacious. As this dries 
down it forms a hard scale that sticks 
tightly to the cell wall. The scale of Euro- 
pean foul brood does not adhere so tightly 
but may be removed. The worst specimens 
of American foul brood are usually found 
in the cells that have been sealed, altho the 
melted broken-down form of larvae will be 
found in some unsealed cells. 

The initial stages of American foul brood 
are usually confined to the sealed cells. 
After the disease has advanced so that 75 
per cent of all the sealed brood in a comb 
is affected, there will be found quite a 
sprinkling of stray cells of young larvae 
that have never been capped over that are 
dead. But usually the grub will be almost 
fully grown before it dies in the unsealed 



316 



FOUL BROOD 




A comb badly affected with the ropy or American foul brood. 



cell, tending to show that American foul 
brood does not usually kill the larva until 
after it is sealed in the cell, or just before 
that sealing. 

European foul brood in its first stages is 
usually confined to the unsealed cells. The 
dead larva will have a light-yellow color 
instead of a brownish- dirty one verging 
on to very nearly black. The American 
may be found at any time of the year 
when brood-rearing can take place; but 
the European is principally a disease of 
weak colonies and usually shows up at its 
worst early in the season, and before the 
main honey flow. 

One may find occasional dead larvae just 
before sealing that do not indicate disease 
of any sort. A few such scattered over the 
combs may be due to starvation — that is, 
improper feeding. This occurs occasion- 
ally when there is too much brood for the 
number of nurse bees to the hive. One 
will occasionally find dead brood, due to 
chilling or overheating. When the brood 
area expands too fast in the spring, an oc- 
casional cold night will cause the cluster 
to contract, leaving some of the brood un- 
covered. This chills and dies. All such 
dead brood should be carefully distinguish- 
ed from brood affected with either Euro- 
])ean or American foul brood. If, after a 
week or two, no dead larvae appear, one 
may assume there is no disease. 

On the other hand, if one finds larvae 
that are dead, and an increasing number 
of them as the days go by, he may suspect 



trouble. If the dead larvae seem to melt 
down, lying on the bottom side of the cell, 
and if, further, they turn yellow or brown, 
and take on a tenacious, gluey consistency, 
it is an indication of American foul brood. 
If ^ common toothpick, thrust into the dead 
matter, and given a little twist, and drawn 
out, leaves a fine thread two or three inches 
long, it is an indication of American foul 
brood. If nearly all the dead larvae, espe- 
cially those in sealed cells, show this ropy 
or stringy appearance the indication of 
American is very much stronger. In this 
connection it should be stated that Euro- 
pean foul brood in some stages will rope; 
but the thread is coarser, somewhat lumpy, 
and is more of a watery consistency. Only 
occasional cells will show a tendency to 
rope, and even then after considerable 
poking. The occasional ropy cells prove 
nothing. 

The roping test, alone, must not be con- 
sidered as conclusive that the disease is 
American. If, after a few days, some of 
the dead matter dries down into a hard 
scale so that it can not be removed with- 
out destroying the cell to which it is at- 
tached, one may conclude that he has real 
American foul brood. While the scale of 
European will dry down, it seldom or never 
adheres tightly to the cell wall. Once 



If, on careful examination, one finds 
here and there a few pupae — that is, young 
bees almost fully developed, — with theii" 
tongues projecting upward, sometimes 



FOUL BROOD 



317 



full length and sometimes half way, he 
may be reasonably sure that he has the 
American before him. These young bees 
will lie on their backs, with their tongues 
sticking upward, sometimes extending far 
enough so that the end of the tongue seems 
to be glued to the upper wall of the cell. 
Sometimes it will project upward only 
half way; but wherever these projecting 
tongues are found it is a pretty sure in- 
dication of American foul brood. So far 
as the author knows, these projecting 
tongues are never found in the European. 

The name "foul brood" suggests a foul 
odor. In the case of American the smell 
is very much like that of a cabinetmaker's 
gluepot. With European there is a sour 
or musty smell in the first stages. In the 
later stages of European the odor is very 
bad, reminding one of dead fish or old 
carrion that has been allowed to stand for 
a considerable length of time. The odor 
of American foul brood is not nauseating, 
but nevertheless it is quite characteristic. 
Sometimes the presence of the disease can 
be detected in the apiary by merely walk- 
ing through it. Neither is the odor of 
European foul brood nauseating in its 
early stages. Sometimes it is very hard 
to detect any odor. In the later stages of 
European the odor is "just awful." It 
seems to be a combination of the odor from 
dead animals or fish, with the suggestion 
of ammonia and of decay. 

One who is expert can very often locate 
disease by these odors; but it should be 
remembered that the odor alone is by no 
means conclusive; but in connection with 
the other symptoms it is very helpful in 
enabling one to decide what form of brood 
disease he has. 

On one particular occasion we located a 
colony having foul brood by an occasional 
whiff we could catch at the entrance; but 
it was nearly a week after that when we 
found one cell containing dead matter. Ap- 
parently, the colony had nearly cured it- 
self. But there still remained a character- 
istic odor which could not be eliminated. 
Experience shows that a colony which cures 
itself does not ordinarily stay cured. The 
stock may be vigorous enough to keep the 
disease down: but an occasional cell will 
manifest itself for the ensuing 10 or 12 
years, and in the mean time be a constant 
source of infection to all the rest of the 



apiary. There might be some colonies that 
would not be able to resist, hence the 
danger. 

THE ODOR OF DEAD BEES LIKE THAT OF 
AMERICAN FOUL BROOD. 

Sometimes one can detect a gluepot odor 
at the entrance of one of the hives. He 
will be horror-stricken and conclude that, 
because he has perceived the unmistakable 
smell, the disease is surely present in his 
apiary. This fear will be dissipated if he 
understands that the same foul-brood odor, 
or at least one very much like it, may have 
come from a lot of putrid dead bees after a 
severe winter. These dead bees may be in 
the hive or at the entrance. Again, over- 
heated brood or chilled brood, if neglected 
until it fairly rots, will give off a similar 
odor. The reader will understand, there- 
fore, that the odor test is by no means 
final; but it is very suggestive, provided 
no dead bees are found, and provided thai 
one knows that the brood of the hive from 
which the odor emanates has not been 
chilled nor overheated. 

H0V7 FOUL BROOD IS CARRIED TO NEIGHBORING 
HIVES. 

When a colony is badly affected the dis- 
ease has progressed to such a stage that the 
probabilities are that other colonies in the 
same locality are affected, especially those 
having entrances pointing in the same di- 
rection or similarly located. At this point 
the beekeeper should be warned that colo- 
nies next to the one badly affected are very 
apt to show the disease. This is explained 
on the ground that young bees, and even 
the adult ones become more or less con- 
fused at their entrances, and so get into 
the wrong hive. As they do not ordinarily 
show any of the manifestations of ordinary 
robbers, they are admitted. If they carry 
honey from an infected colony, as many of 
them do, they will transmit the disease as 
soon as they give pap made out of such 
honey to young brood; and that explains 
why there will be only a single cell or a 
group of cells perhaps, or one square inch 
that will have foul brood, while all the rest 
of the brood in the hive is perfectly nor- 
mal. In one or more neighboring hives with 
entrances facing in the same direction a cell 



318 



FOUL BROOD 



""^^?^v^J., 



■Xm^ 






THE TEEATMENT AND CURE OP 
AMERICAN FOUL BROOD. 









*^^.' 



• '^^'rV 



m^: 






A COMB OF AMERICAN FOUL BROOD. 

[Notice the characteristic sunken and perforated cappings at the 
left. Note that these cappings showing the presence of disease are 
scattering. ] 



or two of foul brood will generally be 
found. If one can be sure that the comb 
containing the diseased cell or cells is the 
only one affected, the removal of that comb 
may eft'eet a permanent cure. As will be 
stated further on, all such colonies should 
receive a thoro treatment. 

There is a kind of pinhole perforation 
that does not signify anything wrong — 
indeed, quite the contrary. As bees seal 
up their brood, there is a stage when there 
will be a small round hole in the center of 
the cap. Sometimes these holes are not 
closed up, and then we have what is called 
bareheaded brood. But the perforations in 
bareheaded brood are very different from 
the perforations in cells containing foul 
brood, either American or European. The 
bad cells will have sunken cappings. The 
perforations are ragged, triangular, and 
the edges appear to be somewhat greasy, 
while in the perforations in barehooded 
brood the cappings are slightly convex, 
and the hole is circular. 



At the outset the Quinby meth- 
od was spoken of as being the 
basis of most successful treat- 
ment for American foul brood. 
This plan involved the melting- 
up of the old combs (shaking 
bees into clean hives) and com- 
pelling the bees to start anew. 
As this treatment was described 
before foundation was known, 
of course no mention of it was 
made. Practically the only im- 
provement over the Quinby 
treatment is giving the bees 
starters or full sheets of founda- 
tion instead of empty frames 
with mere wooden guides. In 
more recent times the late D. A. 
Jones of Beeton, Ont., gave out 
what he called the " starvation " 
plan. It involved the same prin- 
ciples as the Quinby treatment, 
with this difference, that he shut 
the combless bees after shaking, 
in a large wire-cloth box, or a 
box with wire cloth cover, and 
set it in a cool place until the 
bees had consumed all the honey 
in their honey-sacs. This idea was to elim- 
inate all possible sources of infection before 
the bees were put on frames of foundation 
and fed. The treatment worked admirably ; 
but it was found in later years that it was 
not necessary to starve the bees — that they 
would use up any infected honey that they 
might have in their sacs in drawing out 
foundation, provided the hive had no 
combs. Later, William McEvoy of Canada, 
who had then recently been appointed foul- 
brood inspector for Ontario, had been very 
successful in shaking the bees into their 
own hives, and giving them frames of 
foundation starters. They were allowed to 
build combs on these for four days. His 
idea seemed to be to let the bees use up the 
infected honey in building the combs and 
storing it in the built comb. These combs 
supposed to contain infection were then re- 
moved, when the colony was given full 
sheets of foundation. But experience has 
shown in thousands of cases that it is not 
necessarv to remove the first set of combs 



FOUL BROOD 



319 



built on foundation starters, and that such 
removing involves a large amount of waste ; 
and that, when the second set of foundation 
is given, the bees are in a demoralized con- 
dition, and quite inclined to swarm out. 

Years ago, when we had foul brood, we 
shook 80 colonies and gave them only one 
set of frames with full sheets of foundation 
in clean hives. The treatment was a success 
in every case. Altho we have prescribed 
this same treatment in hundreds if not thou- 
sands of cases, we have never yet had one 
report saying that the disease had returned. 
The bees, as a matter of fact, will either 
consume or use up all the infected honey in 
drawing out the first set of foundation; 
and it is very important to give the bees 
either a clean hive or disinfect the old one. 
When we shook into the old hives the dis- 
ease came back in some cases. This disin- 
fecting may be best accomplished by burn- 
ing the hive out with an ordinary blow 
torch, such as is used by telephone men 
and painters to remove paint from a house ; 
or it may be accomplished by smearing the 
inside of the hive with kerosene, touching a 
lighted match to it, and letting it burn un- 
til the inside of the hive is charred to a 
light brown. The fire may be easily quenched 
by using a little water and putting on the 
cover immediately. The steam, generated 
when the cover is clapped down, immedi- 
ately puts out the fire. But there may be 
an objection to kerosene leaving an offen- 
sive odor in the hive. Another plan is to 
use a handful of common dry straw, setting 
it on fire, and then with a stick poke the 
burning straw around the hive so that 
every portion of it will be slightly scorched. 
The straw should be dumped out and a lit- 
tle water dashed in the hive. 

The shaking treatment, to be carried out 
as it should be, requires some precaution to 
prevent absconding. The Bureau of Ento- 
mology has recommended a mode of pro- 
cedure which we most thoroly indorse. As 
government experts have made foul brood 
a more careful study than any other men in 
the United States, we can not do any better 
than to advise our readers to follow faith- 
fully the treatment recommended in Farm- 
ers' Bulletin 442, entitled "The Treatment 
of Bee Diseases," by Dr. E. F. Phillips, in 
Charge of Apiculture, Bureau of Entomol- 
ogy. For convenience of the reader we 
give it here. 



SHAKING TREATMENT. 

The shaking treatment consists essentially 
in the removal of all infected material from 
the colony, and in compelling the colony to 
take a fresh start by building new combs and 
gathering fresh stores. This is done by shak- 
ing the bees from the old combs into a clean 
hive on clean frames. 

Time of Treatment. — The shaking treat- 
ment should be given during a flow of honey, 
so that other bees in the apiary will not be in- 
clined to rob. If this is not possible the oper- 
ation may be performed under a tent made of 
mosquito netting. The best time is during the 
middle of a clear day when a large number of 
bees are in the field. It is sometimes recom- 
mended that shaking be done in the evening, 
but this is impossible if many colonies are to 
be treated. The colony can be handled more 
quickly when the field force is out of the hive. 

Preparation. — All implements that will be 
needed, such as queen and drone trap, hive 
tool, and lighted smoker, should be in readi- 
ness before the operation is begun. A com- 
plete clean hive with frames is provided, as 
well as a tightly closed hive body in which to 
put the contaminated combs after shaking. An 
extra hive cover or some similar apparatus 
should be provided to serve as a runway for 
the bees as they enter the new hive. The new 
frames should contain strips of comb founda- 
tion from one-fourth to 1 inch wide. Full 
sheets are not desirable, and if combs built on 
full sheets of foundation are desired they 
may be built later. 

Operation. — ^The old hive containing the dis- 
eased colony (Fig. 6, A) is now lifted to one 
side out of the flight of returning field bees, 
and the clean hive (B) set exactly in its place. 
The cover (G) is now taken off and a few 
frames (E) removed from the center of the 
hive. If unspaced frames are used, those re- 
maining in the hive should be pushed tightly 
to either side of the hive, thus making a bar- 
rier beyond which the bees can not crawl as 
they move to the top of the hive after shak- 
ing. This largely prevents them from getting 
on the outside of the hive. If self-spacing 
frames are used, a couple of thin boards laid 
on the top-bars on either side will accomplish 
the same result. The runway (D) is put in 
place in front of the entrance. The old hive 
is now opened for the first time. The frames 
are removed one at a time, lowered part way 
into the new hive, and with a quick downward 
shake the bees are dislodged. The frames are 
then put into the extra hive body (C) and im- 
mediately covered to prevent robbing. After 
all the frames are shaken the bees remaining 
on the sides of the old hive (A) are shaken 
out. 

If honey is coming in freely, so that thin 
honey is shaken out of the combs, cover the 
runway (D) with newspapers and shake the 
bees in front of the new hive (B), leaving all 
frames in place and the cover on. After the 
operation the soiled newspapers should be de- 
stroyed. In shaking in front of the entrance 



320 



FOUL BROOD 




Apparatus for the shaking treatment: A, Hive containing diseased colony (formerly in position of B) ; 
B, clean hive; C, empty hive to receive combs after shaking; D, hive cover used as runway; E, frames re- 
moved from B to give room for shaking ; F, queen and drone trap ; G, cover for clean hive, B.' 



the first one or two frames should be so shaken 
that the bees are thrown against the entrance, 
where they can locate the hive quickly. They 
then fan their wings and the others follow 
them into the hive. If this is not done the 
bees may wander about and get under the 
hive or in some other undesirable place. 

After the bees are mostly in the new hive a 
queen and drone trap (F) or a strip of per- 
forated zinc is placed over the entrance to 
prevent the colony from deserting the hive. 
The queen can not pass thru the openings in 
the perforated zinc and the workers will not 
leave without her. By the time that new 
combs are built and new brood is ready to be 
fed, any contaminated honey carried by the 
bees into their new hive will have been con- 
sumed and the disease will rarely reappear. 
If it should, a repetition of the treatment will 
b,e necessary. 

Saving the Healthy Brood. — The old combs 
are now quickly removed. If several colonies 
are being treated at one time it may pay to 
stack sevei-al hive bodies containing contam- 
inated combs over a weak diseased colony to 
allow most of the healthy brood to emerge, 
thereby strengthening the weak colony. [Un- 
less there is a heavy flow of honey at the time, 
the entrance to this colony should be con- 
tracted for robbers would be apt to spread the 
disease. — Ed.] After 10 or 12 days this col- 
ony is treated in turn and all the combs ren- 
dered into wax. If only one or two colonies 
in a large apiary are being treated it will not 
pay to do this. 

Saving the Wax. — Any but a very small 
apiary should have included in its equipment 
a wax-press for removing wax from old combs. 
After the contaminated frames are taken to 
the honey-house the combs should be kept 
carefully covered, so that no bees can reach 
them until the wax can be rendered. This 
should not be delayed very long or the combs 
may be ruined by wax-moths. The slumgum 
or refuse remaining after the wax is removed 
should be burned. Contaminated combs should 
not be put into a solar wax-extractor for fear 
of spreading the disease. The wax from con- 
taminated combs may safely be used for the 
manufacture of comb foundation. 

Cleaning the Hive. — The hive which has 
contained the diseased colony should be thoro- 



ly cleaned of all wax and honey, and it is de- 
sirable that it be carefully disinfected by 
burning out the inside with a common gaso- 
line blue-flame torch. If this piece of appara- 
tus is not available several hive bodies may 
be piled together on a hive bottom and some 
gasoline or kerosene poured on the sides and 
on some straw or excelsior at the bottom. This 
is then ignited ; and after burning for a few 
seconds a close-fitting hive cover is placed on 
top of the pile to extinguish the flames. The 
inside of the hive bodies should be charred to 
a light brown. The careful cleaning and dis- 
infection of frames always costs considerably 
more in labor than new frames would cost, but 
these may also be carefuly cleaned and used 
again. Frames may be cleaned by boiling in 
water for about half an hour, but this fre- 
quently causes them to warp badly. The dis- 
infection of hives and frames with chemicals 
is not recommended, as the ordinary strengths 
used are valueless for the purpose. 

Disposal of the Honey. — If there is a con- 
siderable quantity of honey in the contam- 
inated combs, it may be extracted. This honey 
is not safe to feed to bees without boiling, 
but it is absolutely safe for human consump- 
tion. If there is a comparatively small quan- 
tity it may be consumed in the beekeepers 's 
family, care being taken that none of it is 
placed so that the bees can ever get it. 

To place such honey on the market is con- 
trary to law in some States. There is always 
danger that an emptied receptacle will be 
thrown out where bees can have access to it, 
thus causing a new outbreak of disease. It 
can be safely used for feeding to bees pro- 
vided it is diluted with at least an equal vol- 
ume of water to prevent burning, and boiled 
in a closed vessel for not less than one-half 
hour, counting from the time that the diluted 
honey first boils vigorously. The honey will 
not be sterilized if it is heated in a vessel set 
inside of another containing boiling water. 
Boiled honey can not be sold as honey. It is 
good only as a food for bees, and even then 
should never be used for winter stores, as it 
will probably cause dysentery. 

The Second Shake. — Some beekeepers pre- 
fer to shake the bees first on to frames con- 
taining strips of foundation as above de- 
scribed, and in four days to shake the colony 



FOUL BROOD 



321 



a second time on to full sheets of foundation, 
destroying all comb built after the first treat- 
ment. This insures better combs than the use 
of strips of foundation, but is a severe drain 
on the strength of the colony. Since it is de- 
sirable to have combs built on full sheets, the 
best policy is to replace any irregular combs 
with full sheets of foundation or good combs 
later in the season. 

The Cost of Shaking. — If the treatment just 
described is given at the beginning of a good 
honey flow, it is practically equivalent to arti- 
ficial swarming, and results in an actual in- 
crease in the surplus honey, especially in the 
case of comb-honey production. The wax ren- 
dered from the combs will sell for enough to 
pay for the foundation used if full sheets of 
foundation are employed. Since a colony so 
treated actually appears to work with greater 
vigor than a colony not so manipulated, the 
cost of treatment is small. If treatment 
must be given at some other time, so that the 
colony must be fed, the cost is materially in- 
creased. In feeding, it is best to use sugar 
syrup, or honey that is known to have come 
from healthy colonies. 

FALL TREATMENT. 

If it is necessary to treat a colony so late 
in the fall that it would be impossible for the 
bees to prepare for winter, the treatment may 
be modified by shaking the bees on to combs 
entirely full of honey so that there is no place 
for any brood to be reared. This will usually 
be satisfactory only after brood-rearing has 
entirely ceased. TJnless a colony is quite 
strong, it does not pay to treat in the fall, 
but it should be destroyed or united to an- 
other colony. In case a diseased colony dies 
outdoors in the winter there is danger that 
other bees may have opportunity to rob the 
hive before the beekeepers can close the en- 
trance. In case bees are wintered in the cel- 
lar it is more advisable to risk wintering be- 
fore treatment, for if the colony does die the 
hive will not be robbed. 

DRUGS. 

Many European writers have in the past 
advocated the use of various drugs for feed- 
ing, in sugar syrup, to diseased colonies, or 
the fumigation of contaminated combs. In 
the case of American foul brood, of which the 
cause is known, it has been found that the 
drugs recommended are not of the slightest 
value. 

Advantages and Objections to Shaking. 

This treatment has been used very wide- 
ly because if no attempt is made to save 
the brood, the treatment may be completed 
at one operation. There is the chance, 
however, that bees of other colonies may 
gain access to some of the diseased honey 
accidentally shaken out; and also that 
11 



some of the bees from the diseased colony 
may become gorged with honey and then 
enter other hives, thus spreading the dis- 
ease. Especially is this true in case the 
hives are placed too near each other. 

Treatment with Bee-escape. 

A plan of treating American foul brood 
which is less expensive, less exhausting on 
the bees, and more certain in its results 
than the usual shaking plan, is a simple 
method involving the use of a bee-escape; 
but there are two methods which make use 
of the bee-escape, and these should not be 
confused. 

In one case the old hive is placed over 
the new one with the bee-escape between. 
In the other the old hive is placed to one 
side of the new one, and the escape at- 
tached to the entrance of the old hive. The 
latter is the one we recommend. The for- 
mer has a number of objectionable feat- 
ures. When the bees are confined above a 
bee-escape in foul-brood treatment, the es- 
cape is about certain to become clogged 
with dead bees. The bees of the diseased 
hive then, in their efforts to escape from 
their imprisonment, raise the temperature 
of the hive to such an extent that often- 
times the combs melt and honey runs down 
the sides of the hive. This is soon found 
by robbers, and thus the disease spreads. 
Even if the escape does not become clogged, 
the employment of this method makes it 
impossible for the beekeeper to examine 
the lower colony at any time while the dis- 
eased colony is above, and the diseased col- 
ony would have to stay in place for at least 
three weeks in order to allow all of the 
brood to hatch. The reason that the upper 
story could not be removed to examine the 
lower is that at the least jar the bees from 
the diseased hive above would load up with 
diseased honey, and store this honey in the 
cells of the new hive, thus spreading the 
disease below. 

The second treatment we recommend has 
none of these objections, and is as simple 
and successful as any treatment we have 
tried. 

In order that the bees may become ac- 
customed to the changed appearance of 
their surroundings, a few days before ap- 
plying the treatment, it is well to place an 
empty hive with its entrance parallel to the 



322 



FOUL BROOD 



left side of the hive containing the dis- 
eased bees and extending a few inches in 
front of the other entrance. A few days 
later, during the time of day when they are 
still flying strongly, the queen is removed 
and caged and a bee-escape which is fas- 
tened to the end of a tin tube is inserted 
at the left end of the entrance, the rest of 
the entrance being securely stopped up so 
there is no room for the escape of any bees 




The upper figure represents the tin tube (B) with three 
lugs (C) into which the bee-escape (A) is Inserted. 
The end (D) of the tube is somewhat flattened to 
make possible its insertion in the entrance. The lower 
figure shows the tube and escape connected and at- 
tached to the hive. The bees m leaving the hive follow 
the line of arrows thru the tube and thru round 
opening (E) of the escape, then up the length of the 
escape ond finally leave thru the opening between the 
two springs at F. 

except thru the bee-escape. This hive is 
now placed in the position formerly occu- 
pied by the empty hive, the latter being 
placed on the old stand and filled with 
frames containing full sheets of founda- 
tion. The caged queen is also left in this 
new hive, where she is soon joined by the 
field bees who are returning in great num- 
bers to what they believe to be their old 
home. 

The tin tube holding the bee-escape ex- 
tends out in front of the new entrance so 
that bees leaving the old hive leave from 
the same relative position as before, and 




Arrangement after the exchange of hives has been 
made. A is new hive on old .stand and contains 
frames of foundation and the caged queen which is 
soon released. B is the diseased colony, the bees 
of which leave thru the tube and bee-escape. On 
retiirning they enter the hive A not knowing the 
hives have changed positions. 



therefore do not realize that the hives have 
changed places, and consequently will not 
attempt to return to the old hive but will 
unhesitatingly enter the hive with the 
queen. After a large number of bees have 
returned the queen should be liberated. 
Altlio there are no brood nor lanse present, 
it is very seldom that the colony will swarm 
out. If this is feared, however, a queen- 
excluder may be placed under the hive. 
Within two or three days it sometimes hap- 
pens that dead bees clog the escape, in 
which case the cage should be detached 
from its groove in the end of the tube, and 
the bees removed, care being taken not to 
jar the old hive, for if jarred after the 
foundation is drawn in A, the disease 
would be spread to hive A. At the time 
of applying the treatment bees gorged with 
diseased honey may enter hive A but we 
have never found the disease spread in this 
way for at that time A contains only foun- 
dation and the bees either use up the honey 
or convert it into comb. 

The chances are that no bees will clog the 
tube if the tube is elevated a short distance 
from the bottom-board. This may be ac- 
complished by placing between hive B and 
its bottom-board a two-inch rim, and in- 
serting the tube in a hole in this rim, the 
inner end of the tube being just flush with 
inside of the hive. 

Just before dark, two or three wrecks 
later, when most of the brood has hatched, 
the few straggling bees that may be left in 
the old hive may be sulphured thru a small 
opening at the entrance, care being taken 
not to allow the escape of a single bee. The 
combs may then be rendered, the frames 
and the few dead bees burned, and the in- 
side of the hive, the entrance, and the 
alighting-board, scorched by means of gas- 
oline and straw, charring to a light brown. 

In very hot climates it may be advisable 
to provide special ventilation for the old 
hive in order to prevent the combs from 
melting down. In this case an empty 
super and double screen may be placed 
over the colony. If only a single screen is 
used, the bees may pass diseased honey 
thru the screen to other bees. Except in 
very hot climates this arrangement is un- 
necessary and unwise for it should be re- 
membered that nearly all of the bees are in 
the new hive and a mere handful are left 
taking care of the brood in the old one. 



FOUL BROOD 



323 



This method is a ver}- safe one, since 
there is no disturbance at the time of the 
treatment and no chance for spreading dis- 
ease by means of the honey or bees. The 
bees entering the new hive are not bees that 
have been smoked, and are therefore not 
gorged with diseased honey, but are field 
bees bringing in uncontaminated stores, 
straight from the flowers. At first thought 
it might seem possible that the young bees 
from the old hive might carry the disease to 
the new hive; but apparently they carry 
no honey with them, for we have yet to 
learn of their spreading the disease in this 
way. 

FORMALDEHYDE FOR CURIXG FOUL BROOD. 

In 1903 and '4 discussion arose in Glean- 
ings as to the possible value of formalde- 
hyde (or formalin) for curing American 
foul brood. Some of the experimenters 
who had subjected several combs of honey 
and brood from infected colonies to the 
fumes of the gas in a tight box reported it 
a success. Others tried the same thing onlj' 
to find that such combs would transmit the 
disease the same as before. Experiments 
conducted in the Bureau of Entomolog}^ 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, 
D. C, showed that, when combs were sub- 
jected to the fumes of gas for 48 hours in a 
Novy anaerobic jar, all germs of the dis- 
ease would be destroyed; but as the aver- 
age beekeeper could not have the requisite 
facilities, skill, and knowledge to carry on 
such work, he had better not take his 
chances of transmitting any infectious dis- 
ease thru combs fumigated under condi- 
tions such as he is able to provide. In all 
probability the work would not be com- 
plete enough to make disinfection sure. If 
any infection at all were left, the disease 
would spread again, and so the work might 
just as well have not been done — or not at- 
tempted; because melting up the combs 
and boiling, or, better, burning up the 
frames, would remove all possible traces of 
disease. 

EUROPEAN FOUL BROOD 
DIFFERENTIATED. 

As we have already explained, this is a 
disease that has some symptoms that are 
the same as those of American foul brood; 
but it has other symptoms that are quite 
different. In its general appearance, espe- 



cially in its advanced stages, a comb af- 
fected will look somewhat like that of 
American foul brood; but a more careful 
examination will show a decided difference. 

1. Larvae affected with European foul 
brood in its first stages are not usually 
ropy, but when they do rope the thread is 
coarser and does not string out as far. 
American will often rope from four to six 
inches in a fine thread near the end. The 
dead matter of European has more of a 
jellylike consistency; and, if it clings to a 
toothpick, the roping is coarse and will not 
extend more than an inch or two at most 
and then breaks like a rotten rubber band. 

2. European in its first stages comes on 
mainly in the early part of the season, and 
it is confined largely to the unsealed brood. 
The dead larvae fii'st turn gray, then light 
yellow. Sometimes a yeUow spot shows in 
the center of the grub before it turns yel- 



•n 









Typical European Foul Brood. — First stage?. 

low all over. It does not finally assume a 
shapeless melted-down mass as we find it 
in the American disease. It retains its 
shape without a break in the skin, finally 
shiveling up into a dry scale which the 
bees easily remove. The dried scales on 
American foul brood, on the contrary, stick 
to the side of the cell like so much glue; 
and it is very easy to detect combs prev- 
iously affected with this disease, altho it 
may be a year or so afterward, because 
the lower sides of the cell look as tho 
they had been daubed over with some sort 
of gluey substance with a remnant of lar- 
val skin. 

3. The ordinary gluepot or foul-brood 
odor is almost entirely lacking in combs af- 



324 



FOUL BROOD 



fected with European foul brood. There is, 
in place of it, a sour, musty, or rotten-egg 
smell that is not as easily recognized as the 
odor of the other brood disease. In the 
later stages it takes a dead meat or car- 
rion odor with a suggestion of ammonia, in 
which stage the sour smell seems to be lost 
or obscured by the more pronounced odor 
of decay. The color of European foul 
brood in its earlier stages is a yellow or 
gray or combinations of these two colors. 
Later the yellow and gray change to quite 
a dark brown. 

4. European foul brood seems to spread 
much more rapidly than American. If an 
apiary is affected at all, more colonies will 
be involved; but in the American disease, 
honey seems to be the main source of infec- 
tion. In the European type, honey may be 
the source, but certainly it does not seem to 
be the only means for its transmission. 

5. Black and hybrid bees are much more 
subject to the ravages of European foul 
brood. If the disease is not too far ad- 
vanced, the mere introduction of a vigorous 
strain of young Italian queens may cure 
the whole apiary. There are some locali- 
ties in New York and Virginia where Ital- 
ian apiaries are surrounded by apiaries of 
black and hybrid bees; and yet the re- 
markable fact is that these Italian yards 
are almost entirely free from disease while 
the yards of common bees around them are 
affected with It in spite of treatment by 
shaking. 

6. There also seems to be a general agree- 
ment among authorities that Aveak colonies 
are the ones that are first attacked by Eu- 
ropean. It is important, where this dis- 
ease gets into a yard, that all the weak 
colonies be doubled up; for it is only the 
strong and extra strong that are able to 
combat it, even when they are given every 
assistance possible on the part of the owner. 

7. Again, it has been noticed that, as 
soon as a good honey flow is on, European 
foul brood begins to disappear ; and some- 
times as soon as there is a dearth of honey 
it breaks out again, particularly when 
brood-rearing is well under way in the 
spring, for that is the time of the year 
when it usually makes itself manifest. 

8. In the case of American foul brood it 
has been proven that combs of honey are 
sources of infection. While all the honey 
could be extracted out of the combs, it has 



been demonstrated over and over again that 
it is impossible for a colony of bees to re- 
move the germs by any process, for the 
simple reason that the dead matter sticks 
like glue to the sides and bottoms of the 
cells. On the other hand, the combs of 
European foul brood, because the dried 
larvae do not stick, can be readily cleaned 
up by a vigorous colony of Italians and 
used over again. Before they have been 
cleaned up they may transmit the disease.* 
Hybrids and blacks, for some reason, do 
not effect this clean-up; and hence it is 
either necessary to melt up the combs, or, 
better, Italianize. 

To recapitulate, combs of American foul 
brood must be melted up or burned. Combs 
of European foul brood need not necessari- 
ly be destroyed, and can be used again, 
when given the proper environment. In 
the last stages of European where the 
combs are rotten the combs should be 
melted up or burned. 

9. American foul brood seems to be no 
respecter of persons, or, more exactly, no 
respecter of strains or races. European 
foul brood, in the first stages on the other 
hand, yields rapidly to a resistant strain 
of Italians without the destruction of 
combs. But not all Italians are equally 
resistant. Some strains, especially the yel- 
low, inbred until their vitality has been 
weakened, are no better than the ordinary 
blacks and hybrids. 

It seems to be apparent that bees that 
are good workers, and stand wintering 
well, are usually found to be very resistant 
to European foul brood, altho the rule does 
not universally hold true. When Italians, 
therefore, are spoken of as "resistant," it 
should be remembered that there are Ital- 
ians and Italians — some better than others. 

10. While the shaking or brushing on to 
frames of foundation in clean hives is al- 



* I think the disease will not be transmitted by a 
diseased larva even tho still undried, if it is so far de- 
cayed that the nurse bees will not eat it. By the way. 
this theory, original with me, has never been advanced 
by anj' one else, and, as it has never been objected to 
by any one, it is safe to say that it is the best theory 
yet advanced to explain how the disease is conveyed, 
and at the same time to explain how and why the de- 
queening or caging cures. Here's the theory in brief: 
When a diseased larva dies, the nurses suck its juices, 
feed them to the young larvt-e, and thus the disease 
is transmitted ; but after the diseased larvae become 
so far decayed as to be offensive, the nurses will no 
longer suck their juices, but leave them to become 
dried, or remove them without sucking them. So a 
break in brood-rearing that leaves no longer any eat- 
able diseased larvae stops the continuance of the dis- 
ease. — C. C. Miller. 



FOUL BROOD 



325 



most sure to cure American foul brood, it 
is only partially effective with European. 
In many cases, European foul brood will 
reappear after shaking. It is, therefore, 
apparent that, if shaking is employed, ad- 
ditional curative measures must be applied 
— doubling up and requeening. 

CONFUSING SYMPTOMS OF AMERI- 
CAN AND EUROPEAN FOUL 
BROOD EXPLAINED. 

For some time the beekeepers of Califor- 
nia, as well as other parts of the United 
States, have been greatly confused by a 
disease that appeared to be American foul 
brood, and yet yielded to European foul- 
brood treatment. This even led some bee- 
keepers to believe the two diseases identical. 

Being greatly interested in these new 
symptoms, the author, while in California 
in 1919, succeeded in getting Dr. Phillips 
to send his bacteriologist, Mr. Sturtevant, 
to investigate the matter. After spend- 
ing some time there he came to the follow- 
ing tentative conclusions. 

In American foul brood he almost never 
found more than one organism. Bacillus 
larvae, the cause of the disease — a fact that 
accounts for the usual uniformity of symp- 
toms of this disease. The germ is charac- 
teristic in appearance. Under conditions 
unfavorable to its active growth it forms a 
small egg-shaped resultant body or "spore," 
which resists drying and high temperatures. 
Under favorable conditions the germ kills 
the larva in a peculiar manner, leaving the 
trachea and chitinous parts intact and mak- 
ing a gluey substance of the soft parts. 
This causes the characteristic sliminess or 
ropiness, and, later on, adherence of the 
scale to the cell wall. The gluepot, or, as 
Mr. Sturtevant says, the fish-glue odor, is 
also quite characteristic. However, it is 
now found that there may be stages where 
the larvaB may not have been dead long 
enough to have developed the characteristic 
ropiness and adherence to the cell wall. At 
this stage the partly dried-down mass may 
not have even the characteristic odor, nor 
adhere to the cell wall, thus leading to the 
belief that the disease may be European 
foul brood. 

The dead larva of European in the un- 
sealed cells can usually be distinguished 
from the dead larva of American in un- 



sealed cells, by the position which it takes. 
The former may be coiled in the bottom of 
the cell, or it may be extended, lying more 
or less irregularly, somewhat diagonally in 
the cell. A careful examination will show 
the cell. 

Again, in the case of American there 
may be found pupae, (almost fully devel- 
oped bees) lying on their backs, with their 
tongues extended out and pointing up- 
ward. Sometimes the end of the tongue 
will be stuck to the upper side of the cell. 
Sometimes it will project upward only 
about half way. These dead pupae with 
projecting tongues are never found in 
European foul brood; and their presence 
in any comb showing the general symp- 
toms of American, is a strong indication 
of American. When one finds almost every 
cell of the dead matter will rope, here and 
there dead pupae with their tongues pro- 
jecting upward, and especially if he finds 
scales that adhere tightly, he may con- 
clude that he has American. 

The germ causing European foul brood, 
Bacillus pluton, does not form these re- 
sistant spores. The germ also seems to be 
less active in the way it decomposes the 
dead larvae. According to Sturtevant, in 
European foul brood along with the or- 
ganization that kills the healthy larvae may 
often be found several secondary germs 
having no relation to the cause of the dis- 
ease, but simply causing the larvae to de- 
compose. There is one organism in par- 
ticular. Bacillus alvei, originally supposed 
to be the cause of the disease, which is 
often associated with European foul brood 
in large numbers. It appears that, the 
more of these organisms there are present 
after Bacillus pluton kills the larvae, the 
more the appearance will change. Instead 
of the typical moist melting stage of the 
disease there are found, due to the action 
of the Bacillus alvei, more and more larvae 
that have not died until after they have be- 
come capped. In this stage it is often diffi- 
cult to distinguish European from Ameri- 
can foul brood, as the dead larvae may, be- 
fore they dry down, show a tendency to 
sliminess, to rope somewhat, and develop 
the coffee-brown color. However, the way 
they rope is different from the characteris- 
tic fine thread of the American. It is 
coarser, at times lumpy, and too moist to 



326 



FOUL BROOD 



stretch far; also, as it becomes a little 
more dried it will stretch like an old rubber 
band ; and in breaking, instead of snapping 
back it will remain stretched out. At this 
time the mass has a very disagreeable 
spoiled-meat odor. If, however, the case is 
watched for a few days longer, allowing the 
dead material to dry down, it will be found 
that these masses which generally lie very 
irregularly in the cells may be easily re- 
moved entire, while in the case of American 
foul brood it is practically impossible to 
remove an entire scale. Furthermore, in- 
stead of being brittle, like the American 
scale, these irregular masses will bend like 
a piece of old rubber. 

Owing to the fact that European foul 
brood has been so neglected in California, 
due to the custom of treating for American, 
Bacillus alvei, the secondary decomposing 
organism, has increased to such numbers 
that it has changed some of the symptoms 
of the disease, in its last stages particular- 
ly. Therefore it is not safe to jump to 
conclusions too hastily in the case of the 
brood diseases, since there are stages at 
which it is very difficult to differentiate 
without the aid of a microscope. If it is 
impossible to get a microscopic diagnosis, 
Mr. Sturtevant recommends that the best 
plan is to treat the case vigorously as if it 
were European foul brood by dequeening 
the colony and* then watching developments. 
This kind of treatment with good Italian 
stock, and making the colonies strong, is 
good beekeeping, disease or no disease, and 
the only way to secure a crop. If it is 
European foul brood it will clean up under 
this arrangement. If it is American foul 
brood it will not clean up, and soon the 
definite characteristic appearances will de- 
velop. This will eliminate the melting-up 
of combs in European foul brood, and is 
the safest course to pursue where European 
is known to be prevalent. 

To recapitulate, we would state that, so 
far, it is apparent from Mr. Sturtevant's 
investigation that there are only two brood 
diseases the same as we have heretofore 
known. In the American foul brood no 
new development has arisen. The Euro- 
pean, however, takes a later stage some- 
what resembling American. At first all the 
symptoms that heretofore have been given 
for European appear. Later on, if noth- 
ing is done to effect a cure a secondary or- 



ganism. Bacillus alvei, comes in and modi- 
fies the symptoms to such an extent that 
European takes on the form similar to 
American, but yields to the treatment of 
European. The Bacillus alvei apparently 
slows up the action of the Bacillus pluton, 
which is the real cause of European, so 
that the dead matter appears mainly in the 
sealed cells, while the unsealed larvae look 
a little like the dead larvae of American. 

TREATMENT AND CURE OF EUROPEAN FOUL 
BROOD. 

Before proceeding to the actual cure of 
a colony after the disease has been con- 
tracted, it should be stated that good bee- 
keeping, according to the Government offi- 
cials, makes it very difficult for European 
foul brood to get a start. This is only an- 
other way of saying that prevention is bet- 
ter than cure. Good beekeeping means 
strong colonies of good bees. Not only 
that, but they should be strong in the 
spring. In order to have such colonies it 
means good wintering; and good winter- 
ing, in the Northern States at least, implies 
an abundance of stores and protection. 
This protection, if the bees are wintered 
outdoors, may be in the form of double- 
walled hives, or winter cases described 
under the head of " Wintering Outdoors " 
at the close of this work. In connection 
with this protection there should also be 
a good windbreak. Protection may also 
mean putting the bees in a good cellar, the 
essentials of which are described under 
" Wintering in Cellars." 

In the milder climates, strong colonies in 
the spring means a larger amount of stores 
relatively to the colony; because when the 
bees can fly two or three times a week, 
many old bees are lost in the fields, never 
returning. The others that do return with 
nectar and pollen start breeding, and this 
calls for a large reserve of stores — at least 
double the amount required in the colder 
States. The author is convinced that a 
moderate amount of packing could be given 
to advantage in addition. 

In California and in many of the warm 
States, the colonies are so reduced by want 
of stores and suitable protection that Euro- 
pean foul brood is getting in its deadly 
work. Until better methods of beekeeping 
are practiced, the European form of foul 
brood will continue to make its way. 



FOUL BROOD 



327 



Dr. E. F. Phillips of the Bureau of En- 
tomology, Washington, D. C, has made the 
statement that European foul brood may 
be a blessing in disguise to the good bee- 
keeper. It will eliminate the careless and 
the incompetent, leaving the man who main- 
tains a good strain of bees, preferably 
Italians, and who believes in a large amount 
of stores and protection, in complete pos- 
session of the field. 

The purpose of this work, and of other 
works and journals on bee culture, is to 
make better beekeepers. While good bee- 
keeping will not resist the encroachments 
of American foul brood, it will make it 
next to impossible for European to get a 
very serious foothold. The author has vis- 
ited many apiaries of good beekeepers who 
are situated in localities where European 
foul brood was all around them, and yet 
these men, by keeping their colonies strong, 
particularly so in the spring, have very lit- 
tle trouble with this form of the disease. 

In the treatments now about to be given 
for the cure of European foul brood, after 
it once finds lodgment, it will be seen that 
the fundamentals are strong colonies; de- 
queening to allow the bees to clean up the 
infected material, and requeening with a 
resistant strain. Before we proceed to the 
exact details of treatment, the history of 
how the best methods were discovered is 
important. 

In 1899 and the early 1900's, when Euro- 
pean foul brood was known in New York as 
a foul brood that was different from the old- 
fashioned kind, the shaking method was 
applied exclusively. It was soon discov- 
ered that the disease was continually com- 
ing back. Later it was learned that shak- 
ing was effective in most Italian colonies. 
Then it was discovered that some Italians 
were more resistant than others. Finally 
the inspectors advised that shaking and 
Italianizing should be applied. If colonies 
were not strong it was recommended to 
double up until they were. Then a few 
beekeepers began to notice that the mere 
introduction of a resistant strain of Ital- 
ians would effect a cure. 

In 1904 E .W. Alexander of Delanson, 
N. Y., referred to in many places in this 
work, reported to the author that one of his 
neighbors had blundered upon a cure which 
he thought was effective. At that time he 
was not prepared to state whether it would 



bring about a cure or not ; but after he had 
experimented with it on some 500 colonies 
he gave out what has since been called the 
Alexander cure, and which is now the basis 
of all the modern methods of treatment for 
the European foul brood. In brief the Al- 
exander treatment is as follows : 

Every diseased colony in the apiary not 
very strong is doubled up or united with 
other weak colonies until all are made 
strong. In some cases building up or 
strengthening of the weak can be effected 
by taking frames of hatching brood from 
the stronger and giving them to the weaker. 
The next procedure is to remove the queen 
from every infected colony, and in nine 
days destroy every mature queen-cell, or 
any virgin if hatched. In the meantime a 
quantity of cells are to be reared from the 
best Italian breeder in the yard. These 
cells, when ripe, are given to the colonies 
made queenless 20 days before. During 
this interim of queenlessness the bees clean 
out the combs, polish up the cells, and when 
the new queen starts laying, which will be 
on the 27th day, approximately, the new 
brood will be healthy from that time on. 
It is not necessary to remove any combs 
from the hives nor apply any kind of dis- 
infection. The old queens that were re- 
moved in the first place are to be destroyed. 

In a series of articles which Mr. Alexan- 
der wrote defending his treatment — for he 
encountered all sorts of opposition from 
those who failed — he laid strong emphasis 
on the importance of making all colonies 
extra strong, using a vigorous resistant 
strain of Italians and keeping the colony 
queenless for at least 20 days, at the end of 
which time a ripe queen-cell or a virgin 
just hatched was to be given. 

Large numbers were successful in apply- 
ing the treatment. Others failed; but for 
what reasons it is not known unless they 
did not follow directions or were unfortu- 
nate in not securing the right strain of 
Italians. There is another possible reason. 
When European foul brood is scattered all 
thru an apiary it is important that every 
colony be treated at the same time. In this 
way all sources of infection in the yard are 
removed before the new queens begin to 
lay. When some colonies are treated at one 
time and some another there is a constant 
source of infection. 



328 



FOUL BROOD 



S. D. House of Camillus, N. Y., told the 
author that a vigorous strain of Italians 
would almost alone clean out European 
foul brood after the colony had been queen- 
less for a period. He showed colony after 
colony that had been rotten with the dis- 
ease, and which at the time of our visit 
were entirely free of it. He stated that 
European foul brood was rampant all 
around him in the black and hybrid colo- 
nies. In spite of the fact that it was with- 
in reach of his bees he had no fear of it. 
He wrote a series of articles for Gleanings 
in Bee Culture in 1911, and among them 
was one, on page 330, giving his method of 
treatment that is similar to Alexander's. 
This attracted considerable attention at the 
time. The editor of Gleanings was severe- 
ly criticised by some of the State inspectors 
for giving publicity to such heresy; but 
old Father Time has demonstrated that Al- 
exander and Mr. House were nearly right. 

In later years European foul brood broke 
out in the apiary of Dr. C. C. Miller of 
Marengo, 111., an authority referred to in 
many places in this work. The author ad- 
vised him to follow the Alexander or the 
House treatment, which he did, with marked 
success. By accident he discovered that it 
was not necessary to have the colonies 
queenless more than ten days. That a vig- 
orous strain of bees would do a good clean- 
up job in the- period named. After exper- 
imenting with the disease for two or three 
years he finally announced the following 
modified Alexander-House-Miller treat- 
ment, that is much the same as that used 
by S. D. House. Dr. Miller says : 

First, no matter whether the case be severe 
or mild, make the colony strong. In a severe 
case, kill the queen; and as soon as the colony 
recognizes its queenlessness, say within 24 
hours, give a ripe queen-cell, or, immediately 
at the time of killing the queen, give a virgin 
not more than a day old or a cell in a pro- 
tector. That's all; the bees will do the rest. 
In a mild case, make the colony strong, and 
cage the queen in a hive for a week or ten 
days — only that. But don't expect the dis- 
ease to be at once and forever stamped out. 
Last year I had the disease in a mild form in 
about one colony in four; this year in about 
one in twenty. 

It will be noticed that Dr. Miller, like 
Mr. Alexander, emphasized the importance 
of making all colonies strong, either, in the 
treatment of a severe case or a mild one. 
Later on, after considerable discussion, he 
added this : 



A correspondent asks, ''What do you do to 
save the combs T' Nothing. Just use them 
the same as if there had been no disease. 
Vigorous bees with a vigorous queen will clean 
them out. Spores may be left, and here and 
there the disease may break out again ; but in 
the long run the loss will be less than if the 
combs were destroyed, and possibly the re- 
turns of the disease will be no more frequent 
than if all combs are destroyed. In my own 
apiary I think there were no more fresh out- 
breaks where the old combs were left than 
where the bees were thrown upon foundation. 

A large number have followed Mr. House 
and Dr. Miller and have been very success- 
ful. This does not mean that every trace 
of the disease will be wiped out after treat- 
ment, but it does mean that the disease will 
be brought so nearly under control that a 
case only here and there will show up, and 
even then in a very mild form. It is possi- 
bly true that some queens of a resistant 
strain are not quite so resistant as others. 
In that case dequeening for ten days and 
requeening again will complete the cure. 

Morley Pettit, former provincial apiarist 
for Ontario, Canada, carried on some ex- 
tensive experiments in the treatment of 
European foul brood. His recommendation 
is practically the same as that of Dr. Mil- 
ler, with this difference : If a colony shows 
more than 50 per cent of diseased brood, he 
recommends, in addition, shaking. 

It is the author's belief that beginners 
(if only one or two colonies are involved) 
would do well to apply both shaking and 
dequeening. The more advanced can fol- 
low the Miller plan with comparative safe- 
ty. Where the combs are very rotten or 
smell of spoiled meat it is advisable to 
melt them up. Cases are on record where 
such combs, put back into the hive, trans- 
mitted disease. 

SACBEOOD. 

For many years there has been recog- 
nized a form of dead brood under the name 
of pickled brood that is neither European 
nor American foul brood. It comes and 
goes at certain seasons, but is never a de- 
structive agent like either one of these dis- 
eases. Sometimes it has the appearance of 
foul brood so far as color is concerned ; but 
it is never ropy like the American type; 
and, while similar to the European, it sel- 
dom gains very much headway in a colony. 

It is mildly infectious, and the infected 
larvae turn yellow and then brown. Some- 



FRAMES 



329 



times the color is gray. The dead specimens 
may be in unsealed cells, but are generally 
in the sealed ones. The dead larva?, says 
Dr. White in Circular No. 169, Bureau of 
Entomology, are "almost always extended 
lengthwise in the cells, and lying with the 
dorsal side against the lower wall. . . . 
The form of the larvae dead of this disease 
changes much less than it does in foul 
brood. The body wall is not easily broken, 
as a rule, and on this account often the en- 
tire larvjB can be removed from the cell in- 
tact." . . . "When removed they have 
the appearance of a small closed sac. This 
suggests the name of sacbrood." 

CAUSE OF SACBROOD. 

So far no microbe or fungus has been 
discovered as the cause of the disease. 
Whatever it is, it is so very small that it 
will pass thru a Berkfield filter. Sick and 
dead larvae of sacbrood have been macer- 
ated and diluted with sterile water. The 
product was then passed thru a Berkfield 
filter; but it was found that the filtrate 
would again give the disease to other colo- 
nies. It is evident that the disease is infec- 
tious. Dr. White concludes that "sacbrood 
is an infectious disease of the brood of 
bees caused by an infecting agent that is 
so small or of such a nature that it will 
pass thru the pores of a Berkfield filter." 

This led us to the conclusion that the 
foul-brood inspectors of the country might 
be compelled to quarantine an apiary where 
sacbrood might be found; but Dr. E. F. 
Phillips, in Charge of Apiculture in the 
Bureau, does not think that this would be 
necessary. The disease at its worst is not 
very destructive; and when it does make 
its appearance it affects so few larvae in a 
colony that it need cause no great alarm. 
While he might at times advise treating or 
isolating colonies, he does not believe it 
would be necessary to quarantine an apiary 
where it was found. 

STARVED OR NEGLECTED BROOD. 

There is another form of dead brood that 
very greatly resembles sacbrood; and that 
is, starved or neglected brood. Early in 
the spring, when natural pollen is scarce, 
and brood-rearing is well under way, some 
of the brood will die for the lack of the 



nitrogenous element in their food as ob- 
tained from pollen. It is starved, not from 
a lack of honey, but from a lack of proper 
bread -and-milk diet made up of pollen and 
honey. Considerable of this dead brood 
will be found in the early spring. The 
bees readily pick it out of the cells; and 
as soon as natural pollen comes in, the 
trouble will disappear. 

DEAD BROOD PROM DRONE-LAYING QUEENS OR 
LAYING WORKERS. 

Under Brood, reference is made to the 
fact that drone brood or laying-worker 
brood will often be found dead, and a 
stinking mass. The cells will be perforated, 
and the odor will be very much like that 
from American foul brood in an advanced 
stage. The fact that it does not rope 
rather suggests to the inexperienced that it 
may be European foul brood; and many 
times A B C scholars write us, describing 
this trouble, and asking whether it is foul 
brood. 

The remedy is, of course, to remove the 
drone-laying queen or break up the laying- 
worker colony. 

One may rest easy if he finds all worker 
brood healthy, and nothing but drone or 
laying-worker brood dead. 

FOUNDATION.— See Comb Founda- 
tion. 

FRAMES.— These are devices for hold- 
ing combs while in the hive and are some- 
times called racks. They make possible 
modern manipulation by which every comb 
can be inspected, removed, transposed — in 
fact, the whole internal economy of the 
hive can be determined. The straw skep 
and the box hive of olden days had no 
frames, nor does the same hive in use to- 
day in parts of Europe and the mountain- 
ous parts of the United States. See Box 
Hives. 

As shown under Hives^ Evolution of^ 
there were many crude ways of making 
combs movable — some better than others. 
Perhaps the crudest of all was to cut them 
out and put them back again. Later on, 
combs were built from single bars. This 
necessitated cutting the combs from the 
sides of the hive to effect a removal. To 
these bars were later attached other bars, 



330 



FRAMES 



making up a complete frame. But such 
frames were almost immovable. While they 
could be taken out of the hive it required a 
great amount of patience and time, to say 
nothing about bee-killing. 

It remained for the Rev. L. L. Langstroth, 
of this country, then a Presbyterian minis- 
ter, to discover a principle that would 
make every comb or frame removable. To 
construct a frame that will inclose a comb 
required no great act of invention; but to 
make a frame so it could be readily re- 
moved from its fellows, without smashing 
or irritating bees, required the work of a 
genius, and that genius was Langstroth. 

Under the head of A B C of Beekeeping^ 
Hi\t:s, Evolution of, and Bee-space, it is 
explained that he discovered the principle 
of a bee-space — a space that bees respect, 
and never fill with comb or bee glue. (See 
Bee-space.) Taking advantage of this prin- 
ciple, Langstroth saw that, in order to 
make his frame movable, he must provide 
a bee-space all around. The next problem 
that he met was how to support and hold 
each frame so that there would be not only 
a bee-space all around between it and the 
top, bottom, and end of the hive, but also 
a bee-space between each and all of the 
frames. It is just as important to have 
every frame separable from its neighbor 
as separable from the hive. This he accom- 
plished very nicely by making the top-bar 
of his frame 'long enough to have a projec- 
tion at each end. These projections as a 
means of support were made to rest in rab- 
bets in the upper edge of the ends of the 
hive. (See Hives and A B C of Beekeep- 
ing.) Langstroth, therefore, went ahead 
of his predecessors in two important points 
— in providing a bee-space and in giving a 
means of support so that the frames would 
not be glued fast to each other nor to the 
hive. His predecessors, as will be seen by 
a perusal of Hives, Evolution of, made 
their frames close-fitting, like drawers in a 
bureau, and each frame came in contact 
with its neighbor. (See the Huber hive 
under Hives, Evolution of.) These early 
devices, perhaps, would have been all right 
had it not been for two things — the ever 
present bee glue sticking everything fast 
with which it came in contact, and the 
crushing of the bees whenever parts of the 
frames came together. A few crushed bees, 
Tiany of them squealing with pain, will in- 



furiate a whole colony ; and it is no wonder 
that our forefathers resorted to the use of 
brimstone and refused to accept the so- 
called movable frames that were invented 
before Langstroth. The so-called movable 
combs of Dzierzon made it necessary to cut 
every comb loose. This process necessarily 
caused a great deal of dripping honey. 
During a dearth of nectar this would cause 
robbing. (See Robbing.) When, there- 
fore, Langstroth by his great invention of 
a really movable frame demonstrated that 
he could make every comb movable — that 
he could take the hive all apart without 
killing a bee and without receiving a sting 
— he revolutionized for all times the meth- 
ods for handling bees. While bees always 
will sting, and do sting, yet it is now pos- 
sible, under favorable conditions and with 
proper use of smoke, to open and examine 
a Langstroth hive without receiving a sting. 
See Manipulation of Colonies; also see 
Stings. 

The various crude attempts to make 
combs movable are set forth under the head 
of Hi\TES, Evolution of. The methods of 
adjusting modern Langstroth frames in 
modern Langstroth hives are described un- 
der Hives and A B C of Beekeeping. 

Langstroth desired to bring out a frame 
that would be really movable, and in doing 
so went to the limit. His frames had no 
point of contact with each other. They 
were simply hung or suspended in the hive- 
rabbet. They often hung out of true, and, 
worse still, were often badly spaced; but 
in spite of all this, many beekeepers prefer 
the principle today. There are others who 
consider it an advantage to have projec- 
tions on the frames, such projections being 
a half bee-space beyond the comb. These 
self -spacers will always hang true and the 
proper distance apart. (See Spacing 
Feames.) The advantages of these self- 
spaeing frames are shown in the article on 
Frames, Self-spacing. 

SIZE AND shape OF FRAMES. 

There has been endless discussion as to 
the best size of frame. Some prefer one 
that is square — approximately a foot wide 
and a foot deep. Others consider 12 inches 
too great a depth, and prefer to have the 
extra comb area extend laterally. A great 
majority of modern beekeepers prefer to- 



FRAMES, SELF-SPACING 



331 



day a frame longer than deep, such as we 
find in the Langstroth dimensions. As the 
dimensions of the frame determine the size 
and shape of the hive itself, a further con- 
sideration of the subject will be found un- 
der Hives. 

"Whether a frame should be made rever- 
sible is discussed under the head of Re- 
versing. Whether a frame should have 
the end-bars come in contact the entire 
length or only part way is discussed in 
the next subject. 

FRAMES, SELF-SPACING.— By these 
are meant frames held at certain regular 
distances apart by some sort of spacing 
device, forming either a part of the frame 
itself or a part of the hive. Under Spac- 
ing OF Frames^ elsewhere, and mider Ex- 
TRACTixG;, we have discussed the distances 
that frames should be apart. Some prefer 
1^ inches from center to center; but the 
majority, supported by good reasons, pre- 
fer 1% inches. Self -spacing frames, then, 
are those that, when put into the hive, are 
spaced automatically, either 1% or lYo 
inches from center to center. Loose or un- 
spaced frames differ from them, in that 
they have no spacing device connected with 
them, and are, therefore, when placed in 
the hive, spaced by eje — or, as some have 
termed it, "by guesswork." Such spacing 
results in more or less uneven combs; and 
beginners, as a rule, make very poor work 
of it. The advocates of self-spacing frames 
claim that they get even, perfect combs, 
comparatively few burr-combs, and that, 
without any guesswork, the combs are 
spaced accurately and equally distant from 



never spaced exactly, often cannot be 
hauled to an out-apiary, over rough roads, 
without having sticks between them, or 
something to hold them in place. 

It is contended by some, also, that spaced 
frames can be handled more rapidly. (See 
Frames and Maxipulatiox of Colonies.) 
On the other hand, the advocates of the 
loose frame urge, as an objection, that the 
self-spacers kill the bees. This depends. 
The careless operator may kill a good many 
bees. If he uses a little common sense, a 
little patience, applying a whiff or two of 
smoke between the parts of the frames that 
come in contact, he will not kill any bees. 
The fact that some of the most extensive 
beekeepers of the world are using self- 
spacing frames, and the further fact that 
the number of self-spaeing-frame users is 
constantly increasing, shows that this sup- 
posed bee-killing is more fancied than real. 
When frames are handled but two or three 
times a year as is now the practice of some 
of the best beekeepers, all these objections 
lose their force to a large extent. 

There are many styles of self-spacing 
frames. Those most commonly used in this 
country will be described first, and then 
some of the others that are now used or 
have formerly been used in Europe. Among 
the first-mentioned are the closed-end Quin- 
by, the Danzenbaker, the Heddon, the Hoff- 
man, the thick-top staple-spaced, metal- 
spaced Hoffman, and the nail-spaced. 

The closed-end Quinby is, as its name 
indicates, one whose end-bars are wide their 
entire length. The top and bottom bars 
are one inch wide. These closed uprights, 
or ends, when thev come in direct contact, 




How the Quinby frame hooks on 

one another. Self-spacing frames are al- 
ways ready for moving, either to an out- 
yard, to and from the cellar, or for ordi- 
nary carrjdng around the apiary. Loose 
frames, on the contrary, while they are 



to the bottom. — From Cheshire. 

cause the combs which they contain to be 
spaced accurately from center to center. 
The cut at A shows one such frame. Sev- 
eral of the closed-end frames are made to 
stand, and have very often been called 



332 



FRAMES, SELF-SPACING 



"standing' frames." Mr. Quinby, in order 
to keep such frames from toppling over, 
invented the strap-iron hook on one corner, 
as shown re-engraved from Cheshire; h is 
the hook that engages the strap iron ip in 
the bottom-board; gr is a groove to admit 
the hook, and at the same time render it 
possible to catch under the strap iron, as 
shown in cut on preceding page. 

The combined end-bars make the end of 
the hive and these hooks are therefore on 
the outside of the hive proper, and hence 
do not kill bees, nor are they filled with 
propolis as they would be if made on the 
inside of the hive. A and B (cut preced- 
ing page) are respectively the frame and 
the follower, altho they are drawn some- 
what out of proportion. 

The ordinary closed-end frames come to- 
gether laterally. The Quinby frames maj' 
be placed laterally up against each other; 
but the usual practice is to insert them 
from the end of the hive, sliding the end- 
bars past each other. The movement being 
endwise, if it is properly performed, all 
bees that may be on the edge of either of 
the frames will be brushed aside. 

The Quinby frame is a considerable 
departure from the Langstroth principle, 
because the Quinby hive and frame have no 
bee-space back of the end-bars. None is 
needed, for the reason that the combined 
end-bars make the end of the hive ; but the 
frame does have a bee-space above the top- 
bars and under the bottom-bars. Without 
the top and bottom bee-space Captain J. 
E. Hetherington could never have handled 
3000 colonies as he did on the Quinby 
frame for years in the Mohawk Valley, 
New York. P. H. Elwood was, at the time 
this was written (1917), using a large 
number of colonies on the same frame in 
Herkimer Co., New York, and using them 
successfully. 

With a panel on each side, a cover and 
a bottom-board, the Quinby-Hetherington 
hive is complete, the ends of the frames 
forming the ends of the hive; altho, for 
additional protection in the spring the users 
have an outside case to set down over the 
whole. This makes a very cheap hive that 
has many desirable features in it. For 
fuller details in regard to this frame and 
its manner of construction, the reader 
is referred to "Quinby's New Beekeep- 
ing." 



THE DANZENBAKER CLOSED END-FRAMES. 

Many people prefer what is known as a 
"hanging frame," which has decided advan- 
tages over the standing frame. The Dan- 
zenbaker is a closed-end hanging frame. 




Danzenbaker closed-end frames. 



The end-bars are pivoted at the center, the 
pins resting on hanger cleats secured to the 
ends of the hives. These pins make a very 
small line of contact, whereas the ordinary 
standing closed-end frame resting on tins 
secured to the bottom edge at the ends of 
the hive will crush a good many bees. The 




pins have the further advantage that, if 
there is any reduction in the depth of the 
hive due to shrinkage, the bee-space above 
and below the frames will be affected only 
half as much as if the frame were standmg. 

IMPROVED HOFFMAN FRAMES. 

This is a modification of the original 
frame used by Julius Hoffman, then of 
Canajoharie, N. Y. The top-bars as well 
as end-bars had projecting edges at the 
ends; but as he used a special hive with- 
out a bee-space at the top, that construc- 
tion was perfectly practicable. When the 
Hoffman-frame principle was applied to 
the regular Langstroth hive, with a bee- 



FRAMES, SELF-SPACING 



333 



space on top, it was found that closed top- 
bars at the ends were impracticable because 
the bees went on top of the frames and 
glued the tops together and to the rabbets. 
In the Hoffman hives the bees were shut 
out from the tops, and, of course, could not 
stick the parts together. The modern Hoff- 
man frames are, therefore, made having 




r'L_t 



Improved Hoffman frames. 

only the end-bars wide at the top. This 
greatly facilitates rapid handling, and pre- 
serves at the same time the essential feature 
of the original Hoffman by which it was 
possible to handle numbers of frames in 
lots of two, three, and four at a time, or 
space them all at one operation against the 
hive side. While the act may kill some 
bees, yet this can be avoided by blowing 
smoke down between the end-bars, and 
shoving the frames all together. In this 
respect the modified Hoffman has the great 
advantage over the original frame. This 
will be shown more clearly under Frames 
and Manipulation of Colonies. 

Another feature of this frame is the end- 
spacing staple that abuts against the tin 
rabbet shown at 6, in the cut. The ends of 
the top-bars are cut off so as to leave a 
bee-space around them. With the old-style 
frames the bees would sometimes glue the 
ends of the top-bars to the rabbet. This 
objectionable feature has been overcome in 
the style shown. 

When the top-bar is long enough to 
reach and almost come in contact with the 
ends of the rabbets, the bees would chink in 
bee glue between the ends of the top-bars 
and the rabbets. After the ends of all the 



frames have been thus glued, it is some- 
what difficult to remove any one comb, be- 
cause the fastening of each frame must be 
loosened before the comb sought can be 
lifted out; but when the top-bar is short- 
ened, as at 6 in the illustration, and the 
staple is used, there is none of this kind of 
gluing, the only fastening being that be- 
tween the upright edges of the end-bars 
themselves ; and this fastening, for the ma- 
jority of localities, so far from being a 
disadvantage, is useful in that it holds the 
frames together while the hives are being 
moved, and yet does not hold them so as to 
prevent easy handling. 

The Hoffman is the most extensively 
used self-spacing frame in all the United 
States, and there is even a possibility that 
it is used more generally than any other 
frame whether spaced or unspaced. Most 
of the hive-manufacturers supply it as a 
part of the regular equipment of their 
standard hives. 

For details concerning its use, see 
Frames and Manipulation of Colonies. 

METAL-SPACED HOFFMAN FRAMES. 

All that has been said in favor of the 
regular Hoffman will apply with equal 
force to the metal-spaced frame here 
shown. In some localities where propolis 
is very abundant, sticky, or hard, the 
wooden projections of the regular Hoff- 




man sometimes split off when the frames 
are pried apart. For localities where this 
condition prevails the metal-spaced is rec- 
ommended. It can be used interchangeably 
with the regular Hoffman. The spacers on 
this frame are stamped out of metal and 
must necessarily be accurate. The form of 
its construction in the shape of the letter U 
bending over the top-bar projection pre- 
vents the latter from breaking thru care- 
less handling. 



334 



FRAMES, SELF-SPACING 




STAPLE-SPACED FRAMES. 

There are some others who prefer frames 
with staples for side-spacers as here shown. 



Section through Figl on line Y Z 
as seen aiong arrcwX 





ill iii 



Hive-rabbet spacers, 



Others use nails in place of staples; but 
the latter with their rounding edges allow 
the frames to slide past each other more 
readily. 

OTHER SELF-SPACING DEVICES. 

Various spacing-devices have been sug- 
gested at different times. A few of these 
are presented here, the reader being left to 
judge of their relative merits. It will not 
be necessary to describe them in detail, as 
the engravings make plain their manner of 
construction and use. 

It will be noted that there are two kinds 
of spacing devices. One is made a part of 
the frame and the other a part of the rab- 
bet. It would seem at first glance that the 
latter would be a very happy solution of 
the problem of automatic spacing, as it 
would leave the frames without projections 
in the way for uncapping; but the fact is, 
rabbet or hive spaces have never been very 
popular, and therefore are very little used. 
The principal objection to them is that one 
cannot move the frames en masse or in 
groups, thus saving time in handling the 
brood-nest. The advantage of group-han- 
dling is made more apparent under Frames 
and Manipulation of Colonies. 

The very fact that no extensive bee- 
keeper is using these self-spacing devices 
as a part of the hive, and the further fact 
that all others who try them in a small way 
sooner or later abandon them, should dis- 
courage would-be inventors from wasting 
any time over them. 



FRAMES, SELF-SPACING 



335 




Various forms of frame-spacers. 



336 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



SELF-SPACING FRAMES — ADVANTAGES. 

Self-spacing frames make possible 
straight, beautiful, and regular combs ; are 
practically free from burr-combs; can be 
hauled without any special preparation over 
the roughest roads, turned upside down, 
and rolled over without disturbing the 
combs. They permit, to a very great ex- 
tent, the handling of hives instead of 
frames. Under Frames and Manipula- 
tion OF Colonies is shown how frames can 
be handled in pairs and trios — in fact, half 
a hive at a time. They can also be inverted, 
thus causing the combs to be built out sol- 
idly to the bottom-bar; and, when once 
completed, they can be restored to their 
upright normal condition. They can be 
handled as rapidly as the loose frame. In- 
deed, the late Julius Hoffman of Canajo- 
harie, N. Y., when owner of some 600 colo- 
nies on Hoffman frames, said he could work 
nearly double the number of colonies with 
his frame that he could on any frame not 
spaced or close-fitting, and he had used 
both styles of frames. But not every one 
will be able to do this; and very likely 
some people would handle them much more 
slow'v +han thev could the loose frames. 

self-spacing frames for small 
beekeepers. 

Whatever may be said regarding the 
adaptability of Hoffman frames for the ex- 
pert, it is evident that, in almost every 
instance, they are better for the beginner, 
average farmer beekeeper, or any one who 
does not propose to make a specialty of 
the bee business, but desires to keep only a 
few colonies to supply himself and neigh- 
bors with honey. Such persons are apt to 
be a little careless, and, with ordinary loose 
unspaced frames, make bad spacing. It is 
seldom indeed that one can look into the 
hives of this class of beekeepers and find 
their loose frames properly spaced. In 
some instances the combs are so close to- 
gether that opposite surfaces are gnawed 
down to give the bees sufficient space to 
pass between ; and in others they are so far 
apart that small patches of comb are built 
between. This is because it is an invaria- 
ble rule laid down in hive economy, on the 
part of the bees, not to leave more than 
proper bee-spaces. 



FRAMES, TO MANIPULATE. — See 

Frames and Manipulation of Colonies. 

FRUIT BLOSSOMS. — A very large 
amount of nectar is annually gathered by 
bees from fiiiit bloom, apples, pears, plums, 
cherries and peaches; but it is seldom that 
more than a small surplus is obtained. 
Apple-bloom honey is of great value in 
stimulating brood-rearing and in tiding over 
a period of scarcity. There is a proverb in 
New York State that "As goes apple bloom, 
so goes the season." Half a century ago 
Moses Quinby of St. Johnsville, N. Y., 
wrote: "In good weather a gain of 20 
pounds is sometimes added to the hive dur- 
ing the period of apple blossoms." In 
1877, at Borodino, N. Y., a surplus of 
166% pounds of mostly comb honey per 
colony, spring count, was obtained, proba- 
bly the largest average of apple-bloom 
honey ever recorded. But the weather is 
seldom continuously fair at this season; 
often it is rainy, cloudy, windy, cool, or 
there is even a frost, when instead of a 
gain there is a decrease in the stores in the 
hives. If there were a larger number of 
bees, a much greater quantity of apple- 
bloom honey would be gathered. As a rule 
the bees do not succeed in getting more 
than a living one year in five. Apple- 
bloom honey is light in color, a little strong 
at first, but acquires a pleasant aromatic 
flavor with age. It granulates about as 
quickly as basswood. 

A surplus of pear honey is obtained in 
California if the weather is warm. At 
times the flowers of the pear secrete nectar 
so freely that it falls in drops to the ground. 
A surplus is also obtained in California 
from plums, peaches, and probably from 
cultivated cherries. In Florida wild black 
cherry (Prunus serotina) yields a surplus 
of dark-red, bitter honey with the flavor of 
the cherry pit. 

spraying during bloom destructive to 

BEES and brood. 

The spraying of fruit trees for the con- 
trol of injurious insects and fungi is so 
profitable that the practice has become al- 
most universal among commercial fruit- 
growers and farmers. The quantity of 
fruit obtained is larger and the quality is 
better. But unless the fruit-grower is ac- 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



337 




Apple bJossojns 



quainted with the habits of the injuriou? 
insects affecting his crops the results of 
spraying are likely to be very unsatisfac- 
tory. Spraying during bloom not only in- 
jures the flowers, but destroys in large 
numbers the bees, which are indispensable 
for their pollination. Large orchardists 
with a spraying equipment too small to 
care for the acreage often begin operations 
before their trees are out of bloom. An- 
other class of offenders are those who make 
a business of spraying; and, seeking to 
extend their work over as long a time as 
possible, spray continuously thruout bloom- 
ing time. A third class consists of those 
who are ignorant of the harm done by this 
practice. 



When the trees are sprayed while in 
bloom, many bees are killed, much brood 
dies and often valuable queens are lost. 
Beekeepers in all parts of the country 
have reported that as the result of the use 
of poisonous spray entire colonies have 
been destroyed and others greatly weak- 
ened. In 1912 about half the bees in Pecos 
Valley, N. M., were killed in this way. A 
small apple orchard on the Ohio Experi- 
ment Station Farm was sprayed with Bor- 
deaux mixture, to which had been added 
Paris green at the rate of 4 ounces to 50 
gallons of the mixture. Three colonies of 
bees were located near by. A few days 
later one colony suddenly became extinct 
and a second greatly reduced in numbers, 



338 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



dead bees being abundant in both hives. 
Chemical analj^sis showed the presence of 
arsenic in the dead bees. 

Experiments conducted at the Cornell 
and the Geneva Experiment Stations showed 
that the spraying of trees in full bloom de- 
cidedly injured the blossoms. The poison 
retarded or checked the development of the 
pollen and was harmful to the stigma. Pol- 
len placed in a thin syrup, about the con- 
sistency of nectar, to which was added a 
quantity of ordinary spraying liquid, failed 
to grow. The fruit-grower can not afford 
to injure the delicate reproductive organs 
of the flowers. Moreover, spraying when 
the trees are in bloom, says the Vermont 
Experiment Station, is entirely useless; it 
is a waste of both time and spraying 
material. 

SPRAYING FOR THE CODLING MOTH. 

The insect which is most important for 
the orchardist to control is the apple worm 
or codling moth, a pest which may reduce 
the crop of sound fruit by one-fourth to 
three-fourths. The moths emerge from their 
cocoons during the month of June. The 
minute whitish eggs are laid partly on the 
leaves and partly on the fruit, and hatch 
about three weeks after the trees have blos- 
somed. The young worm crawls to the blos- 
som end and 'enters the apple, burrowing 
into the interior. After feeding for about 
four weeks the worm deserts the apple, 
and spins its cocoon under the rough bark 
or in a sheltered place. The last of July 
or early in August the second brood of 
moths appear. These moths in turn de- 
posit eggs, which in due time hatch, and 
the worms enter the apples thru the side. 
There are two broods of worms. The sec- 
ond brood of worms do not transform to 
moths until the following spring after the 
trees have bloomed. 

There are thus three well-defined periods 
when the trees should be sprayed. Spray 
for the first time ten days after the drop- 
ping of the white petals, while the green 
calyx lobes still remain open and the newly 
set fruit stands erect. Direct the spray so 
that it will fall into the calyx cup and 
lodge there, for, as it is at this point that 
the worm enters the fruit, it will eat the 
poison and die. This first treatment is 
more efficient than all subsequent treat- 



ments. Spray for the second time about 
three weeks after blooming time, when the 
eggs of the codling moth are beginning to 
hatch. Spray for the third time during the 
last of July or early in August when the 
second brood is hatching and preparing to 
enter the fruit. If in the first and the sec- 
ond sprayings Bordeaux mixture is used as 
a carrier of the poison, these treatments 
will prevent apple scab. 

HOW BEES ARE KILLED WHEN THE SPRAY 
PALLS ON COVER CROPS IN ORCHARDS. 

While many commercial orchardists em- 
ploy clean cultivation, — i. e., the ground 
under the trees is frequently harrowed and 
no vegetation is permitted to grow — other 
fruit-growers sow cover crops. In many 
localities these crops are of great benefit in 
protecting the roots of the trees from sun, 
wind, and drouth, and in furnishing both 
humus and fertilizer. A variety of legumi- 
nous plants are grown for this purpose, as 
alfalfa, red clover, crimson clover, vetch 
and yellow annual sweet clover. 

In western Colorado red clover has been 
extensively used as a cover crop. Unfortu- 
nately for the beekeepers of this State it 
blooms as the petals are falling from the 
fruit trees, and remains" in bloom for a long 
time. The poisonous spray applied to the 
trees falls onlthe flowers of the cover crop, 
and bees visiting them are destroyed in im- 
mense numbers. In 1914 and 1915 whole 
apiaries were destroyed on the western 
slope of Colorado, particularly in the vicin- 
ity of Montrose, while other colonies were 
so weakened that they yielded no financial 
return. (In explanation of the visits of 
honeybees to red clover, which is a bumble- 
bee flower and under normal conditions 
rarely visited by the domestic bee, it has 
been suggested that the corolla tubes were 
shorter than usual; but the reason is not 
certainly known.) The spraying of cover 
crops presents a new and serious problem, 
the only remedy for which seems to be the 
cutting of the cover crop before it blooms 
or ploughing it under. Unless protection 
can be afforded to beekeepers they will be 
compelled to move their bees away from 
orchards where the owners allow spraying 
to be done at a time when it may fall on 
cover crops which are in bloom, 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



339 



LAWS AGAINST SPRAYING FRUIT BLOOM. 

A number of States have passed laws 
against spraying fruit bloom, but they have 
not proved entirely effective. Where the 
penalty is low, from $15 to $50, it is often 
ignored, owners of commercial spraying 
outfits preferring to pay the fine rather 
than to stop work. Beekeepers, moreover, 
hesitate to incur the trouble of enforcing 
the law. In general, education will be 
found more effective than legislation. Self- 
interest will prevent a well-informed fruit- 
grower from spraying the bloom. Let him 
once fully understand that the production 
of fruit depends upon the pollination of 
the flowers by bees, as explained in the lat- 
ter part of this article, and he will be as 
eager for their protection as the beekeeper 
himself. But there will always be a few 
orchardists who will persistently remain 
ignorant and who will resent any restraint 
on their operations, insisting that the bees 
are not injured or are not needed. A few 
unprincipled owners of spraying outfits 
and ignorant employers may become a 
menace to an entire community. An edu- 
cational campaign will not suffice in such 
cases, and the beekeeper should be pro- 
tected by a law imposing heavy penalties 
for spraying the bloom of fruit trees, while 
provision should be made for its enforce- 
ment by a State official. 

POLLINATION OF FRUIT BLOOM* 

Not infrequently in the past beekeepers 
and fruit-growers came in conflict; the lat- 
ter asserted that bees injured the bloom, 
punctured the fruit, and interfered with 
the packing, and consequently in some cases 
they asked the beekeepers to remove their 
bees on the plea that they were a nuisance. 
The fruit-growers little realized that they 
were driving away the agency necessary 
for the proper pollination of fruit bloom. 
Happily at the present time the two fac- 
tions understand that their industries are 
mutually dependent. Fruit-growers, indeed, 
derive very much more benefit from bees 
than the beekeepers themselves, as they 
have been repeatedly taught by costly ex- 



* In order to understand better the structure of the 
flower it is suggested that the reader turn first to 
the subject of Pollination of Flowers. It will also 
serve to illustrate the different methods of pollination 
referred to in this article. 



perience. Some years ago a beekeeper in 
Massachusetts was obliged to remove bees 
from a certain locality on the complaint of 
the fruit-growers that they were a nuisance ; 
but after a year or two had passed they 
were very glad to have the bees back again, 
because so little fruit set on the trees in 
proportion to the bloom. The beekeeper 
was recalled; and, as was to be expected, 
not only more but finer fruit was produced. 
The practical application of the discovery 
of the agency of insects in the pollination 
of flowers in the cultivation of fruits and 
vegetables has been of inestimable value to 
agriculturists. It can be shown easily that 
there are many different kinds of plants 
which, in the absence of insects, would re- 
main partially or wholly unproductive. In 
the work of pollination the services of the 
bees, or Anthophila (flower-lovers), are the 
most important; while among the bees the 
honeybees, because of their highly special- 
ized pollen-gathering apparatus, great num- 
bers, and industry, far surpass all other 
species. Fruit orchards cannot be planted 
profitably on a very extensive scale without 
maintaining in connection with them nu- 
merous colonies of honeybees; and it is 
estimated by Dr. Phillips, of the Bureau of 
Entomology, that beekeeping adds indi- 
rectly more to the resources of the country 
annually by fiower pollination than by the 
sale of honey and wax. Several enthusias- 
tic horticulturists have even declared that 
for all practical purposes in pollination the 
honeybee is alone sufficient ; but this asser- 
tion must be somewhat modified ; for in the 
country as a whole, domestic or hive bees 
are aided by wild bees, wasps, flies, butter- 
flies, and to a less extent by beetles. At the 
time of its discovery hone3'bees did not ex- 
ist on the Western Continent, and for many 
thousands of years its varied wild flora had 
been dependent for pollination on the native 
insects, especially the wild bees. Neither 
were honeybees found in Australia, New 
Zealand, or other Pacific islands when thev 
were first visited by Europeans. The in- 
digenous insects had in all probability more 
or less successfully pollinated the natural 
floras of these regions in the absence of the 
honeybee. In extensive areas of the unset- 
tled wilderness there are still many flowers 
which rely chiefly on the wild insects, and 
everywhere they are helpful allies of the 
fruit-grower. 



340 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



But while in every country the indige- 
nous insects play an important part in the 
pollination of the wild flora, it is neverthe- 
less true that modern fruit culture requires 
the special agency of the honeybee. In sec- 
tions where immense orchards cover many 
square miles of territory and fruit is grown 
by the ton and carload, the wild insects are 
wholly inadequate to pollinate the great ex- 
panse of bloom, and many apiaries must be 
established to obtain the best results. The 
only pollinating insects under the control 
of man are honeybees, and these must be 
introduced in large numbers in order to 
make fruit-growing commercially profita- 
ble. Fruit-growing has a marvelous future 
before it, and must ever be associated with 
bee culture. 

THE NUMBER OP CULTIVATED PLANTS. 

Only about 44 species of cultivated plants 
were known to the ancient world. In his 
"Origin of Cultivated Plants," De CandoUe 
enumerated 247 species cultivated for their 
roots, leaves, flowers, or fruit, of which the 
Old World furnished 199, America 45, and 
13 were of uncertain origin. While De 
Candolle described the majority of plants 
most valuable to the human race, Sturtevant 
has enumerated in manuscript, according to 
Hedrick 1113 domesticated species, which 
are cultivated today; and a total of 4447 
which are partially edible. Not all culti- 
vated plants are pollinated by insects; a 
part are pollinated by the wind and a part 
are self -fertilized. In order to avoid con- 
fusing these different groups it is desirable 
to describe briefly the common wind-pol- 
linated and exclusively self -pollinated spe- 
cies. 

CULTIVATED PLANTS POLLINATED BY THE 
WIND. 



but in different flower-clusters, so that in 
the absence of cross-pollination, at least, 
by different clusters, the species are sterile. 
The pecan, chestnut, and hickory are the 
only nuts domesticated in this country ; but 
since nuts afford a wholesome and nutri- 
tious food nut culture is rapidly extending, 
and it is predicted that in the South the 
pecan groves will rival the cotton fields in 
extent. The flowers of the wind-pollinated 
nut trees yield pollen but no nectar. 

The grasses, or Gramineae, which are all 
wind-pollinated, include the common cere- 
als, corn, wheat, barley, rye, rice, oats; 
also sorghum, sugar cane, and millet. The 
flowers are usually perfect, but self-polli- 
nation is prevented by the anthers and 
stigmas maturing at different times. But 
sometimes the stamens and pistils are in 
separate flower-clusters, as in Indian corn. 
Since human existence depends upon the 
grasses, they have been aptly termed the 
type of human beneficence. The sedges, 
rushes, and reeds are also wind-pollinated. 
Mythical stories of honey stored from ane- 
mophilous flowers are occasionally circu- 
lated; but these reports probably have 
their origin in the collection of honeydew 
which is common on the foliage of several 
species. 

The hop vine, the white and black mul- 
berry, the date palm, and many other 
palms are also anemophilous or wind-pol- 
linated. According to Swingle about one- 
half of the trees of the date palm in 
nature are staminate, or "male," and one- 
half pistillate, or "female," so that cross- 
pollination is a necessity. Under cultiva- 
tion a single staminate tree will serve to 
pollinate artificially 50 or more pistillate 
trees. In each of the fruiting clusters a 
small branch of pollen flowers is tied. The 
cocoanut palm, a bountiful source of food 
in the tropics, is also wind-pollinated. 



The wind is a much older agency in pol- 
lination than insects. (See Pollination 
OP Flowers.) The edible nuts of North 
America, as the walnut, hickory, acorn, 
beech, hazel, butternut, pecan, and chest- 
nut, are almost invariably pollinated by the 
wind; but the horse-chestnut in the tem- 
perate zone, and many tropical species pro- 
ducing nuts are insect-pollinated. The com- 
mon anemophilous species not only have 
the stamens and pistils in different flowers, 



HOW HONEYBEES INCREASE THE SEED CROPS 
OP CLOVER AND ALFALFA. 

Wliile red clover is usually thought to 
be dependent upon bumblebees for pollina- 
tion, there are certain strains of honeybees 
with extra-long tongues that do more and 
better work because they are more abun- 
dant. In the gTOwing of alsike clover 
seed, it has now been well established that 
it is almost impossible to get proper seed- 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



341 




Apple trees in bloom in A. I. Root's orchard. 



ing without large numbers of honeybees in 
the vicinity of the fields where the plant is 
grown. There are certain areas in Ontario, 
Canada, where the farmers request bee- 
keepers to put bees on their farms. They 
even go so far as to say that if they can 
not get the bees that there is no use in their 
trying to grow the seed. 

Some experiments were made by the Fed- 
eral Government, wherein certain patches 
of both red and alsike clover were covered 
with mosquito netting before they came 
into bloom. It was shown that the por- 
tions covered yielded a very small amount 
of seed, while the other portions that the 
bees could visit yielded a large amount of 
seed. 

It was formerly supposed that bees were 
of little value in the growing of alfalfa 
seed. Indeed, some observations made by 
the Department of Agriculture, Washing- 
ton, D. C, went to show that honeybees 
tripped but very few of the flowers of the 
alfalfa. Since then, it has been shown 
most conclusively that where the alfalfa 
seed is grown by the carload, that seed can 



not be grown satisfactorily without plenty 
of honeybees. In one locality near Reno, 
Nevada, repeated tests show that the bees 
have been able to increase nearly threefold 
the yield of seed over areas where there 
are no bees. The evidence is now so com- 
plete as to leave no room for doubt upon 
the point. 

THE HONEYBEE AND FRUIT CULTURE. 

Altho many nut trees, the cereals, the 
date trees, and cocoanut trees are pollinated 
by the wind, the fig trees by wasps and 
several widely cultivated forage and legu- 
minous plants are self-pollinated, or polli- 
nated by bumblebees and leaf -cutting bees, 
it is still true that the honeybee is a most 
important visitor to the majority of culti- 
vated plants. It is an essential factor in 
fruit culture, and in the pollination of fruit 
bloom its significance becomes paramount 
to that of all other insects. When the 
value of the fruit crop is considered both 
from a hygienic and economic point of 
view, who can overestimate the services of 



342 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



the domestic bee to the human race ? Nu- 
merous species and countless varieties of 
fruits are already under culture, and with- 
in the next century many new forms will 
be domesticated and improved, or intro- 
duced from foreign lands. 

A great variety of fruits were introduced 
into this country after its discovery, but 
wild fruits have always been abundant in 
the western continent. Hedriek calls North 
America a natural garden. " More than 
200 species of tree, bush, vine, and small 
fruits were commonly used by the abori- 
gines for food, not counting nuts, those occa- 
sionally used, and numerous rarities. There 
are now under cultivation 11 American 
species of plums with 588 varieties; 15 
species of grapes with 1194 varieties; 4 
species of raspberries with 28 varieties; 6 
species of blackberries with 86 varieties; 5 
species of dewberries with 23 varieties; 2 
species of cranberries with 60 varieties ; and 
2 species of gooseberries with 35 varieties, 
or a total of 45 species of American fruits 
with 2014 varieties." This number is des- 
tined to be greatly increased in time by the 
domestication of other wild fruits. Coville 
has recently shown that blueberries can be 
cultivated; and it may be expected that 
improved varieties will be obtained of blue- 
berries, huckleberries, juneberries, elder- 
berries, wineberries, ground cherries, thorn 
apples, buffalo berries, highbush cranber- 
ries, cloud berries, native mulberries, paw- 
paws, and persimmons. A beginning in 
the culture of the fig, the avocado, and the 
date has been made in California ; while the 
mango, a delicious fruit, of which there are 
more than 500 varieties, has been introduced 
into Florida. Hybridizing can multiply new 
forms indefinitely and yield such anomalies 
as the loganberry and the blackberry dew- 
berry. In the vast and splendid future of 
fruit culture the importance of the honey- 
bee will now be shown by an examination 
of the pollination of the more important 
fruits. 

POLLINATION OF CUCURBITACEOUS FRUITS. 



artificially pollinated) produce fruit. The 
staminate flowers open a few days before 
the pistillate, are larger, and are often on 
longer stalks. The nectar is secreted within 




Cucumber blossom with a bee on it ; caught in the act. 

a fleshy cup formed by the fusion of the 
base of the calyx with that of the corolla. 
In the squash {Cucurbita maxima) and 
pumpkin (C. Pepo) this cup is large, and, 
except for three narrow slits, is covered in 




The flowers of the squash, cucumber, 
melon, and pumpkin are monoecious; that 
is, the stamens and pistils are in different 
flowers on the same plant. Self-fertiliza- 
tion is thus impossible, and in the absence 
of insects the vines cannot (unless they are 



Interior of cucumber greenhouse : 
inside. 



hive with entrance 



the staminate flowers by the column of sta- 
mens. The flowers are pollinated chieflj^ 
by honeybees and bumblebees, which visit 
them in great numbers and can reach the 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



343 



Aectar with their long tongues. On a clear 
warm day in August the writer has seen a 
staminate flower of the squash visited in 
ten minutes by eight honeybees and four 
worker bumblebees {Bomhus terricola). 
Another flower in ten minutes received six 
visits from honeybees and six from bumble- 
bees. One of the long-tongued wild bees 
{Xenoglossa pruinosa) is said to visit only 
the flowers of the pumpkin. In the vicinity 
of pickle factories there are usually from 
five to six hundred acres of cucumbers un- 
der cultivation, yielding 75,000 or more 
bushels of fruit. The immense number of 
blossoms require many colonies of honey- 
bees for their proper pollination. 




Method of bagging a cluster of flower buds to deter- 
mine whether the variety is self- fertile or self -sterile. — 
(After Lewis and Vincent.) 

Honeybees are also largely used for pol- 
linating cucumbers grown in greenhouses 
for early market. In Massachusetts some 
2000 colonies are required annually to pol- 
linate the cucumbers raised under glass, one 
large grower using 80 hives. For the crop 
of cucumbers, squashes, melons, pumpkins, 
watermelons, and kindred fruits we are 
thus wholly indebted to bees. 

POLLINATION OF THE TOMATO. 

The flowers of the tomato are nectarless, 
but are visited by bees gathering pollen. 
Cross-pollination is favored by the stigmas 
maturing two or three days before the an- 
thers. The different varieties, as Champion, 
Ponderosa, and Peach can be easily crossed, 



but are largely self-sterile. At the Ohio 
Experiment Station, Green set out in Au- 
gust 200 plants of Dwarf Champion in a 
greenhouse, and by winter they had made a 
fine, thrifty growth and were fruiting nice- 
ly. A good crop of tomatoes was expected ; 
but when January came and the fruit be- 
gan to ripen, the bulk of it was about the 
size of hickorynuts and without any seeds. 
Fink also states that plants from w^hich 
insects were excluded yielded few and small 
fruits. 

THE POLLINATION OF BERRY PLANTS. 

Grape. — It is well established that many 
kinds of grapes are self-sterile; and, since 
in this country an immense area is devoted 
to the culture of this fruit, ignorance of the 
manner of pollination of the different spe- 
cies and varieties must result in great loss. 
Some 40 species of grapes have been de- 
scribed, of which about 20 occur in North 
America. They are widely distributed thru- 
out the north temperate zone, but are espe- 
cially abundant in the region of the Cauca- 
sus and in the Eastern United States. There 
are now under cultivation some 16 species, 
1194 varieties, of which 790, or three- 
fourths, are hybrids. Foreign grapes do not 
succeed well in this country when planted 
outdoors, but grow satisfactorily in hot- 
houses. Grape-growing on a commercial 
scale in America takes its beginning in 
1849, when Nicholas Longworth of Cincin- 
nati, after 30 years of experiment with 
foreign grapes, turned his attention to our 
native species and planted extensively the 
Catawba, a variety of the common wild 
Vitis lahrusca. 

The flowers of the vine are small and 
green and occur in dense thyrsoid clusters. 
The calyx is minute, and the five petals 
cohere to form a little hood, which falls 
away entire when the flower opens. The 
five stamens produce only a small quantity 
of pollen ; alternating with the stamens are 
five nectar glands. The flowers are very 
sweet-scented with an odor suggestive of 
mignonette, which can be perceived for a 
long distance. A part of the plants pro- 
duce perfect or hermaphrodite* flowers and 
a part staminate flowers with a rudimen- 
tary ovary. 

* See Pollination op Flowers for a definition of 
these terms. 



344 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



Many varieties of American grapes are 
self-sterile. Of 169 cultivated varieties in- 
vestigated by Beach of Geneva, N. Y., 37 
were wholly self -sterile, and in the absence 
of cross-pollination produced no berries; 
28 were so nearly self -sterile that the clus- 
ters were unmarketable, and thus from a 
commercial point of view of no more value 
than the previous group ; 104 varieties pro- 
duced marketable clusters when self-fertil- 



Nearly all the self-sterile varieties are 
hybrids; when pollinated by other self- 
sterile varieties they yield no fruit, but 
when pollinated by self-fertile varieties 
they produce marketable clusters. In a 
vineyard of self -sterile varieties, therefore, 
there must be a sufficient number of strong- 
ly self -fertile vines to pollinate them prop- 
erly. Care must be taken to select varieties 
which bloom simultaneously. Self -sterility 




Brighton grape self-fertilized; 2, Brighton grape cross-fertilized.- — (After Beach.) 



ized, but of this number 66 had the clusters 
loose, and only 38 yielded compact perfect 
clusters. Among the varieties wholly ster- 
ile were Aminia, Black Eagle, Essex, Onei- 
da, Eaton, Salem, and Wilder ; nearly ster- 
ile varieties were Brighton, Canada, Gene- 
va, Vergennes, and Woodruff; wholly or 
nearly self -fertile varieties were Delanson, 
Moore's Early, Niagara, Worden, Aga- 
wam, Catawba, Champion, Clinton, Con- 
cord, Isabella, and Victoria. The self- 
fertility of a cluster was tested by enclos- 
mg it in a Manilla paper bag before any of 
the flowers had opened, thus excluding pol- 
len from all outside sources. (Beach, S. A., 
"Self -fertility of the grape," Bull. No. 
157; "Fertilizing Self -sterile Grapes," 
Bull. 169, et cetera, N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta.) 



is due to lack of potency of the pollen, the 
self -sterile varieties always having shorter 
stamens than the self -fertile forms. 

The grape remains in bloom from six to 
ten days according to the temperature of 
the air. Both anthers and stigmas mature 
at the same time, and the pollen retains its 
vitality for at least two weeks. Species 
with the stamens longer than the pistils are 
usually regularly self-pollinated, and are, 
therefore, largely independent of insects. 
While occasional pollination by the wind 
may occur, the flowers are adapted to in- 
sect pollination. The strong fragrance 
compensates for their inconspicuousness. 
In central Europe the five fleshy nectaries 
secrete no nectar, but in warmer climates 
it is said to be abundant. The quantity of 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



345 




Brighton grape pollinated by 1, Salem; 2, Creveling ; 3, Lindley ; 4, pollen of another vine of same 
variety; 5, self-pollinated; 6, by Nectar; 7, Jefferson; 8, Niagara; 9, Worden ; 10, Vergennes ; 11, Rochester. 
— (After Beach.) 



pollen is small, but it is gathered by honey- 
bees, bumblebees, and wild bees. Beetles 
are sometimes very destructive to the in- 
florescence. But where the varieties are 
self-sterile, as is the case with the muscatine 
grapes (varieties of Vitis rotundifolia) 
which have been extensively planted in the 
Southern States, bees do not visit the flow- 



ers as frequently as would seem to be de- 
sirable. Efforts should be made to obtain 
vines which secrete nectar freely, and also 
a bee-yard should be located in or near the 
vineyard. 

Strawberry. — A strawberry-grower of 
great experience says that more trouble, 
failures, and dissatisfaction arise among 



346 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



fruit-growers — particularly among small 
growers — from ignorance regarding the sex 
of strawberries than from any other cause. 
In this genus there is a marked tendency 
for the stamens and pistils to occur in dif- 
ferent flowers. A part of the plants produce 
staminate flowers, a part pistillate, and a 
part perfect or hermaphrodite flowers, as is 
especially well shown by the European 
strawberry, the hautbois, or highwood straw- 
berry of Germany. Plants with staminate 
flowers are comparatively rare, while the 
other two forms are common. 

The strawberry grows wild thruout a 
large part of Europe, Asia, North America, 
and Chile, S. A. Little improvement was 
made in the fruit until after the beginning 
of the nineteenth century, when by crossing 
and selection hundreds of new varieties 
were obtained and the berries greatly im- 
proved in size and flavor. In Eastern North 
America there are only two well-defined 
wild species, Fragaria virginiana, the com- 
mon field strawberry, and the wood straw- 
berry, F. vesca. On the western coast of 
both North and South America F. chiliensis 
is common. All the American species in- 
tercross easily. 

Owing to their greater productiveness 
preference in field culture is often given to 
the pistillate varieties, which are marked 
(P.) in the catalogs of nurserymen. Pistil- 
late varieties, which have been extensively 
planted in the past are Crescent, Manches- 
ter, and Bubach; while the Sharpless is 
perhaps the best known of the older per- 
fect varieties. Where pistillate plants are 
used in order to provide for their pollina- 
tion, every fourth row must be planted with 
perfect or hermaphrodite plants : otherwise 
the pistillate plants will be barren. It is 
not at all rare, according to Fuller, to find 
perfect plants which are largely sterile to 
their own pollen, altho the pollen is per- 
fectly potent to fertilize other varieties. A 
variety may have both stamens and pistils, 
and yet, owing to self -sterility, 90 per cent 
of the plants be barren. It is of the great- 
est importance, therefore, to ascertain by 
growing individual plants under glass 
whether perfect flowers are self -fertile or 
not, or, where this is not known, to plant 
more than one variety. The best-flavored 
strawberry ever produced by Fuller was 
discarded because, altho hardy, freely 
blooming, and perfect, it was largely ster- 



ile both to its own pollen and that of other 
varieties. 

The pistillate plants are entirely depend- 
ent on insects for pollination; no insects, 
no berries, except in instances where a few 
stamens may be present. The nectar is se- 
creted by a fleshy ring at the base of the 
receptacle between the stamens and pistils. 
It is not abundant, and there is no record 
of a surplus of strawberry honey. The 
stigmas mature before the anthers. The 
flowers are visited by honeybees and many 
wild bees, which gather both pollen and 
nectar. It is evident that all the flowers 
are benefited by cross-pollination and that 
an abundance of bees is most desirable in 
strawberry-growing. 

Raspberry and Blackberry. — The rasp- 
berries and blackberries, which belong to 
the genus Bubus, are widely distributed 
thruout the north temperate zone of both 
hemispheres. The nectar is secreted by a 
narrow ring at the base of the receptacle. 
In the raspberry it is very abundant, and a 
large surplus of white honey with a delicate 
comb and exquisite flavor is obtained annu- 
ally. (See Raspberry.) The petals, which 
drop off on the second day, stand erect 
when the flower opens and hold the stamens 
closely against the convex mass of pistils, 
ensuring self-fertilization in the absence of 
insects. When insects visit the flowers, es- 
pecially bees, they regularly effect cross- 
pollination by rubbing the pollen adhering 
to their bodies on the numerous stigmas. 
Since the flowers are visited by innumera- 
ble honeybees besides a great company of 
wild bees, cross-pollination largely prevails. 
When the flowers are enclosed in muslin 
bags they are self -fertile, but the results 
are not so good as when they are unpro- 
tected. 

The flowers of the blackberry are larger 
than those of the raspberry, and the petals 
spread out, affording a convenient landing- 
place for insects. The stamens bend away 
from the center; and, as the outer anthers 
dehisce flrst, the flowers are usually cross- 
pollinated before the inner anthers, which 
may effect self-pollination, have opened. 
In the raspberry and blackberry the an- 
thers and stigmas mature at about the same 
time. The flowers of the blackberry are 
visited by many honeybees, wild bees, flies, 
and beetles. On a small piece of cultivated 
blackberries growing near the apiary of the 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



347 



writer, the insect-visitors were collected 
during a succession of days, and the wild 
bees were found greatly to outnumber the 
honej'bees. The latter manifested a pref- 
erence for collecting the pollen rather than 
the scatnty supply of nectar. In the East- 
ern States, and even in Michigan, where it 
covers large areas from which the forest 
has recently been cleared, the blackberry is 
a poor honey plant ; but in California it is 
reported to yield a surplus of light-amber 
honey of excellent flavor. In Spain also it 
is listed as a good honey plant. 

Currant and Gooseberry. — The currants 
and gooseberries, which belong to the genus 
Bihes, all secrete nectar and are largely 
dependent on insects for pollination. The 
Journal of the Board of Agriculture, Eng- 
land, says that when insects were excluded 
from gooseberries, red and white currants, 
practically no fruit was formed. When 
artificially pollinated with pollen from the 
same flower or variety they all proved self- 
fertile, and set fruit perfectly ; but the pol- 
len is so adhesive that it is not readily 
transferred from the anthers to the stigma 
except by the visits of insects. 

In the European gooseberry {Ribes gros- 
sularia) the anthers open before the stigma 
is fully grown and capable of pollination. 
Moreover, the flowers hang downward, and, 
as the anthers stand at the same level as the 
stigma, the pollen cannot, as a rule, fall on 
it, and thus in the absence of insects no 
fruit is produced. The flowers are adapted 
to bees, and honeybees, bumblebees, and 
wild bees are very frequent visitors. A bee 
v/hile sucking nectar touches the stigma 
with one side of its head and the anthers 
with the other side, so that in a succession 
of visits it cannot fail to effect cross-polli- 
nation. The European gooseberries do not 
succeed well in this country ; and our native 
northern gooseberry (Rihes oxyacanthoides) 
has been extensively planted in the North- 
ern States under the name of Houghton. It 
is easily cultivated and enormously produc- 
tive. At the Connecticut Experiment Sta- 
tion 72 species of insects have been listed 
as visitors. 

The flowers of the red currant {Ribes 
rubrum) are also usually cross-pollinated 
by insects; but, as the anthers and stigma 
mature simultaneously and the flowers often 
stand sidewise, self-pollination may occur 
by the pollen falling on the stigma. Honey- 



bees, wild bees, and flies are very common 
visitors. In the black currant {Ribes ni- 
grum) the pistil is a little longer than the 
stamens, and self-pollination may occur 
regularly in the absence of insects by the 
pollen falling on the stigma. In an Alpine 
species of currant {Ribes alpinum) the 
stamens and pistils are in different flowers 
so that no fruit sets in the absence of in- 
sects. 

Cranberry. — The cranberries are adapt- 
ed to pollination by bees. The anthers 
tend to unite to form a cone around the 
single style, and are prolonged upward into 
long tubes, which open by pores in the 
ends, from which pollen falls on the head 
of a bee seeking nectar. The stigma pro- 
jects beyond these tubes, and thus receives 
pollen collected by the approaching insect 
from other flowers. Individual flowers re- 
main in bloom for more than two weeks. 
On a large cranberry bog the flowers are as 
numberless as the sands of the sea, and the 
indefatigable industry of bees is alone 
equal to the work of pollinating them. 

The United Cape Cod Cranberry Com- 
pany, which has some 700 acres of cran- 
berries under cultivation, has discovered 
that the wild bees are not sufficiently nu- 
merous to do this work satisfactorily; and 
that the yield per acre can be greatly in- 
creased by placing colonies of bees near the 
bogs. "One test," says E. R. Root, "was 
significant. The cranberry bog at Halifax 
contains 126 acres. On one side of this 
there were three or four colonies of honey- 
bees last year. It is evident that this num- 
ber was inadequate to cover the entire field, 
and it is noteworthy that the yield of cran- 
berries per acre was in direct proportion to 
the proximity of such acreage to the bees. 
The yield was heaviest close to the hives, 
and became thinner and thinner as the dis- 
tance from the hives increased. The show- 
ing was so remarkable in this and other 
bogs that it is proposed to increase mate- 
rially the investment in bees another year. 
A small area of cranberry bog was screened 
to exclude the bees. The screened portion 
had verj' little fruit, while that free to the 
visitation of bees had a large yield. In con- 
sequence many cranberry-growers are plan- 
ning to go into the bee business for the 
purpose of obtaining a greater crop of 
cranberries. In our travels over the United 
States we never saw a situation that dem- 



348 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



onstrated more clearly the value of bees as 
pollinators than did this piece of cranberry- 
bog." 

Blueberry and Huckleberry. — The 
most valuable of American wild fruits are 
the blueberry and hucldeberry from which 
there are annually gathered several million 
dollars' worth of fruit. There are in this 
country more than 150 species belonging to 
these two genera growing in a great variety 
of situations, as dry rocky pastures, swamps, 
and woodlands. The inverted urn-shaped 
flowers, with concealed nectar, are adapted 
to pollination by bees, among which the 
honeybee is common; but in remote and 
obscure localities the wild bees are often 
the chief visitors. 

It was long supposed that blueberries 
could not be domesticated; but Coville has 
recently shown that they will grow in an 




A. Self-pollinated blueberries. B. Cross-pollinated 
blueberries. These two twigs (reduced one-half), bore the 
same number of flowers, and were pollinated at the same 
time by hand. But (A) was pollinated with pollen 
from other flowers on the same bush, and (B) with 
pollen from another bush. The self-pollinated flowers 
produced no ripe fruit, all the berries that set remain- 
ing small and green and later dropping off ; while the 
cross-pollinated flowers produced a full cluster of large 
berries. A plantation made wholly of cuttings from a 
single bush would produce little or no fruit. (From 
Coville.) 

acid soil, and thrive best in one composed 
of peat and sand. In southeastern New 
Jersey there are thousands of acres of 
peaty well-watered pine barrens now un- 
used for agriculture, but which are well 
adapted to growing blueberries. When the 
bushes are grown in rich garden soil they 
are small and dwarfed. Microscopic ex- 
amination shows that there is on the roots 



a minute fungus, without the assistance of 
which the plants appear unable to nourish 
themselves properly. This fungus requires 
an acid soil. 

Blueberry bushes are propagated from 
cuttings rooted by a special method, as they 
do not come true to seed. Care must be 
taken to select only plants which produce 
berries with a good flavor, as some wild 
blueberries are sour or even bitter. A blue- 
berry plantation will come into bearing in 
about four years, and, once well estab- 
lished, will last a lifetime. Blueberries 
have already been produced of the size and 
color of Concord grapes. 

When blueberry flowers were self-polli- 
nated, only a few berries and seeds were 
produced, altho the self-pollinations were 
made very carefully by hand. On some 
bushes not a berry matured. Berries that 
resulted from self-pollination were smaller 
and later in ripening than cross-pollinated 
berries from the same bush. Neither will 
plants raised from cuttings taken from a 
single bush pollinate each other success- 
fully, but the pollen acts the same as tho 
taken from different flowers on one bush, 
Coville says: "From these experiments it 
became clear that if a blueberry-grower 
should set out a whole field with plants 
from cuttings of a single choice bush his 
plantation would be practically fruitless. 
. . . . The best procedure is to make 
up the plantation with alternating rows of 
plants propagated from two choice varie- 
ties. Each will then set fruit in abundance 
thru pollination by the other." In such a 
plantation bees will be not merely benefi- 
cial but indispensable. 

the POLLINATION OF FRUIT TREES. 
THE PLUM. 

The cultivated plums may be divided into 
three groups according to their origin : The 
European, the Japanese, and the American. 
Familiar varieties of European plums 
(Prunus domestica and P. insititia) are the 
Yellow Egg, Bradshaw, Lombard, German 
Prune, Damson, and Green Gage; of the 
Japanese plum (P. tri flora), Burbank, 
Abundance, and Red June; and of Ameri- 
can plums, the wild plum (P. americana), 
the Canada plum (P. nigra), and the Wild- 
goose plum (P.hortulana). All the species, 
according to Waugh, hybridize, the Japan- 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



349 



ese plums crossing easily with the Ameri- 
can, but the European and American va- 
rieties cross with difficulty. It is believed 
that hj'brids of great value will eventually 
be obtained. The plum has also been crossed 
with the peach, cherry, and apricot. 

The pollination of plum trees is a matter 
of great economic importance. "When the 
native plum trees first began to be culti- 
vated in this country," says Waugh, "their 
general self -sterility was a drawback, which 
in many cases proved fatal to their suc- 
cess." Waugh's observations extended over 
five j^ears and included many varieties, es- 
pecially of native species. All the varieties 
of American plums proved self-sterile, with 
the exception of Robinson, and this variety 
is not wholly reliable when self -pollinated. 
The Japanese plums were also found to be 
generally self-sterile. Of the European 
plums a part seem to be self -sterile and a 
part self -fertile, but no satisfactory experi- 
ments are on record. All of the hybrids 
are self -sterile. The experiments made, says 
Waugh, show beyond question that the ma- 
jority of plums do not bear well, and most 
of them set no fruit at all unless two or 
three varieties are mixed in the same or- 
chard. The reason for this is that the blos- 
soms of most varieties do not pollinate 
themselves. In general the varieties in each 
group pollinate each other better than they 
do varieties belonging to another group. 
(Waugh, F. A., "Plums and Plum Culture," 
also Bulletins 53, 67, 89, etc., Vermont Ex- 
periment Station.) 

Self-sterility in plums may be due to 
several causes. The stigmas may mature 
two, three, or even five days before the 
anthers. A part of the pistils may be de- 
fective, but usually there are enough per- 
fect pistils to ensure a full crop. The pol- 
len may be impotent. The stamens are 
shorter or at least do not exceed the pistils 
in length so that pollen cannot fall on the 
stigmas unless the flowers stand sidewise. 
The plums bloom profusely, and the limbs 
of the Japanese varieties are often com- 
pletely wreathed with flowers. In small or- 
chards the air is filled with insects hovering 
about the trees. In a little over an hour 
the writer collected 100 specimens of wild 
bees, mostly species of Andrena and Halic- 
tus, and this was only a small part of the 
number present. Honeybees are also fre- 
quent visitors, both sucking nectar and col- 



lecting pollen. Wild bees man cannot con- 
trol, but he can raise honeybees, and horti- 
culturists recommend that he place them 
in large numbers in the orchards. 

THE POLLINATION OF THE PRUNE. 

Prunes are varieties of plums containing 
so little moisture that they can be dried in 
the sun or in evaporators. Large quanti- 
ties of prunes are produced in France, 
Spain, Germany, and Serbia. In America 
prunes are raised chiefly in California, and, 
to a less extent, in Oregon. The Santa 
Clara Valley in California is largely planted 
with prunes, principally the French variety, 
with smaller interplantings here and there 
of the Sugar and Imperial varieties. No 
other dried fruit is sold in that State in 
such large quantities. During the height 
of the blooming season in the Santa Clara 
Valley a great scarcity of insects, especial- 
ly bees, has been observed. In some locali- 
ties one might work for days among the 
blossoms without seeing a bee. 

To test the value of honeybees as polli- 
nators of prune trees a series of experi- 
ments has been made by the Berkeley 
Agricultural Experiment Station in an or- 
chard of 180 acres on the Sorosis Ranch in 
Santa Clara County. The orchard con- 
tains chiefly French (Agen) prunes, 18 to 
25 years old; but there are four rows of 
Imperial prunes. In the entire orchard in 
1916 there were only six colonies of bees, 
and only 3.6 per cent of the blossoms of 
the French variety set fruit; but in 1917, 
with 115 colonies 13.2 per cent of the 
flowers set fruit. The Imperial variety 
yielded equally well (7.2 per cent) during 
both years, and showed no response to the 
increased number of hives. Other orchard- 
ists obtained equally favorable results. At 
Saratoga 50 hives of bees were placed near 
the edge of a 50-acre prune orchard, and 
the branches were literally broken down 
under the burden of the crop. A cherry 
orchard near by also yielded a large crop. 
In another orchard in Santa Clara there 
were 50 hives, and the trees were loaded to 
their full capacity. At Yuba City 113 
hives were placed in a mixed orchard, and 
all varieties of trees yielded exceptionally 
heavy crops, which was attributed by the 
owner to the agency of bees. Branches of 
trees covered with netting produced no 
fruit. 



350 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



At the Sorosis Ranch a tree of the French 
prune was enclosed alone in a tent of mos- 
quito netting, and all insects excluded. Al- 
tho covered with blossoms, less than one- 
half of one per cent (0.43) of them set 
fruit. Under similar conditions only 0.34 
per cent of the blossoms of a tree of the 
Imperial variety set fruit. The almost total 
failure of these trees to mature fruit shows 
that bees are a necessity for distributing 
the pollen, and that without them the or- 
chards would be largely unproductive and 
unprofitable. 

But when a single tree of the French 
prune was enclosed in a tent with a hive of 
bees, 19,4 per cent of the blossoms set fruit, 
which was some 6 per cent higher than the 
average of the orchard, and shows that the 
bees very thoroly performed the work of 
pollination. This variety is evidently self- 
fertile provided there are insects present to 
distribute the pollen properly. When a 
single Imperial prune tree was enclosed in 
a tent of netting together with a colony of 
bees, 3.02 per cent of the blossoms set 
fruit. As this variety is largely self -ster- 
ile, it was a surprising feature of the ex- 
periment that enough flowers were stimu- 
lated by the numerous visits of the bees to 
produce a satisfactory commercial crop. 
Possibly, it is partially self-fertile occa- 
sionally. This has been observed to be true 
in the case of the apple. According to the 
Oregon Experiment Station: "Some varie- 
ties of the apple have been found to be 
self -sterile three years out of five, and self- 
fertile the other two." When a French 
and an Imperial prune tree were inclosed 
in the same tent together with a colony of 
bees, cross-fertilization was observed to be 
beneficial. In the orchard the results of 
three years showed that French trees close 
to the Imperials yielded better than those 
further away. It would appear from 
these experiments that prune trees are al- 
most wholly dependent upon bees for pol- 
lination. — Hendrickson, A. H., "The Com- 
mon Honeybee as an Agent in Prune Polli- 
nation, Univ. Cal. Pub., Nos. 274 and 279. 

POLLINATION OF THE ALMOND. 

The almond {Prunus Amygdalus) can be 
grown only in limited areas in California, 
as it is injured by frost. While there are 
orchards of 100 acres or more, the average 



orchard consists of about 30 acres. At 
Dunham eight colonies of bees were placed 
in a five-acre orchard. As a result, 9,500 
pounds of almonds were harvested, or near- 
ly a ton per acre, while the other orchards 
in the district averaged only about 300 
pounds per acre, and some even less. The 
orchardists of that locality were so strong- 
ly convinced of the importance of bees that 
200 or more colonies could have been placed 
in groves at once. 

THE POLLINATION OF THE CHERRY. 

The cherries belong to the same genus 
{Prunus) as the plums, and the structure 
of the flower is similar. Cultivated cher- 
ries are popularly divided into two groups, 
the sour cherries and the sweet cherries. 
The sweet, heart, mazzard, bird, Bigarreau 
are varieties of Prunus avium, a species 
found wild in Asia; while the sour, pie, 
and morello cherries are varieties of P. 
cerasus, also an Asiatic species. The two 
groups hybridize. 

The sweet cherry {Prunus avium) is in 
bloom five or six days. The stigma and the 
anthers mature simultaneously; but, as the 
flowers are usually pendulous and the sta- 
mens diverge from the pistil, self-pollina- 
tion rarely occurs. Common visitors are 
honeybees and wild bees, and their value in 
pollination is well illustrated by the follow- 
ing experience. The crop of a sweet-cherry 
orchard in 1912 was 13 tons. To secure 
cross-pollination, the owner in 1913 cut 
branches from seedling cherry trees at 
blooming time and placed them in buckets 
of water thruout his orchard. In addition, 
several colonies of bees were placed in the 
orchard. With no better season and with 
the trees only one year older, the crop was 
39 tons. 

Among the orchard trees of Oregon the 
cherry ranks fourth in importance, being 
surpassed only by the apple, prune, and 
pear in the order named. A poor cherry 
crop affects the income of many persons. 
The rapid increase of the area planted with 
cherries has been followed by complaints 
that in spite of the heavy bloom there was 
not sufficient fruit to be profitable. In 
some instances the new orchards have never 
paid expenses, while old orchards have be- 
come less productive. Altho sorely per- 
plexed by these conditions the cherry-grow- 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



351 



ers, unfamiliar with the mutual relations of 
flowers and insects, have been slow to be- 
lieve that lack of proper cross-pollination 
is the chief cause of the failure of their 
trees to set fruit. But the cherry orchards 
of a decade ago were of small size and 
mixed varieties ; while recently orchards of 
10 to 100 acres have been planted consist- 
ing wholly of one or more of the standard 
varieties. It has been commonly recognized 
that rain, fog, temperature, the condition 
of the soil, and the age of the trees were 
influential factors; but few in the absence 



sterile; that is, each of these varieties is 
sterile to the pollen of the other two varie- 
ties as well as to its own pollen. Napoleon 
where planted in solid blocks yielded little 
fruit altho interplanted with Lambert and 
Bing. But each of these three varieties is ef- 
fectively pollinated by Black Republican, 
Tartarian, and Waterhouse. (Gardner, V. 
R., "The Pollination of the Sweet Cherry." 
Oregon Experiment Station, Bulletin 116, 
1913.) 

" The importance of honeybees as agents 
in cross-pollination," says Gardner, "can- 



i 


1^ 




^r ^ J^^H^ 




^^^^^OT 



1, Bing sweet cherry crossed by Napoleon yields no 
fruit. — {After Gardner.) 

of definite information have considered the 
possibility of self-sterility. 

In order to determine the cause and rem- 
edy these failures Gardner in 1911-13 in- 
vestigated the pollination of the sweet cher- 
ries. Thousands of flowers were pollinated 
with their own pollen and insects excluded 
by bagging. All of the 16 varieties tested 
proved self-sterile. The self-sterility was 
in no case due to the inability of the pollen 
to germinate, for in the case of each of the 
varieties tested the pollen was potent in 
producing fruit with some other variety. 
Ninety per cent of the commercial plant- 
ings consist of the varieties Napoleon, Lam- 
bert, and Bing, all three of which are inter- 




2, Average cluster of Bing crossed by Willamette.— 
{After Gardner.) 

not be over-emphasized." This is clearly 
shown also by the experience of cherry- 
growers in California. For several years 
the cherry crop of Vaca Valley, in Solano 
County, Cal., had not been good, altho it 
had formerly been quite sure. It was rec- 
ollected that formerly, when the cherry 
crops were good, wild bees were very plen- 
tiful in the valley, and since most of the 
bees had disappeared it was thought that 
perhaps the lack of fruit might be due to 
imperfect pollination. To test the matter 
the Messrs. Bassford, therefore, placed sev- 
eral hives of bees in their orchard in 1890. 
The result was striking, for the Bassford 
orchard bore a good crop of cherries ; while 



352 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



other growers in the valley who had no bees 
found their crops entire or partial failures. 
In 1891 there were some 65 hives in the 
Bassford orchard, and H. A. Bassford 
wrote to the Entomologist: "Our crop was 
good this season, and we attribute it to the 
bees. Since we have been keeping bees our 
cherry crop has been much larger than for- 
merly, while those orchards nearest us, five 
miles from here, where no bees are kept, 
have produced but light crops." 

The flowers of the sour cherry (P. Cera- 
sus) closely resemble those of the sweet 
cherry, but the petals are flatter and the 
stigma matures before the anthers. Self- 
pollination is thus at first impossible. The 
position of the stamens and the opening of 
the anthers outwardly also tends to prevent 
automatic self-pollination. Not a single 
fruit set when insects were excluded from 
cherries, says the Journal of the Board of 
Agriculture, England. Neither did any fruit 
mature when the flowers were pollinated 
with their own pollen, but all the flowers 
pollinated from another variety set fruit. 
So necessary are the honeybees for cherry 
orchards that the growers have imported in 
one case a carload of bees from the South. 

A very interesting case came under the 
observation of the author of this book. He 
was asked to put bees in a cherry orchard 
about ten miles from his home town. 
There were ten acres of trees, and, 
therefore, there were ten colonies put in the 
orchard. The season was very cold and 
backward at the time the trees came into 
bloom. There was only an hour or two that 
the sun shone and when it was warm enough 
for the bees to fly. At the close of the sea- 
son, only those trees near the hives of bees 
yielded cherries in abundance, while those 
remote from the bees had very few or no 
cherries at all. It was very noticeable 
that the yield of cherries on the trees 
was almost in direct ratio to the dis- 
tance of the trees from the bees. It was so 
noticeable, in fact, that the owner of the 
orchard sent for the author to come down 
and see" for himself. 

THE POLLINATION OF THE PEACH. 

The peach also belongs to the genus 
Prunus (P. Persiea). The rose-red flowers 
appear in early spring before the leaves. 
Nector is secreted within a cup-shaped re- 
ceptacle and attracts both honeybees and 



wild bees. One cold rainy spring a colonj' 
of honeybees was placed in the center of a 
small block of peach trees so that the bees 
could easily visit the flowers. The result 
was that this orchard set all the peaches the 
trees could carry thru the following dry 
season; while other peach orchards, which 
bloomed equally well, but were without bees, 
failed to set a crop (20th An. Rep. Mass. 
Fruit-growers' Assoc, 1914, p. 52). Ac- 
cording to Fletcher, however, 2939 Gold 
Drop peach blossoms showed no benefit to 
this variet}' when cross-pollinated with pol- 
len from three other varieties. 

THE POLLINATION OF THE PEAE. 

The pollination of pear trees has been 
studied by Waite who was the first in 
America to show that many varieties of 
orchard trees are self -sterile. In his earlier 
experiments clusters of buds were enclosed 
in bags of paper or cheesecloth which were 
not removed until the blooming period was 
over; but in his later experiments the bags 
were opened and the anthers carefully re- 
moved and the flowers hand-pollinated. 
There were employed in these experiments 
144 trees belonging to 38 varieties. More 
than one-half of these varieties when self- 
pollinated proved to be wholly or nearly 
self -sterile and produced little or no fruit. 
Among the wholly or nearly self-sterile 
varieties were Anjou, Bartlett, Clapp's 
Favorite, Howell, Lawrence, and Winter 
Nelis ; self -fertile varieties were Angouleme, 
Bosc, Buffum, and Flemish Beauty. 

A brief summary of Waite's conclusions 
is as follows : 

Pollen from another tree of the same 
variety is no more effective than pollen 
from the same tree. 

The pollen of a self -sterile variety may 
be perfectly effective when applied to an- 
other variety. 

Even in those varieties which can be 
self -fertilized the pollen of another variety 
is prepotent, and when insects are not 
excluded most of the fruit seems to be the 
result of crossing. 

Self -fertilized pears contain small vesti- 
gial seeds and are smaller and less perfect 
than those produced by crossing. 

The ineffectiveness of the pollen in self- 
sterile varieties is due to no defect in the 
pollen. 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



353 




Enlarged section of the flower of a Bartlctt pear ; .*/*, .■sepal, the five sepals form the calyx or cup ; p, petal, 
the five petals form the corolla or crown ; the stamens consist of two parts, f, the filament or thread-like stem, 
and a, the anther, composed of two sacs which contain the pollen; the pistils consist of three parts, ov, the 
ovary, st, the style, and s, the stigma ; d, the disc in which the nectar is secreted. Pollination is the transfer of 
the pollen to the rough sticky surface of the stigma. The pollen grains send out slender tubes, which pass down 
thru the style to the G\-ules. From the end of a tube a sperm cell passes into an ovule and unites with an egg 
cell — this is fertilization. — (After Waite.) 



In 1892 Waite visited the large pear 
orchard of the Old Dominion Fruit Com- 
pany near Scotland on the James River. 
The orchard consisted originally of about 
22,000 standard Bartlett pear trees. It had 
been planted some 18 years previously, but 
had never borne a fuU crop. The maximum 
crop was three-fifths of a peck per tree, 
while a standard Bartlett tree 12 years old 
should easily yield five times that amount. 
In 1892 the crop was less than 100 boxes of 
three pecks each. The trees in the orchard 
had always bloomed heavily, and were every 
year snowy white with blossoms. It was 
clearly indicated that something was wi'ong. 
In three places in the orchard, where the 
trees had died, two Clapp's Favorite and a 
Bufifum tree had been planted by mistake, 
and in their vicinity the Bartletts fruited 
heavily. A small orchard containing a 
12 



variety of trees had been very productive, 
and the Bartletts near this orchard also 
bore well. Waite determined the difficulty 
in the following way: After removing the 
stamens from a number of unopened buds 
he pollinated a part of them with pollen 
from Bartlett trees and a part with pollen 
from different varieties, and then enclosed 
them in paper bags. In the orchard at 
large, a week after the petals had fallen, 
the young pears all dropped off. Most of 
the trees were absolutely barren: Of the 
flowers enclosed in bags, not one pollinated 
with Bartlett pollen had set fruit, while a 
large proportion of the crosses with other 
varieties produced pears. As there were a 
sufficient number of insects to carry the 
pollen, it is evident that, had there been 
other varieties of pears scattered thru the 
great orchard, the crop would not have 



354 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



been a failure. The Bartlett pear is large- 
ly self-sterile.— Waite, M. B., "The PoUi- 
nation of Pear Flowers," Div. Veg. Path. 
Bull. No. 5, 1895; also Yearbook Dep. 
Agr., 1898. 

A pear flower remains in bloom seven or 
eight days. There are 20 stamens in four 
cycles and five pistils. The stigmas mature 
two or three days before the anthers, at 
which stage self-pollination is impossible. 
In the bud the stamens are bent inward, 
but gradually bend backward after the 
flower opens, the anthers on the outer row 
opening first. Self-pollination may occur 
by the styles finally bending backward un- 
til the stigmas touch the anthers, or in the 
case of fiowers standing sidewise by the 
pollen falling on the stigmas. The quan- 
tity of nectar secreted within the concave 
receptacle is greatly affected by the weath- 
er; but sometimes it collects in large drops 
which overflow and fall to the ground. A 
great variety of insects, as honeybees, wild 
bees, wasps, flies, and beetles visit the flow- 
ers. Waite collected 50 and Mueller 30 
species. At Washington, D. C, Rochester, 
N. Y., and the Connecticut Experiment 
Station, the ground bees belonging to the 
genera Atidrena and Halictus were found 
to outnumber all other insects. The writer 
observed a medium-sized pear tree in full 
bloom for an hour and a quarter, but dur- 
ing this time saw no insects except honey- 
bees, w^hich were very abundant. A cluster 
of seven blossoms received eight visits in a 
quarter of an hour ; and two other clusters 
consisting of 16 flowers received 16 visits. 
This was an average of a little more than 
four visits to each flower on the tree per 
hour. 

The great service rendered by insects in 
the pollination of pear blossoms is well il- 
lustrated by the experiments of V. H. Lowe 
at the Geneva Experiment Station, New 
York, in 1889. A number of small pear 
trees were covered with a hood of sheeting 
which came down over the tree like a bag, 
and was tied at the lower end around the 
trunk of the tree. On all the trees so cov- 
ered there was a large number of buds, and 
all the conditions were favorable for a 
good crop, except that the visits of insects 
were entirely prevented. As a result on the 
whole lot of trees covered there was just 
one fruit. On another set of trees of the 
same sort and size, not covered, there were 



145 pears. In the case of another tree a 
large limb was enclosed in a bag with simi- 
lar results. 

Extensive experiments on the pollination 
of Bartlett and Kieffer pears have also 
been made by Fletcher. Thirty thousand 
and eighty-one Bartlett blossoms, carefully 
deprived of their anthers and pollinated 
with Bartlett pollen, produced only six 
small fruits as compared with 763 fruits 
produced by 7170 Bartlett flowers polli- 
nated with Lawrence, Anjou, Dutchess, and 
Kieffer. Two large 18-year-old Bartlett pear 
trees were completely covered, just before 
the blossoms opened, with muslin sheeting 
in such a way that all insect visitors were 
excluded; but two limbs on each tree were 
permitted to protrude beyond the sheeting 
and were open to insect visits. These two 
limbs were loaded with fruit; while the 
flowers under the sheeting, which were de- 
pendent on self-pollination, produced only 
10 small pears. One thousand two hundred 
and sixty-eight Kieffer pear blossoms pol- 
linated with pollen of the same variety 
produced only Ave pears ; while 2363 Kief- 
fer blossoms pollinated with Bartlett pol- 
len produced 446 pears. Kieffer is, 
therefore, almost completely self-sterile 
(Fletcher, S. W., "Pollination of Bartlett 
and Kieffer Pears," An. Rep. Va. Poly, 
Inst. Agr. Exp. Sta., 1909-10). As in the 
case of the other fruits the importance of 
honeybees, which can be imported, is clear- 
ly apparent. 

THE POLLINATION OF THE APPLE. 

The apple is the most important of all 
fruits, and the value of the crop annually 
in the United States is at least $100,000,000. 
Every orchardist should know what varie- 
ties are self-sterile and how they can be 
properly pollinated. Of 87 varieties of 
apples tested by Lewis and Vincent in Ore- 
gon 59 were found to be self-sterile; 15 
were self-fertile but gave better results 
when pollinated by some other variety ; and 
13 were partially self -sterile.* Among the 
self -sterile varieties were Bellflower, Grav- 
enstein, King, Rhode Island, Greening, Tol- 
man Sweet, Wealthy, and Winesap ; among 
the self -fertile were Baldwin, Oldenburg, 



* The question whether a variety is sterile to its 
own pollen varies according to locality. For example, 
the bellflowers in the Pejario Valley, Calif., are self- 
fertile; elsewhere they appear to be self-sterile. 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



355 




1, Self-pollinated Newtown apples, producing at least one-third of the apples undersized. 2, Newtown apples 
pollinated by Grimes Golden; no small apples. — (After Lewis and Vincent.) 

Shiawassee, Washington, and Yellow New- effects of self and cross pollination. 



ton; partially self -fertile were Ben Davis, 
Stark, Spitzenburg, and Yellow Transpar- 
ent. The experiments showed that in the 
majority of cases cross-pollination is a ne- 
cessity to ensure a profitable crop. Cross- 
ing always gave better results than self- 
pollination, and is the rule, while self- 
pollination is the exception. Cross-polli- 
nated trees gave larger and finer fruit with 
well-developed seeds; while self -pollinated 
trees gave smaller fruit with the seed usu- 
ally wanting or abortive, as is shown in the 
following table : 



E";^ J 



Oregon Exp. Station, 1908. 



Pollinated 
by Self 
by Esopus 
by Grimes 



by Self 

by Newtown 

by Baldwin 



Newtown Apple 

Av. wt. fruit 

73 grains 
147 grams 
173 grams 

Esopus Apple 

100 grams 
126 grams 
157 grams 



Av. wt. seeds 
.05 grams 
.66 grams 
.60 grams 



.13 grams 
.65 grams 
.71 grams 




1, Keswick Codlin apple cross-pollinated ; 2 and 3, 
self-pollinated apples. — (After Lewis and Vincent.) 



self-pollinated. Notice the absence of seeds in the 



356 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



Waite found that hand-crossed Baldwins 
were highly colored, well-niatuied, and con- 
tained many seeds j while the self -fertilized 
fruit was seedless, only slightly colored, 
and only one-quarter to two-thirds of the 
regular size. 

The Journal of the Board of Agriculture, 
England, says that out of 63 varieties of 
apples on which unopened blossoms were 
enclosed and left untouched the only one 
that matured fruit was Irish Peach. Of 
those enclosed and pollinated with their 
own pollen by brush, only a few matured 
fruit. Others failed to yield any fruit 
when pollinated with pollen of the same 
variety. On the other hand, of the 64 
crosses made, 43 were successful. In Illi- 
nois there were formerly many large or- 




The result of imperfect pollination. Note the shriv- 
eled condition of the upper seed and the depression in 
the apple on that side. 

chards of 40 to 80 acres of a single variety 
which seldom or never bore large crops; 
while mixed orchards in the vicinity often 
gave bumper yields (An. Rep, Mass. F. G. 
Assoc, 1914, p. 47). But under certain 
circumstances a single variety planted in 
large blocks has been known, according to 
Waite, to yield satisfactorily, as the Ben 
Davis at the Olden Fruit Farm in Missouri. 
In Oregon it has been the practice to plant 
two rows of one variety, then two rows of 
the variety used as a pollinator, followed 
by two rows of a third variety. Varieties 
must be selected, of course, that bloom at 
the same time. 

The flowers of the apple are larger than 
those of the pear, partially rose-colored and 
pleasantly scented, especially in the even- 



ing, when they are attractive to moths. The 
stigmas mature two days before the anthers. 
The stamens stand erect, so covering the 
nectary that the nectar is not as easily ac- 
cessible as that of the pear. Bumblebees, 
which seldom visit pear flowers, are com- 
mon on apple bloom. At the Connecticut 
Experiment Station 52 insects were listed 
as visitors, among which were 26 species of 
bees. 

It is a matter of common observation 
that where an apiary is located near an ap- 
ple orchard honeybees are frequent visitors 
to the bloom, and often appear to be the 
only insects present. Waite observed that 
in large orchards covered with blossoms 
there were not sufficient bees to pollinate 
the trees; and this is no doubt often the 
case in sections where apple-growing is the 
principal industry. The president of the 
Vermont Horticultural Society found on 
examination that in orchards which failed 
to produce abundantly there were no bees 
or too few to be of much use. Wherever 
there were large apiaries there was in every 
instance a large apple crop (Gleanings in 
Bee Culture, March 15, 1912) . "Plant mixed 
orchards," «ays Waite, "or at least avoid 
planting solid blocks of one variety. Be 
sure that there are sufficient bees in the 
neighborhood to pollinate the blossoms 
properly." A large fruit-grower in Cal- 
ifornia declares : " Bees and fruit go to- 
gether. I can't raise fruit without bees." 
(Waite, M. B., " Cross-pollination of Ap- 
ples," Year-book Dept. Agr., 1898, Lewis, 
C. I., and Vincent, C. C, " Pollination of 
the Apple," Oregon Exp. Sta., Bull. No. 
104, 1909.) 

THE POLLINATIOISr OF THE QUINCE. 

The common quince {Pyrus Cydonia) has 
solitary flowers, which are larger and bloom 
later than those of the apple or pear. The 
stigmas mature before the anthers, but self- 
pollination occurs regularly. The flowers 
yield nectar, and 30 species of insects have 
been enumerated by the Connecticut Ex- 
periment Station as visitors. 

Experiments in crossing were made by 
Waite at Rochester, N. Y., in 1892-93. 
Pollen from Orange, Rea, Champion, and 
Meach were used, and the flowers (from 
which the anthers had been removed) were 
enclosed in paper and cheesecloth bags. 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



357 



Both the crossed and self -pollinated flowers 
produced a fairly good percentage of fruit 
and practically an equal quantity. The 
experiments showed no striking benefits 
from crossing as did those with the apple 
and pear. (Waite, M. B., Yearbook of 
Dept. Agr., 1898, p. 178.) 

THE POLLINATION OF THE ORANGE. 

Numerous crosses have been made by the 
Department of Agriculture between the 
common orange and other species for the 
purpose of obtaining hardy and improved 
varieties with promising results. The white 
flowers of the orange secrete nectar so 
freely that at times it drips upon the foli- 
age and grass beneath the trees. Indeed, 
after a day of foggy or bad weather there 
will be such an accumulation of nectar that 
the horses as they drag the cultivators be- 
tween the trees will be smeared with it. 
One extensive grower told the author that 
unless there are plenty of bees to take up 
the nectar as fast as it is secreted that not 
only the horses but their drivers will be 
smeared with nectar as they pass down be- 
tween the rows. This same grower stated 
that when the grove is properly irrigated 
it would be possible to put all the way 
from 500 to 800 colonies in one location. 
The yield of honey from the orange groves 
of California is so great that thousands 
upon thousands of colonies have been moved 
from the sage regions into or near the or- 
ange groves of Southern California. 

One would naturally suppose that when 
nectar is secreted so abundantly as this, 
that Nature has a purpose and that pur- 
pose is to bring about thoro pollination. 
Yet while many of the orchards grow 
seedless or navel oranges, the fact stands 
out just the same that nectar is secreted 
very abundantly from the trees yielding 
that kind of fruit. 

At the time of this wi'iting no definite 
experiments have been conducted showing 
how much the bees are able to increase the 
size, quality and number of oranges to the 
tree, but some growers are very emphatic in 
the statement that they see a marked dif- 
ference in the yield per acre when there 
are plenty of bees. Other growers claim 
that they can see no difference. 

In the lemon groves most of the growers 
want bees in or near the orchards. Some 



of the beekeepers, however, feel that the 
nectar is hard on the bees, for as the lemon 
trees bloom during the winter it is sup- 
posed that many bees going out to get 
the nectar get chilled and never get back. 

There is every reason to believe that in 
the orange, grape fruit, and lemon groves 
of California the growers themselves will 
do just as they are doing in Florida, ask 
to have bees put in or near their places. 

Formerly the orange-growers of Florida 
opposed the placing of colonies of honey- 
bees in the groves, believing that they in- 
jured the flowers and fruit. Beekeepers 
were obliged to pay for this privilege. But 
with a better understanding of the value of 
bees in pollination their presence is now 
recognized as desirable. Around Braden- 
to^vn the citrus men are actually offering 
bee-yard sites free of rent, and in many in- 
stances even buy bees to place among the 
trees. The Manatee Fruit Company of Pal- 
metto has established three bee-yards in 
connection with their groves and wish for 
more. They declare the nearer the bees to 
the groves, the larger the quantity of fruit 
and the better the quality. An orange- 
grower of Terra Cea for six years or more 
has had 40 colonies of bees m his grove and 
every year during this time has had a fine 
crop of fruit, which has attracted wide at- 
tention. The marked increase in the quan- 
tity and quality of the oranges raised around 
DeLand is largely attributed to the greater 
number of bees kept near the groves. 
Twenty years ago there were not ten hives 
and now there are hundreds. There should 
be at least five hives to the acre. (Bald- 
win, E. G., The DeLand Neics, Dec. 23, 
1914.) 

CONCLUSIONS. 
(1) 

Many nut trees, cereals, and a few fruit 
trees are pollinated by the wind; but the 
majority of berry and larger fruit plants 
in North America are either pollinated by 
insects or are self -pollinated. The few pol- 
len grains distributed by the wind are of no 
importance. This is clearly shown both by 
the structure of the flowers and by repeated 
experiments. A noteworthy example is given 
in the bulletin of the Oregon Experiment 
Station for 1909. From 1500 blossoms on 
a seven-year-old apple tree all the petals 



358 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



were removed in order that they might not 
attract insects. The result was that only 
eight bees were seen to visit the flowers, 
while another tree about 20 feet away, 
which bloomed profusely, received 40 visits 
from bees in half an hour. The stamens 
were also removed to prevent self-pollina- 
tion. Only five flowers set fruit. Evident- 
ly wind did not pollinate a blossom. 



(2) 



Self-sterility is very common among cul- 
tivated fruits. It is partly due to the sep- 
aration of the stamens and pistils in differ- 
ent flowers and partly to the impotency or 
ineffectiveness of the pollen in self-pollina- 
tion. Hybrids, as among the grapes, are 
usually self -sterile. A variety may be ster- 
ile to its own pollen and also to the pollen 
of another variety ; e. g., the Napoleon and 
Bing sweet cherries are self-sterile and 
mutually inter-stei'ile. A knowledge of 
self-sterility is, therefore, of the greatest 
importance in fruit-growing. 



(3) 



Among cultivated fruits cross-pollination 
by insects usually prevails, even among 
species possessing the power of self-fertili- 
zation. Pollen from another variety is 
generally prepotent over pollen from the 
same variety. Self-pollination in the early 
stages of most fruit blossoms is prevented 
by the stigmas and anthers maturing at dif- 
ferent times (dichogamy), also by their rel- 
ative position. Fruits resulting from cross- 
pollination are usually larger, better 
formed, and contain fully developed seeds. 



(4) 



In the absence of cross-pollination many 
fruit blossoms may be self-pollinated by 
the stigmas at the close of the blooming 
period, bending backward until they touch 
the anthers. According to Waite self -pol- 
linated and cross-pollinated flowers of the 
quince were equally productive, but this 
statement may be modified by further ob- 
servation. Fruits fi-om self -pollinated and 
self -fertilized flowers are usually smaller, 
less perfect, and contain only vestiges of 
seeds. Automatic self-pollination is as ef- 
fective as self-pollination by hand. At the 



Oregon Experiment Station two sets of 
flower buds of different varieties of apples 
were enclosed in bags. One lot was left 
untouched. The bags of the other lot were 
opened, the flowers pollinated by hand, and 
the bags then replaced. Both lots gave 
practically the same results. 



(5) 



Beetles, flies, butterflies, moths, sawflies, 
wasps, and bees are all useful agents in 
pollination; but sometimes certain beetles 
and flies do more harm than good. Ants 
are invariably hurtful. The bees and wasps 
are the most beneficial, next come the flies, 
followed by the butterflies and moths, while 
the beetles stand last. 



(6) 



In wild or thinly settled regions and in 
small orchards the wild bees are very bene- 
ficial; and their visits to plums, cherries, 
blackberries, and in some instances other 
fruits greatly outnumber those of the 
honeybees. But many of the wild bees fly 
only from 30 to 90 days ; a part are vernal 
and a part autumnal; and as they build 
their burrows largely in the ground they 
are destroyed or driven away by intensive 
culture. They cannot, therefore, be relied 
upon in extensive fruit plantations for pol- 
lination. 



(7) 



The pollination of cultivated fruits can 
be controlled with certainty only by the aid 
of honeybees. This has been repeatedly 
pointed out in the preceding pages. It is 
confirmed by the practical experience of 
hundreds of fruit-growers. As these are 
essentially similar and all agree that honey- 
bees are a necessity, it will be sufficient to 
give a few examples. In a remarkable 
statement of Albert Repp of Repp Broth- 
ers, owners of an 800-acre fruit farm at 
Gloucester, N. J., he says: 

"I could not do without bees. I never 
take a pound of their honey. All I want 
them to do is to pollinate the blossoms. 
I'd as soon think of managing this orchard 
without a single spray-pump as to be with- 
out bees. I've got 50 colonies now, and 
am building up the apiary each year." 



FRUIT BLOSSOMS 



359 



About nine miles north of the plant 
where this work is published is a 50-acre 
apple orchard operated by J. L. Van Rens- 
selaer. This orchard for a number of years 
had been neglected in that it had not been 
sprayed nor pruned. Mr. Van Rensselaer 
finally leased it, sprayed and pruned the 
trees, and asked the publishers to put some 
bees on the place, which was done. The 
first year, 16,000 bushels of perfect apples 
were harvested, when, prior to that, scarce- 
ly 500 bushels were obtained. Every year 
since that, from 10,000 to 15,000 bushels 
have been secured. Mr. Van Rensselaer 
enthusiastically says the bees play a very 
important part in securing these results. 

The apple-growers of the country are 
waking up to the fact that there must be 
bees in the orchards; and beekeepers are 
now having a considerable demand from 
the large fruit-growers for bees for this 
purpose. 

The editors of the various fruit journals, 
among them The Fruit-grower, of Roches- 
ter, N. Y., and Better Fruit, Hood River, 
Ore., have a number of times published 
strong editorials in favor of putting bees 
in orchards. Among the leading agricul- 
tural journals is the Rural Neiv-Yorker, 
whose editor makes the following state- 
ment : " I have seen the certain results of 
the good work of the honeybee in a neigh- 
bor's orchard. Those bees break the trees 
down just as truly as tho they climbed on 
the trees by the million and pulled on 
them. The appearance of those trees after 
a few years of beekeeping would have con- 
vinced anj^ fair-minded man that our little 
buzzing friends are true partners of the 
fruit-grower.'' 



It is the unanimous opinion of all pro- 
gressive fruit-growers that honeybees and 
fruit culture are inseparable. 



(8) 



Besides pollination the fruit crop is in- 
fluenced by the weather, the temperature, 
the condition of the soil, and the age of the 
trees. Insect pests, fungous growths, dis- 
eases, and spraying the trees while in bloom, 
are also injurious. Cold rainy weather, by 
preventing the flight of insects, interferes 
with the proper pollination of the blossoms. 

The manufacturer of chemicals for spray- 
ing and spraying outfits usually tells not 
only how to mix the chemicals for the 
sprays, but how to apply them. Only one, 
so far as the author knows, advocates spray- 
ing when the trees are in bloom. The reader 
will, of course, patronize the others, who 
follow the recommendations of experiment 
stations to spray before and after the pet- 
als have fallen. 

The suggestion has been made that the 
difficulty can be overcome by making a 
spraying solution that will be repellent to 
insects. It is recommended to add sulphur 
(which is said to be repellent to insects) to 
the arsenate of lead or copper sulphate. 
Full directions for doing this can be se- 
cured from experiment stations; but it is 
not proved that sulphur is repellent to 
bees when there is a dearth of honey. The 
author believes that they would still help 
themselves to the poisonous nectar in the 
blossoms. If so, it behooves the fruit- 
growers for their own interests to spray 
only before the blossoms open and after 
the petals fall. 



GALLBERRY {Ilex glabra (L.) A. Gray) . 
— Also known as inkberry and evergreen 
winterberry. The common gallberry is one 
of the best honey plants in the United 
States. It grows in sandy soil near the 
coast from Massachusetts to Georgia and 
Florida and westward to Louisiana. In 
southern Georg'ia it covers hundreds of 



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Common gallberry (Ilex glabra). 

acres of the sandj' coastal plain, but it will 
not flourish in a limestone soil. The gall- 
berry is an evergreen shrub, with shining 
dark-green small obovate leaves. It multi- 



The blooining period lasts for about a 
month beginning with May and closing 
early in June. The small flowers, in a 
multitude of little clusters, are produced in 
the greatest profusion, and 3000 have been 
counted on a bush with a stem only half an 
inch in diameter. Innumerable sprays of 
white bloom, variegated with green leaves. 




Swamp gallberry (Ilex lucida). 

toss and wave in the wind like a great 
foam-crested sea. Except in one of the vast 
northern apple orchards in June no more 
attractive sight can be found. The flowers 



plies both by offshoots and from seed, and are largely dioecious; i. e., a part of the 



is rapidly extending over the new land 
from which the pine forest has been recent- 
ly cleared. The diffusely branched bushes 
form dense thickets which withstand the 
encroachments of all other plant growths 
and can be passed thru with difficulty. 



bushes produce chiefly staminate and a part 
mostly pistillate flowers; and they are, 
therefore, dependent on insects for pollina- 
tion. The sterile flowers are in clusters of 
three to six, while the fertile are solitary. 
The bushes begin to bloom the second year. 



GLUCOSE 



361 



In Georgia the gallberry is the most im- 
portant and common honey plant. We have 
never failed, says J. J. Wilder, to get a 
surplus from it even during the most un- 
favorable weather conditions. In over half 
a century there is no record of its ever once 
disappointing the beekeeper. The largest 
surplus that has been obtained from a sin- 
gle colony is 147 pounds. During the honey 
flow the bees disregard all other bloom, 
working for pollen until about eight o'clock 
in the morning, when the flow begins and 
continues for the remainder of the day. 
The honey is light amber, very heavy, and 
very mild and pleasant in flavor. When it 
is pure and well ripened it has never been 
known to granulate. Altho the honey is 
produced by the hundred tons it is rarely 
shipped north, as it is impossible to fill the 
demand for it in the Southern markets. 
Wilder declares that he has never known a 
gallberry section to be overstocked, and in 
one location 362 colonies did nearly as well 
as 100. In 1907 good gallberry locations in 
Georgia were, in his opinion, nearly num- 
berless, and large quantities of this fine 
honey were annually lost for want of bees 
to collect it. In North Carolina many bee- 
keepers give the gallberry as one of the 
leading honey-yielders in the eastern part 
of the State. 

The berries (drupes) are shining black, 
and are sometimes used for dyeing wool or 
in making a substitute for ink, whence the 
name inkberry. They are also called winter- 
berry because they remain on the bushes in 
great numbers during the winter and afford 
a never-failing food supply for birds. 

Swamp gallberry {Ilex lucida (Ait.) T. 
& G.). — This species is also an evergreen 
shrub, resembling the common gallberry in 
leaf, flower, and fruit; but it is a little 
larger, blooms a little earlier, and grows 
in swamps. It extends from Virginia to 
Florida and Louisiana. The honey is also 
very similar to that of I. glabra, but, ac- 
cording to Livingston, is milder. (A syn- 
onym is I. coriacea.) 

GLOVES FOR HANDLING BEES.— 

Altho a good many apiarists work with bare 
hands and bare wrists, there are a few who 
prefer to use gloves with long wrists, and 
quite a large number who use them with 
fingers and thumbs cut off. If the bees are 
hybrids, and extracting is carried on during 



the robbing season, it is a great convenience 
to use something that protects the back of 
the hands and wrists, leaving the fingers 
bare, so that, for all practical purposes of 
manipulation, one can work as well with 
protectors as without. 

Women beekeepers and men who are at 
all timid, and a very small number who 
seem to be seriously affected by even one 
sting, might use gloves to great advan- 
tage. 

A very good glove for working among 
bees is one made of kid or dog skin. While 
the sting of a bee will often puncture the 




Bee gloves. 

former, one does not get much more than 
just the prick of the sting. By removing 
the glove, the sting is removed automati- 
cally. 

Then there is a kind of glove, shown in 
the illustration, made of heavy drilling 
soaked in linseed oil or white-lead paint, 
made specially for the purpose. Some pre- 
fer to use them plain or uncoated, but where 
the bees are especially cross, the fabric will 
need to be further reinforced with paint or 
linseed oil. After one becomes more famil- 
iar with handling bees, he can cut off the 
finger tips so that the fingers themselves 
come actually in contact with the frames. 
One can work better when he can feel as 
well as see what he is doing. 

For further particulars regarding bee- 
dress, see Veils. 

GLUCOSE.— This name is applied to the 
thick viscous liquid obtained by the concen- 
tration of a solution coming from the in- 
complete hydrolysis of starch. The word 
is misapplied by a great many, especially 
in the sugar-cane belt, for the reducing 
sugars present in the cane. From a purely 
chemical side, glucose means the sugar dex- 
trose, so with these various applications of 
the word some little confusion exists. In 
the commercial world, however, the first is 



362 



GLUCOSE 



the accepted meaning of the word. In the 
United States the source of glucose is corn 
starch, with a little made from potato 
starch, but in Germany all is made from 
potato starch. 

Its manufacture consists in the heating 
of the freed starch with water and a small 
percentage of hydrochloric acid under pres- 
sure. The process is carefully conducted 
and stopped at the proper point of hydro- 
lysis. The liquid is neutralized with soda 
and concentrated to the desired consistency, 
which is a liquid of about 15 to 20 per cent 
water. Formerly sulphuric acid was the 
acid used for conversion ; but on account of 
its carrying arsenic its use was stopped. 
The solids of commercial glucose consist of 
about one-third dextrose and two-thirds 
dextrin. The dextrins present in commer- 
cial glucose are of a different character 
from those present in floral honey or 
honeydew, and by this property its pres- 
ence in honey can be easily detected. 

By increasing the amount of acid, and 
also lengthening the time of heating, prod- 
ucts are made which contain more dextrose 
and less dextrin. These are known com- 
mercially as "70," ''80," and "anhydrous 
starch sugar." They are, for the most 
part, solid. Their use in honey adultera- 
tion is very rare, and, if used, their detec- 
tion is comparatively easy for a trained 
chemist. 

Commercial glucose is sometimes known 
as corn syrup. 

The ease with which commercial glucose 
can be detected when mixed with honey has 
led to its disuse except in mixtures so la- 
beled. See Adulteration of Honey. 

Analysis of American commercial glucose 
according to Bryan, published in the Jour- 
nal of the Franklin Institute for October, 
1911, shows the following average, maxi- 
mum and minimum figures : 

Average Maximum Minimum 
Water 16.47% 20.00% 11.95% 

Dextrose 35.51 39.56 30.21 

Mineral Matter .52 .91 .24 

Undetermined 47.50 52.49 40.46 

Direct Polarizations: 

At 20° 0. +173.9 +184.3 +155.8 

At 87*0. +166.0 +176.6 +150.0 



Invert Polarizations: 




At20°C. +173.1 
At87''C. +163.6 


+183.2 +155.6 
+174.0 +146.4 



The undetermined matter, so reported, is 
composed of dextrose and partially con- 
verted starch products. 

The percentage of dextrose given is really 
the percentage of reducing (of Fehling solu- 
tion) bodies calculated as dextrose. It may 
contain the sugar maltose and some of the 
reducible dextrin. 

German glucose, according to Herzfeld, 
published in the above article, shows the 
following : 

Average Maximum Minimum 
Water 19.7%, 20.4% 18.0% 

Dextrose 40.7 47.4 36.5 

Mineral Matter .267 .404 .179 

Polarization : 

Direct at 20° +161.6 +181.2 +149.6 

Invert at 20° +154.7 +161.2 +138.4 

Starch sugars show the following compo- 
sition according to Bryan (also given in 
same paper). 

Crystalline sugars (often referred to as 
Anhydrous Sugar) : 

Average Maximum Minimum 
Water 7.42% 9.94% 5.04% 

Dextrose 86.33 90.70 81.52 

Dextrin .39 .54 .16 

Mineral Matter .73 1.06 .48 

Undetermined 5.13 7.53 2.77 

Polarization : 

10 grams to lOOcc — 

+ 27.89 +28.65 +27.50 

Dextrose calculated from polarization — 

91.59%, 94.08% 90.31% 

" Climax sugar " or 80 sugar : 

Average Maximum Minimum 
Water 9.84% 10.61%, 9.06% 

Dextrose 77.54 77.84 77.24 

Dextrin 1.04 1.15 .96 

Mineral Matter 1.18 1.18 1.17 

Undetermined 10.40 10.96 9.83 

Polarization : 

10 grams to lOOcc — 

+27.45 +28.40 +26.50 
Dextrose calculated from polarization — 

90.12% 93.20%, 87.03% 

" Nabob sugar " or 70 sugar : 

Average Maximum Minimum 
Water 16.43%, 18.03% 13.77% 

Dextrose 69.81 73.16 66.60 

Dextrin 1.17 2.42 .57 

Mineral Matter .80 1.12 .45 

Undetermined 11.79 14.35 9.30 

Polarization : 

10 grams to lOOcc — 

+28.94 +33.45 +24.90 
% dextrose calculated 
from the polarization 

85.05 109.85 81.77 

In these tables it is noted that the two 
percentages of dextrose given do not agree. 
That one calculated from the polarization is 



GOLDENROD 



363 



alwaj'S high on account of the influence of 
the amount of dextrin (this having a larger 
polarization influence than dextrose). 

GOLDENROD (Solidago).— The golden- 
rods and asters are the most common and 
conspicuous of autumnal flowers in eastern 
North America. Both genera belong to the 



distribution have all been very perfectly 
secured. The individual flower is small and 
of little significance as compared with the 
community. Conspicuousness is gained by 
massing a large number of flowers in a head 
or capitulum, an arrangement which per- 
mits insects to visit them very rapidly. 
While in the common whiteweed, or daisy, 




Hairy goldenrod. 



Compositae, the great family which stands 
at the head of the plant kingdom. The in- 
florescence of the Compositae represents 
Nature's greatest triumph in flower-build- 
ing. Intercrossing by insects, economy of 
time and material, a large number of seeds 
well adapted to germinate, and their wide 



the number of florets may exceed 500, in the 
head of the goldenrod there are only from 
16 to 30, according to the species; e. g., in 
the cream-colored goldenrod (*S'. hicolor) 
there are about 16 ray and 14 disc florets, 
and in the tall hairy goldenrod {S. rugosa) 
about 8 ray and 6 disc florets. 



364 



GOLDENROD 



The stately and beautiful genus of golden- 
rods begins to bloom at midsummer, or 
earlier in the case of the early goldenrod, 
and in November there is still visible the 
flower clusters of the Canada goldenrod 
and the tall hairy goldenrod, while the salt 
marsh goldenrod may prolong the season 
until December. There are about 85 de- 




Three species of goldenrod. 

scribed species, confined chiefly to North 
America, with a few in South America and 
Europe. Fifty species occur north of Ten- 
nessee and east of the Rocky Mountains. 
They are closely allied, often hybridize, and 
are difficult to distinguish. There is a form 
adapted to almost every kind of location. 
The woodland goldenrod {S. caesia) is 
found in open woodlands, the field golden- 
rod (S. nemoralis) is very common in dry 
fields, the rock goldenrod {S. rupestris) 
prefers rocky situations, the swamp golden- 
rod {S. neglect a) lives in swamps, while 
the seaside goldenrod {S. sempervirens) 
thrives in salt marshes. 

Altho the individual heads are so small 
conspicuousness is gained by massing them 
in great plume-like clusters or panicles. 
Their bright yellow color renders them visi- 
ble both by day and evening; and as the 
temperature at night is several degrees 
above the surrounding air they sometimes 
serve as a temporary refuge for insects. The 
floral tube is very short, seldom over one 
millimeter in length so that there are few 
insects which are unable to gather the nec- 



tar. In Wisconsin Graenicher has taken on 
the early goldenrod {S. juncea) 182 differ- 
ent species of bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, 
and beetles either sucking or collecting or 
feeding on pollen; and on the Canada 
goldenrod {S. canadensis) 141 visitors. The 
honeybee visits the florets so rapidly that 
the number of visits per minute cannot be 
counted. A large amount of pollen is gath- 
ered both by the domestic bee and by wild 
bees. So abundant, indeed, are the flowers, 
and so ample the stores of pollen and nec- 
tar that four or five of our native wild bees, 
which fly only in autumn, never visit any 
other plants. Some of the goldenrods are 
pleasantly scented. Others are nearly odor- 
less. 

In New England many species of golden- 
rod grow luxuriantly in pasture and waste 
lands, and are almost the sole dependence 
of the beekeeper for winter stores. The 
bees work on the flowers with great eager- 
ness, and the activity in the apiary equals 
that of the midsummer honey flow. In 
Massachusetts a marketable surplus, ac- 
cording to Burton N. Gates, is often taken 
in September. Allen Latham states that 




Sweet goldenrod (Solidago odora). 

once in three or four years strong colonies 
in his apiary on Cape Cod would store up- 
ward of a hundred pounds from fall flow- 
ers. In southern Maine the bees never fail 
to fill many frames with goldenrod honey, 
which because of its golden-yellow color 
and fine flavor is preferred by many per- 
sons to white honey. In other sections, as 
the South and West, it is of less import- 



GOLDENROD 



365 



ance; but it comes at a time of the year 
when it helps to keep the bees busy, and at 
the same time serves to make up the loss in 
stores during the latter part of the summer. 
The species most common and valuable 
to Eastern beekeepers are sweet-scented 
goldenrod (5*. odora), early goldenrod {S. 
juncea), field goldenrod {S. nemoralis), 
Canada goldenrod (5'. canadensis), late 
goldenrod {S. serotina), tall hairy golden- 
rod {S. rugosa), and in great abundance in 
salt marshes and along sea-beaches, the sea- 
side goldenrod [S. sempervirens). Unlike 
most of the other species the inflorescence 
of the common bushy goldenrod {S. gram- 
inifolia) is in large flat-topped clusters or 
corymbs. It is one of the best nectar-yield- 
ers, and a favorite with honeybees.- Once 
in a woodland pasture largely overgrown 
with the hairy goldenrod {S. rugosa) a 
dozen or more plants of the bushy golden- 
rod were found. Honeybees were the only 
insects present, and they showed a marked 
preference for the bushy goldenrod. They 
were repeatedly seen to leave the latter 
species ; and after flying about, but not rest- 
ing on the flowers of the hairy goldenrod, 
return to the plants they had left a few 
moments before. A plant of each of the 
above species was bent over so that their 
blossoms were intenningled, appearing as a 
single cluster; a honeybee alighted on the 
bushy goldenrod, and it seemed very prob- 
able that it would pass over to the flowers 
of the hairy goldenrod, but such was not 
the case, for presenth^ it flew away to an- 
other plant of the former. The flowers have 
a sweet fragrance, and are visited by over 
a hundred different species of insects. All 
the goldenrods in New England yield nec- 
tar, altho the early goldenrod {S. juncea) 
seems to be of less value than some of the 
later kinds; but, singularly enough, at 
Marengo, Illinois, they are of little import- 
ance to the beekeeper. 

The quantity of nectar secreted by the 
goldenrods varies greatly in different local- 
ities. They are most valuable as honey 
plants in New England and Canada. In a 
large part of New England beekeeping is 
chiefly dependent on this genus of plant 
and the clovers, and in the absence of either 
group would yield little profit. The golden- 
rods are also abundant in Nova Scotia and 
New Brunswick and in parts of Quebec, 
Ontario, and Manitoba. They yield nectar 



freeh", and 40 or more pounds of honey per 
colony from this source may be obtained, 
but usually it is mixed with aster honey. 
This genus is also listed among the honey 
plants of British Columbia, Michigan, and 
Tennessee, and is widely distributed in New 
York, New Jersey and other Eastern States, 
altho not of great importance. It is ap- 
parently of more value in Florida, Louisi- 
ana, and Texas. 

But in the white-clover belt, in Iowa, Illi- 
nois, and the adjoining States, the golden- 
rods jaeld little or no nectar. Great masses 
of the clustered flowers are visited only oc- 
casionally by bees. The conditions which 
produce the secretion of a great amount of 
nectar in white clover do not produce the 
same results in the case of goldenrod. In 
the arid cactus region of the Southwest, 
and in the semiarid region of the Rocky 
Mountain Highlands these plants are either 
absent or no help to the beekeeper. Again, 
in California they are the source of a smaU 
amount of honey. In New England the 
bushy goldenrod {S. gramini folia) and the 
tall haiiy goldenrod {S. rugosa) yield the 
most nectar; in Canada, S. squarrosa and 
S. puberula; and in California S. calif or- 
nica and S. occidentalis. 

While the bees are bringing in the nec- 
tar, the whole apiary is filled with a dis- 
agreeable sour smell, which on a calm even- 
ing can easily be perceived at a distance of 
100 feet. The odor observed during a 
goldenrod honey flow has sometimes been 
likened to that of decaying carrion, but this 
is a mistake. When such an odor is pres- 
ent in the apiary, it is caused in most cases 
by one or more stinkhorn fungi {Phallus 
impudicus) . Where there is decaying or- 
ganic matter, as near old stumps, these 
fungi frequently spring up in the fall. 
They exhale a strong fetid scent like 
putrefjdng caiTion, which may easily mis- 
lead the beekeeper, as we have learned by 
experience. The stem is hollow, and the cap- 
like top deliquesces into a sticky, semi- 
liquid mass, fllled with spores, which is very 
attractive to carrion flies. The flies feed on 
the thick syrup and thus become an agent 
in distributing the spores. As soon as the 
fungi are removed the carrion-like odor dis- 
appears. The souT =5?>^ell of the nectar also 
vanishes in a few days. 

Goldenrod honej' is very thick and heav} 
with the golden-yellow color of the blossoms- 



366 



GRADING COMB HONEY 



The quality is poor when first stored, but 
when capped and thoroly ripened the flavor 
is rich and pleasant. It is the general testi- 
mony of New England beekeepers that 
many persons prefer this honey to any 
other. They regard its color, body, and 
flavor as the qualities of an ideal honey. 
When served on a plate for table use it is 
hardly less attractive than white-clover 
honey. Its genuineness is never questioned. 
But the flavor is stronger than that of white 
clover, which would probably be given the 
preference by the majority as the great 
universal staple to be used with bread and 
butter. Extracted goldenrod honey crystal- 
lizes with a coarse grain in about two 
months. / 

We have never known goldenrod to fail 
to yield freely even in cold wet weather, 
but it does exceptionally well during a 
warm dry fall. The honey has always 
proven an excellent winter food for bees, 
and without it there would be little hope 
for bee culture in New England. So far 
as the beekeeper is concerned goldenrod is 
well named, and it would be a want of 
gratitude on his part not to uphold its 
claims as our national flower. 

GRADING COMB HONEY.— The aver- 
age comb-honey producer either does not 
grade his honey at all, or else does it so 
poorly that it is not worthy of the name of 
grading. One large dealer in honey, who 
buys and sells hundreds of thousands of 
dollars' worth every year, makes the state- 
ment that practically all the comb honey 
that comes into his hands must be regraded 
before it is fit to send out ; and, of course, 
he has to charge this up to the producer. 
Even beekeepers who are supposed to be 
up to date, he says, apparently pay verj' 
little attention to this important matter. 
A poorly graded honey, or one that is not 
graded at all, brings two to three cents less 
per pound on the whole shipment. If the 
producer hasn't the time himself, he could 
easily find some one who would be willing 
to do such work for him for about half a 
cent a pound. As a rule the grading should 
be done by some member of the family, or 
some one interested in the sale of the 
honey. A hired man is inclined to be care- 
less, and a poor grader reacts on his em- 
ployer. 



Ordinary marketable comb honey can be 
divided into three or four classes: Fancy, 
No. 1, and No. 2, or choice. Nothing but 
fancy should be put into the fancy, and 
nothing but No. 1 in No. 1. The author 
has personally inspected thousands of 
pounds of comb honey that had gone to 
market, and it is certainly surprising how 
some of the intelligent producers will mix 
the fancy among the No. 1 and the No. 1 
among the fancy, and even go so far as to 
put choice among the fancy. This disgusts 
the buyer or commission merchant, and, of 
course, he charges up the cost of regrading 
to the producer. Or if he does not grade 
the honej^ over at all, it is sent out directly 
to the consumer or retail merchant, who 
will pay at least two or three cents a pound 
less because the honey is of such uneven 
quality. 

In order to get the largest price possible 
for comb honey, it will be necessary to 
grade it ; and the more thoroly and honest- 
ly the work is done, the higher will be the 
price secured. If one is careless in grading 
there will be inferior sections mixed in with 
sections of a higher grade ; and, if the com- 
mission man or buyer discovers this, he is 
likely to " knock down the price " of the 
whole easeful to the price of the inferior 
sections. It is very, important to have every 
section in a case of the same grade. 

Not much will be accomplished if there 
are a dozen different systems or rules of 
grading. Various rules have been adopted 
by the National Beekeepers' Association; 
but they have never been accepted by the 
large buyers and commission men of the 
country; nor have ihey received the gen- 
eral indorsement of even the beekeepers 
themselves. The great difficulty encoun- 
tered has been the diversity of conditions 
and variety of notions on the part of the 
producer. For example, one section of the 
country will have only white honey; an- 
other will have largely amber and dark. 
One locality prefers double-tier shipping 
cases ; another single-tier. Some beekeepers 
prefer plain sections, and others want bee- 
way. The Colorado beekeepers prefer double- 
tier cases and 1%-beeway square sections. 
Under these diverse conditions it is a little 
difficult to get an agreement on one set of 
rules covering the whole country. How- 
ever, the Colorado beekeepers have adopted 
a set of rules which, with some slight mod' 



GRADING COMB HONEY 



367 




Honey sent by the Ontario Beekeepers' Association to the late King Edward. Sote.- 

Extra Fancy by the Root grading rules. 



-This would grade as 



ifications from time to time, have been ac- 
cepted and used by the beekeepers thruout 
the great West and to some extent in the 
East. After the new net-weight law went 
into effect, the rules were modified in that 
provision was made for weight of honey 
in a section exclusive of section and ship- 
ping ease. The latest revised rules, as put 
out in February', 1915, by the Colorado 
Honey Producers' Association, are as fol- 
lows: 

COMB HONEY. 

Fancy. — ^Sections to be well filled, combs 
firmly attached on all sides and evenly capped 
except the outside row next to the wood. 
Honey, comb, and cappings white, or slightly 
off color; combs not projecting beyond the 
wood; sections to be well cleaned. No sec- 
tion in this grade to weigh less than 12^ oz. 
net or 13 ^4 gross. The top of each section 
in this grade must be stamped, ^' Net weight 
not less than 12 1^ oz. " 

The front sections in each case must be of 
uniform color and finish, and shall be a true 
representation of the contents of the case. 

Number One. — Sections to be well filled, 
combs firmly attached, not projecting beyond 
the wood; and entirely capped except the 



outside row next to the wood. Honey, comb, 
and cappings from white to light amber in 
color; sections to be well cleaned. No sec- 
tion in this grade to weigh less than 11 oz. 
net or 12 oz, gross. The top of each sec- 
tion in this grade must be stamped, "Net 
weight not less than 11 oz. " The front sec- 
tions in each case must be of uniform color 
and finish, and shall be a true representation 
of the contents of the case. 

Numter Two. — -This grade is composed of 
sections that are entirely capped except row 
next to the wood, weighing not less than 10 
oz. net or 11 oz. gross; also of such sections 
as weigh 11 oz. net or 12 oz. gross, or more, 
and have not more than 50 uncapped cells all 
together, which must be filled with honey; 
honey, comb, and cappings from white to 
amber in color; sections to be well cleaned. 
The top of each section in this grade must 
be stamped, "Net weight not less than 10 
oz." The front sections in each case must 
be of uniform color and finish, and shall be 
a true representation of the contents of the 
case. 

Comb honey that is not permitted in ship- 
ping grades: 

Honey packed in second-hand cases. 

Honey in badly stained or mildewed sec- 
tions. 

Honey showing signs of granulation. 

Leaking, injured, or patched-up sections. 



368 



GRADING COMB HONEY 



Sections containing honeydew. 

Sections with more than 50 uncapped cells, 
or a less number of empty cells. 

Sections weighing less than the minimum 
weight. 

All such honey should be disposed of in the 
home market. 

EXTRACTED HONEY. 

This must be thoroly ripened, weighing not 
less than 12 lbs. per gallon. It must be well 
strained, and packed in new cans; 60 lbs. 
shall be packed in each five-gallon can, and 
the top of each five-gallon can shall be 
stamped or labeled, ' ' Net weight not less than 
60 lbs.'' 

Extracted honey is classed as white, light 
amber, and amber. The letters ''W," ''L. 
A," ''A'' should be used in designating 
color; and these letters should be stamped 
on top of each can. Extracted honey for 
shipping must be packed in new substantial 
cases of proper size. 

STRAINED HONEY. 

This must be well ripened, weighing not 
less than 12 lbs. per gallon. It must be well 
strained; and, if packed iai five-gallon cans, 
each can shall contain 60 pounds. The top 
of each five-gallon can shall be stamped and 
labeled, ''Net weight not less than 60 lbs." 
Bright clean cans that previously contained 
honey may be used for strained honey. 

Honey not permitted in shipping grades: 

Extracted honey packed in second-hand cans. 

Unripe or fernienting honey weighing less 
than 12 lbs. per gallon. 

Honey contaminated by excessive use of 
smoke. 

Honey contaminated by honeydew. 

Honey not properly strained. 

As stated, the revised rules are modified 
to conform to the federal net-weight law, 
which specifies that only the comb and 
honey inside of the section and not the 
section and honey shall be the measure of 
the quantity sold by weight. Formerly the 
section surrounding the comb was included. 
Under the old rules it was permissible to 
sell the gross weight of the section and the 
honey at so much per pound. It will be 
noted, therefore, that the new Colorado 
grading rules specify the minimum weight, 
net, and one ounce more gross, as the sec- 
tions weigh approximately one ounce. 

Before a limit was placed on the weight 
of the sections, producers put up their 
honey in haphazard ways. Heavy and light 
sections — good, bad, and indifferent in other 
respects — were all put together in one case. 
This caused no end of complaint. Under 
the new set of rules, this is impossible. 



Producers of the country, after the new 
net-w^eight law went into effect, September 
1914, were compelled to mark every section 
by weight. Sections that are approximate- 
ly of the same weight are put in a class by 
themselves. But no section in that weight 
shall be less than a certain definite figure 
in ounces. For instance, under the Colorado 
grading rules, for "Fancy," no section may 
weigh less than 12^2 ounces net or 13^ 
ounces gross. In grade No. 1 the figures 
stand respectively 11 and 12 ounces; in 
No. 2, 10 and 11 ounces. 

The operation of the federal net-weight 
law at first caused a general grumbling on 
the part of the producer and the dealer 
alike ; but the result has been salutary, be- 
cause the dealer and the consumer now 
know exactly for what their money is pay- 
ing. While the producer at first lost a lit- 
tle because any weight in excess of the min- 
imum figure was given to the consumer, the 
producer soon learned that it was necessary 
for him to charge enough more for his 
product to cover one ounce per section. 

The " fancy " grade provides that the 
comb shall be " firmly attached on all sides 
and evenly capped" ; No. 1 grade provides 
that comb shall be "firmly attached, not 
projecting bej'ond the edge." The No. 2 
grade makes no statement as to how the 
combs are to be attached, but still provides 
that " it shall be entirely capped except the 
row of cells next to the wood." 

The revised rules provide, also, that honey 
must not be packed in second-hand cases 
nor in badly stained or mildewed sections. 
It must not show any signs of granulation 
or leaks; must contain no honeydew, and 
must not have an undue amount of ceUs 
uncapped. 

While these rules are perhaps adequate 
for the great bulk of comb honey produced, 
they are not quite flexible enough to take in 
honey that will be above the Colorado 
" Fancy " and No. 1 grade. The A. I. Root 
Company have the following set of rules 
which, it will be observed, provide for 
" extra fancy," fancy, Xo. 1, and No. 2. 

In harmony with the Federal net-weight 
regulations and the statutes of many States, 
all comb honey we handle is figured with the 
weight of the section box as well as the case 
excluded. To get the net weight, deduct the 
weight of the empty case Rud 1 lb. 8 oz. for 
the weight of 24 sections (1 oz. each). 



GRADING COMB HONEY 



369 



COMB HONEY. 

Extra Fancy. — Sections to be evenly filled, 
combs firmly attached to the four sides, the 
sections to be free from propolis or other 
pronounced stain, combs and cappings white, 
and not more than six unsealed cells on either 
side. No section in this grade to weigh less 
than 14 oz. net. Cases must average not less 
than 22 lbs. net. 

Fancy. — 'Sections to be evenly filled, comb 
firmly attached to the four sides, the sec- 
tions free from propolis or other pronounced 
stain; comb and cappings white, and not 
more than six unsealed cells on either side 
exclusive of the outside row. No section in 
this grade to weigh less than 13 oz. net. 
Cases must average not less than 2-1 lbs. net. 

No. 1. — Sections to be evenly filled, comb 
firmly attached to the four sides, the sec- 
tions free from propolis or other pronounced 
stain; comb and cappings white to slightly 
off color, and not more than 40 unsealed 
cells, exclusive of the outside row. No sec- 
tion in this grade to weigh less than 11 oz. 
Cases must average not less than 20 lbs net. 

No. 2. — Combs not projecting beyond the 
box, attached to the sides not less than two- 
thirds of the way around, and not more than 
60 unsealed cells exclusive of the row adja- 
cent to the box. No section in this grade to 
weigh less than 10 oz. net. Cases must aver- 
age not less than 18 lbs. net. 

CULL COMB HONEY. 

Cull honey shall consist of the following: 
Honey packed in solid second-hand cases or 
that in badly stained or propolized sections; 
sections containing pollen, honeydew honey, 
honey showing signs of granulation, poorly 
ripened, sour, or ''weeping" honey; sections 
with combs projecting beyond the box or 
well attached to the box less than two-thirds 
the distance around its inner surface; sec- 
tions with more than 60 unsealed cells, ex- 
clusive of the row adjacent to the box; leak- 
ing, injured, or patched-up sections; sections 
weighing less than 10 oz. net . 

EXTRACTED HONEY. 

This must be well ripened, weighing not 
less than 12 lbs. per gallon. It must be well 
strained; and, if packed in five-gallon cans, 
each can shall contain 60 lbs. The top of 
each five-gallon can shall be stamped and 
labeled, ''Net weight not less than 60 lbs." 
Bright clean cans that previously contained 
clean Light honey may be used for extracted 
honey. 

EXTRACTED HONEY NOT PERMITTED IN 
SHIPPING GRADES. 

Extracted honey packed in second-hand cans, 
except as permitted above. 

Unripe or fermenting honey, or weighing 
less than 12 lbs. per gallon, 



Honey contaminated by excessive use of 
smoke. 

Honey contaminated by honeydew. 
Honey not properly strained. 

It will be noted that while these rules are 
somewhat similar to the Colorado rules, 
they go further in providing an " extra 
fancy" or sections weighing not less than 
14 ounces net, and a case not less than 22 
lbs. net. That of course means some of the 
combs will weigh more than 14 ounces in 
order to bring up the entire weight to 22 
pounds. The " fancy " grade goes a little 
further than the Colorado fancy in making 
the net weight V2 ounce higher, and provid- 
ing that the weight of all sections in the 




Fancy comb honey in 4 x 5 plain sections. 

case shall not be less than 21 pounds net. 
This means that the average weight will be 
exactly 14 ounces. This provision of the 
net weight per case puts the grading where 
many producers will not or cannot meet it ; 
but if they can they will get paid for it, as 
there is a fancy trade that is willing to pay 
for a high standard. 

There is no doubt that the Colorado rules 
as written will cover 95 per cent of all comb 
honey produced; but they do not cover 
special lots that will meet certain require- 
ments, and for which a correspondingly 
higher price will be secured. 



370 



GRADING COMB HONEY 




ir mfjss^m r 



I 

i. 



.1 




"-^ 




Grading rules illustrated. 



GRADING BY PICTURES. 



Some effort has been made to grade 
honey by means of pictures; but nothing 
definite has been accomplished, as it is diffi- 
cult to make photos flexible enough to take 
in the various' comb surfaces and cappings 
of honey that can be included in one grade. 
It is possible engravings may be used in 
connection with the rules, to enable one to 
determine what section will grade Fancy, 
No. 1, and No. 2. It must be understood 
that different persons would have a differ- 
ent idea as to whether one section should be 
graded as No. 1 or Fancy, and a set of pic- 
tures shomng the idea of an expert on 
grading might be helpful to a novice. A 
few half tones are here shown that may 
give an idea of what is meant. But it 
should be understood that in the pictures 
the unsealed cells show black — much more 
in contrast than in the actual combs them- 
selves; or, to put it another way, in any 
thing but an extra fancy, w^here no empty 
cells show, the pictorial representations do 
not show up as well as the real article. 

The honey sent to the late King Edward 
would be what is called " extra fancy 
white," according to the Root grading, for 
it is white honey put up in plain sections, 



and, as the illustration shows, it is evenly 
and nicely filled. When cells next to the 
wood are all sealed, or nearly so, it should 
be designated as " extra fancy " ; but as 
such comb honey is the exception rather 
than the rule there will be very little "extra 
fancy" on the market, altho such honey is 
generally shown at exhibitions when com- 
peting for a prize. 

In the half-tone engraving above shown 
the honey in the top case, with its sample 
section opposite, would, by the Root grad- 
ing grade Fancy; that in the middle case 
Fancy or No. 1, according to the amount of 
soiled surface, and that in the bottom case 
would be about No. 2. 

TRAVEL-STAINED AND OTHER SOILED SECTIONS. 

There are really four classes of discolored 
sections, each due to a distinct and separate 
cause. First there is what is called the real 
travel-stained section. As its name indi- 
cates, the cappings are soiled because the 
bees have gone over the surfaces of the 
cappings with their dirty feet. 

Then there is another lot that are stained 
lieeause the sections are capped over in the 
vicinity of old comb, dirt, or propolis. If 
the faces of such sections are examined 



GRANULATED HONEY 



371 



carefully, it will be found that the stain or 
discoloration goes clear thru. These discol- 
orations are due to the bees taking up pieces 
of old black wax, propolis, or anything that 
will answer as a substitute or filler for pure 
wax. The cappings of some sections of this 
sort are filled with bits of old rope, lint 
from newspapers, small hard chunks of 
propolis, fine slivers of wood — anything and 
everything that is handy. Sections of this 
class often look like those of the first class, 
hence the frequent confusion. 

In the third class are those with soiled 
cappings, due to the pollen dust or possibly 
a thin layer of propolis stain. 

The fourth and last class takes in all 
those that are called " greasy " or " water- 
soaked," having cappings that lie on the 
hone3^ The covering to each cell is more 
or less transparent, or water-soaked — ^the 
transparent part being half -moon shaped, 
or in the form of a ring encircling a white 
nucleus center that is not greasy or trans- 
parent. Some of the traveled sections can 
be improved by bleaching. See Bleaching 
Comb Honey. 

GRANULATED HONEY.— Nearly all 

kinds of liquid honey, and most comb 
honey, if given time enough, are liable to 
cloud and partially solidify at the approach 
of or after cold weather ; that is, it assumes 
a granular mealy condition, something like 
moist Indian meal, and again like moist 
fine white granulated sugar. The granules 
of candied honey may be about the size of 
grains of ordinary table salt, or they may 
be much finer. Comh honey granulates less 
readily than extracted, and only after a 
much longer period. While cold weather is 
much more conducive to solidification, yet 
in some localities, and with some honeys 
especially, the granulation takes on the 
semi-solid form even in warm weather. 
Some honeys will candy in a month after 
being taken from the comb, and others will 
remain liquid for two years. The honey 
most likely to candy is extracted alfalfa, 
the action taking place in from three to 
five months. Mountain sage from Califor- 
nia and tupelo from Florida remain liquid 
for a year or longer. Ordinary comb honey 
in sections, if well ripened, will usually re- 
main liquid as long as the weather is warm. 
After that time, especially if it has been 
subjected to cold, there are likely to be a 



few scattering granules in each cell. These 
gradually increase in number until the 
comb, honey, and wax become almost one 
solid mass. In such condition it is unsuit- 
able for the market, the table, or for feed- 
ing back, and should be treated by the plan 
described presently. See Comb Honey^ 
To Produce. 

IS GRANULATION" A TEST OF PURITY? 

In the eyes of the general public, granu- 
lated honey is not pure, many thinking it 
has been " sugared," either with brown or 
white sugar. But the very fact that it gran- 
ulates solid is one of the best proofs of its 
purity. If honey granulates only partially, 
in streaks, it may he evidence that it has 
been adulterated with glucose. But even 
pure honey will assume this condition, while 
honey that is nearly two-thirds or three- 
quarters glucose granulates very little. 
Here, again, it must not be taken as positive 
evidence that, because honey refuses to 
granulate, or does so only slightly, there- 
fore it is adulterated. The purity of any 
honey can usually be determined thru the 
taste by an expert beekeeper who has 
tested various grades of honey, and knows 
their general flavor. But, again, even taste 
must not be considered as infallible. Doubts 
can be removed only by referring a sample 
or samples to an expert chemist. See Adul- 
teration OF Honey. 

cause of granulation. 

As already stated, the primal cause of 
granulation is alternation of "cold and warm 
weather. During any very cold tempera- 
ture, prolonged for days, honey probably 
would not candy at all, but chill into a hard 
waxy mass, readily softening again in a 
warm atmosphere. Honeys that contain a 
larger amount of dextrose granulate more 
readily than where the reverse is true. 
Stirring or violent agitation hastens granu- 
lation; and if some granulated honey is 
mixed with ordinary liquid extracted, the 
action is likewise hastened ; for when honey 
once starts to cloud, the process goes on 
very rapidly, altho it may take from ten 
days to six months for the honey to pass 
entirely from the liquid condition into solid. 

Under Bottling reference is made to 
there being two ways to prevent honey 
from granulating, The first method em- 



372 



GRANULATED HONEY 



ploys artificial heat. The second one uses 
the actinic rays of the sun, that probably 
have some effect in preventing granulation, 
aside from the heat itself from the direct 
rays of the sun. For full particulars re- 
garding this, see Bottling Honey. 

THE SCIENCE OF GRANULATION. 

While no one knows very much as yet 
about the theory of honey granulating, yet 
it is known that, while the nectar of flow- 
ers may be, chemically, cane sugar, yet after 
it has been stored in the hive by the bees, 
and partially digested or worked over as 
explained under Honey elsewhere, it be- 
comes an invert sugar. Ordinary honey is 
a combination of dextrose and levulose, in 
approximately equal portions, with a little 
water. "Honey candies upon standing," 
says Dr. Headen, of the Colorado Experi- 
ment Station at Fort Collins, "because of 
the ability of its dextrose to assume a crys- 
talline form much more readily than the 
levulose." At the Colorado State beekeep- 
ers' convention some years ago he showed 
samples of free dextrose and levulose. The 
former looked like very nice light-colored 
brown sugar; the latter appeared like a 
cheap grade of dark-colored molasses. The 
doctor explained that, if granulated honey 
were subjected to a sufficient pressure, the 
greater portion of the levulose could be ob- 
tained, leaving the solid mass largely dex- 
trose. The levulose of honey candies slight- 
ly, but is very different in appearance 
from its dextrose constituent. 

FREAKS OF HONEY-GRANULATING. 

This problem of honey-granulating is 
very interesting. It sometimes happens 
that of two lots taken from the same barrel 
or can, and placed in two self -sealing pack- 
ages, the honey in one will soon granulate 
while in the other it will remain liquid, 
notwithstanding that both packages have 
been subjected to the same temperature and 
general conditions. If this happened in the 
case of sealed packages only, we might sup- 
pose that the sealing of one package was 
less perfect than the other; but that the 
candying does not depend on the sealing 
altogether is shown by the fact that the 
two lots of honey may not be sealed at all, 
and yet oue of them turns to a solid while 



the other remains liquid. These instances 
are by no means frequent ; indeed, they are 
rare; yet they occur just often enough to 
excite curiosity. 

The author has seen alfalfa honey after 
it had been in glass jars seven years, and 
was told that it had candied solid within a 
few months after being taken from the ex- 
tracting-cans. At the time (seven years 
after), it was going back to the liquid con- 
dition. Some cans were almost entirely 
liquid, and others had streaks of granula- 
tion reaching out like the branches of an 
evergreen tree all thru the package. There 
was every evidence to show that so far it 
had undergone a slight chemical change. 
This change was doubtless due to the con- 
tinued effect of light upon the granules. 
See " Using the Sun's Rays to Prevent 
Granulation," under Bottling. 

HEATING LIQUID HONEY TO PREVENT 
GRANULATION. 

There is no plan that will act as an abso- 
lute preventive; but by a method which 
will be described, granulation can be de- 
ferred for one and possibly two years. Even 
after treatment, if the honey is subjected to 
a freezing and thawing temperature for a 
series of days, it will be almost sure to start 
candying again. Continuous cold weather 
with the mercury slightly above zero is not 
so favorable as alternate cold and warm 
weather. 

After the first few days the honey will 
appear slightly cloudy. This murky ap- 
pearance grows more pronounced when the 
action proceeds more rapidly, until the 
point of solidification is reached. But there 
is no excuse for having honey at any time, 
either comb or extracted, kept in a zero or 
freezing temperature ; for all practical pur- 
poses it is possible to prevent extracted 
honey candying for a year on the average. 

HEATING TO LIQUEFY GRANULATED HONEY. 

There are two methods commonly in 
vogue to heat honey. One is, to put it in 
a double boiler or vat and gradually raise 
the temperature to 150 or 160 degrees 
Fahr., holding it at that point till all the 
honey is melted. It should then be put into 
bottles or tin cans, and sealed while hot. 
Another plan is to liquefy the granulated 



GRANULATED HONEY 



373 



honey slowly, and keep it at a temperature 
of 130 degrees Fahr. for three days. It 
should not go above 135 degrees when the 
heat is prolonged. The process of meltmg 
will be very slow, and a continuous slow 
heat so acts on the honey that it will remain 
liquid much longer than when the heat is 
applied more rapidly and raised to a higher 
point. 

I^or full particulars on bottling honey to 
keep it in a liquid condition, see Bottling 
Honey. 

To liquefy honey in the granulated state, 
or to heat it to prevent its getting into that 





Raiichfuss double boiler for liquefying honey. 

condition, the honey should be placed in a 
double boiler — that is to say, a tank with 
double walls, having the space between the 
walls filled with water. This may be placed 
on the stove and filled with honey. The 
double boiler used by the Rauchfuss broth- 
ers of Denver, Col., is shown in the engrav- 
ing, and its construction will be apparent. 
Where one doesn't have such a boiler, 
and cannot afford one, he can make a very 
good substitute by taking a large wash- 
boiler. Into this he puts some blocks about 
an inch square. On these blocks he places 
one or possibly two 60-lb. square cans of 
granulated honey, with caps removed. Or 
he may put in two or three tin pails, or as 
many as will go into the boiler. Should he 
have something larger than a wash-boiler it 
would be all the better, especially for 
square cans. The honey is then poured 
into the tin pails. If granulated solid it 
may be handled with a spade. Water is 
poured into the wash-boiler until it comes 
within two inches of the top of the pails. 
The whole is then placed on the stove, and 



subjected to a slow heat. When the water 
reaches a temperature of 160, or nearly 
that, the fu-e is checked; the honey should 
not become any hotter because it may other- 
wise injure the flavor as well as the color. 
Honey should never be brought to a boiling 
temperature except to kill the germs of 
foul brood, when all such honey may be fed 
back provided it has boiled at least one- 
half hour with a cover on, after having 
been fii'st thinned down with water so it 
will not burn. Some recommend again 
bringing to a boil just before feeding. 
C. W. Dayton of Chatsworth, Cal., has 
another and very sim- 
ple outfit to liquefy 
hone3\ As it can be 
made out of materials 
found in any beekeep- 
er's yard, at very small 
cost, many will, per- 
haps, prefer it to the 
Rauchfuss double boiler 
just described. 

As will be seen from 
the following cut, Mr. 
Dayton makes use of 
second-hand kerosene 
cans, which may be pur- 
chased for five cents 
apiece. He cuts off the top at a con- 
venient height, then washes out the cans 
thoroly. For the purpose of liquefying he 
uses eight on top of an ordinary cook- 
stove. To keep the honey from burning he 
gets some band iron, % x 3-16, at some 
hardware store, and makes a series of 
hoops on which the cans are to stand while 





Da3'ton's outfit for liquefying granulated honey. 

heating. Eight of them are placed together 
as shown; then, to conserve the heat fur- 



374 



GRANULATED HONEY 




Fig. 1.-— Pouder s hot-air oven for liquefying honey in sixty-pound cans. The cans are held upside down, as 
shown in Fig. 2 ; and the honey, as fast as it becomes liquid, runs down to the bottom of the oven and from 
thence out the gate, away from the heat. 



ther, a tin cover large enough to slip down 
over the whole is provided. 

With the help of this outfit Mr. Da>i:on 
says he can melt up 200 lbs. of honey in a 
very short time. These cans would be 
more convenient to handle, were he to take 
heavy wire, make some bails and hook them 



into holes punched on two opposite sides. 
He would then have a very serviceable pail 
at a small cost; and, when the honey is 
melted, he could lift it off the stove and 
pour it into some other receptacle from the 
corner of the cans. This corner makes the 
finest kind of pitcher mouth. 



GRANULATED HONEY 



375 




llP^^ 



Fig. 2. — Pouder method of liquefying granulated honey, showing the position of cans and gas-hurner in the oven. 



POUDER^S METHOD OP LIQUEFYING. 

Undoubtedly the best arrangement for 
liquefying granulated honey in square cans 
is that formerly used by Walter S. Pouder. 
Here is what he says of it : 

For years I have depended upon the hot- 
water tank for melting five-gallon cans of 
granulated honey, but have found many in- 
conveniences connected v^^ith the method, and 
have been obliged to adopt a safer and 
speedier method. To take care of the expan- 
sion I have used syphons, coal-oil pumps, 
funnels soldered to perforated screw caps, 
and other methods, but have always found a 
lack of tidiness; and in some instances we 
have ruined very superior honey by over- 
heating. If we overlooked a nail-hole near 
the bottom of the can we would find a can of 
sweetened water instead of honey; and in 
lifting heated cans from the water I have 
had the handles pull off; and the can, in fall- 
ing back, would cause the hot water to slop 
over and scald my toes till I have seriously 
wished I did not have to dabble in honey at 
all. 



I have longed for a method in which the 
liquid honey would flow away from the heat 
as fast as it became fluid, and at last I have 
such a device in use, and I believe many 
readers of this work will be interested. It 
is simply a gas oven, made of heavy galvan- 
ized sheet iron, and of a capacity for six 
cans, three on each side of the gas burner, 
cans to be suspended on brackets in an in- 
verted position with caps removed. When in 
use the honey-gate at the bottom of the oven 
is left open; and as fast as the honey be- 
comes liquid it flows to the outside tank. 
Considerable experimenting was required in 
order to maintain proper temperature, and 
w^e have learned to regulate the temperature 
by using a thermometer before we place any 
honey in the oven. Naturally the highest 
temperature is nearest the top of the oven, 
and we are able to keep within 180 and 190, 
and the temperature declines toward the bot- 
tom of the oven, hot air being circulated 
thruout. Some heat is slightly radiated against 
the lower part of the cans, and I find this in 
my favor, as it tends to prevent openings of 
cans being clogged with granulated honey. 

The two round openings in the front are 
for ventilation, and to secure perfect com- 



^76 



GRA.NULATED HONEY 



bustion. There is a three-inch space between 
the burner and the bottom of the oven; cans 
are suspended with a 12-inch space between 
the bottoms of the cans and the bottom 
of the oven, and a two-inch space over the 
tops of the cans; and there is also a 12-inch 
space between the two rows of cans. We also 
find the device very convenient in melting 
jars of granulated honey without so much as 
injuring the label by simply inverting the 
open jar on a heavy wire screen. 

Such an oven could be constructed for any 
capacity — for two, four, or six cans at one 
time, and could be used over a gasoline 
stove where gas is not obtainable. A thermo- 
stat could be added, thus making it an auto- 
matic arrangement; but in my business 1 
have not found it necessary. The honey, as 
it flows into the outside tank, is just right to 
be strained into our bottling-tank, and there 
is no deterioration, because it could not be 
overheated. 

Visiting beekeepers pronounce the entire ar- 
rangement a model of perfection, and I sub- 
mit the above description by request. 

Under Bottling Honey will be found a 
description of a similar oven using steam. 

MELTING HONEY IN A CAPPING-MELTER. 

Under the head of Extracting and Comb 
Honey the use of a capping-melter is de- 
scribed with a set of illustrations. This 
outfit is also well adapted for melting 
granulated comb honey. Ordinarily granu- 
lated extracted will run thru it very readily 
without any danger at all of impairing the 
flavor, and, what is more, it will be strained 
in the process. In the case of candied comb 
honey, the wax and honey will be very 
nicely separated by reason of the heat caus- 
ing the wax to melt. 

now to GET GRANULATED HONEY OUT OF 
BROOD-COMBS AND YET SAVE BOTH. 

Where honey granulates at all in brood- 
combs, it will usually be only partially. 
After uncapping, M. M. Baldridge of St. 
Charles, 111., recommends placing all such 
combs in the extractor, and throwing out 
any portions of the honey remaining liquid. 
He next lays the combs in the bottom of a 
clean wash-boiler, and, from an elevated 
dipper, pours water slowly into the cells. 
He then turns the comb over and treats the 
other side the same way. As fast as the 
combs are splashed with water he places 
them in a hive or super. After they have 
all been doused he takes them out and sets 



them over strong colonies. He says the 
bees, by aid of the water, liquefy the whole 
mass, clean the combs, and save both the 
combs and honey. 

Granulated comb honey in sections can 
scarcely be treated in this way, as it would 
be impracticable to uncap the cells. These 
should be treated in a capping-melter, as 
directed above. 

HOW TO MARKET GRANULATED 
HONEY. 

Some years ago attempts were made to 
put up granulated honey in small packages 
for retail purposes; but it was not until 
the year 1901 that any real progress was 
made. At that time R. C. Aikin of Love- 
land, Col., began to put up his honey in 




Aikin's paper-bag package dissected for the table. 

cheap lard pails. He allowed it to granu- 
late, and then sold it direct to consumers. 
As the packages were cheap he could afford 
to put the honey on the market at a price 
that would compete with ordinary sugar. 
A little later on he conceived the idea of 
using stout paraffin-paper bags instead of 
pails, and made a complete success of it. 

Alfalfa honey, as is well known, granu- 
lates very rapidly. As soon as the grain- 
ing begins to show he draws the honey off 
into the bags, and allows them to stand in 
a cool place, when it soon candies. The 
illustration shows the solid cake of granu- 
lated honey after the bag is torn away pre- 
paratory for the table. It readily granu- 



GRANULATED HONEY 



377 




Aikin's paper-bag honey-package for granulated honey. 



lates into, bricks, and will stand all kinds 
of rough treatment. The only expense is 
for bags, which can be bought in various 
sizes. It was thought for a time that East- 
ern clover and basswood honeys would not 
granulate solid enough when put up in this 
shape; but experience shows that they as 
well as alfalfa can be handled in that pack- 
age, provided they are already graining 
when the bags are being filled, or if a little 
old candied honey is mixed in to expedite 
the process. This point is very important 
in putting up such honey in bags or pails. 



On each paper package are printed direc- 
tions for liquefying, reading like this : 

The solid condition of this honey is proof 
of its purity. If preferred liquid, put it into 
a pail, and the pail into warm water, but not 
hotter than you can hold your hand in. 
Never let it boil, for boiling spoils the honey 
flavor. To remove the bag, cut from top to 
bottom, then peel it around. 

Granulated honey in paper bags should, 
if possible, be sold before hot summer 
weather comes on. 



378 



GRANULATED HONEY 



GRANULATED HONEY IN OYSTER PAILS. 

Another package, somewhat similar to 
the Aikin bag, is the ordinary oyster pail. 
When honey begins to granulate it can be 




Square oyster pails for granulated honey. 

drawn off into pails of proper sizes, the 
covers put on, and the honey allowed to 
stand. In the course of a few weeks in 
cool weather it should become quite solid; 
but it should be remembered that at an ex- 
tremely cold temperature honey will not 
granulate so readily as during alternate- 




Round oyster pails filled with granulated honey. 

ly warm and cool weather. Oyster pails 
have the advantage that beekeepers can 
buy them at any grocery, and they are al- 
most as cheap as the Aikin paper bags. 
They have the merit, also, that honey can 
be sold in them in a practically liquid con- 



dition without fear of leaking. They can 
also be handled quite roughly. If the 
honey should granulate, so much the better. 

CUTTING GRANULATED HONEY INTO BRICKS. 

Honey in 60-lb. square cans that is gran- 
ulated solid requires a considerable amount 
of treatment before it can be gotten out, 
put into bags, and candied again. The 
cans must be immersed in a boiler of water 
about 160 degrees, and kept there for hours 
at a time, before the honey melts enough 
to be poured out. Jesse A. Warren con- 
ceived the plan of stripping the tin away 
from the honey within, leaving it in the 
form of a solid cake. With a pair of snips 
he cuts off the top and bottom of the can, 
then slits it down at one corner. He next 
takes a strand of steel wire, attaching a 
handle to each end and slips it under the 




Slab of honey nearly cut thru by wire. 

cake of honey about two inches. The wire 
is then folded around the cake, the two 
ends crossed, and with a handle in each 
hand the operator draws slowly, sinking the 
wire gradually into the cake from all four 
sides, until continuous pulling causes it to 
pass clear thru. A thin-bladed knife is 
now inserted in the slit where the wire en- 
tered, and slabs off a chunk like that shown 
in cut next page. Other pieces are slabbed 
off in like manner. These are then cut up 
into bricks, using the same general plan — 
bricks all the way from 5 oz. up to 2 lbs. 
They are wrapped in paraffin paper, on 
which are general directions explaining 
how to liquefy. 



GRANULATED HONEY 



379 




.-^lab of honev 



consistency as hard-granulated honey, the 
same machine will slice up a cake of gran- 
ulated honey in uniform bricks, and do it 
more quickly and neatly than can possibly 
be done with a single strand by hand. 

In using the machine, care should be 
taken not to crowd the frame holding the 
strands of wire too fast, as it is a job that 
cannot be rushed without danger of break- 
ing the wires. A gentle continuous pres- 
sure is what is required. 

For the perpendicular cuts two heavy 
weights are applied in such a way that, 
after the cake of honey is put in place, the 
horizontal frame and its wires gradually 
work their way thru the mass. When the 



CUTTING GRANULATED HOXEY WITH A 
MACHINE. 

The plan just described can be used in 
only a very limited way. It has the fur- 
ther disadvantage that it is almost impossi- 
ble to cut the cakes in regular sizes. A far 
better apparatus is the ordinary butter- 
cutter shown in the illustration, and sold 
bv the Cleveland H-qlvanizing Works, Cleve- 




Butter-cutter for cutting granulated honey into bricks. 

land. The same thing, or something like it, 
can be obtained of any dealer in dairy sup- 
plies. This butter-cutter employs the same 
principle — a wire drawn taut for cutting 
butter. Since butter has about the same 




Machine for cutting granulated honey. 

cake is cut the other way, on the horizontal 
line, the operator takes hold of the gate, as 
it were, pulling gently. 

All that then remains is to take a thin- 
bladed knife, pick up each brick and lay it 
on a piece of paraffin paper. The brick is 
then neatly A^Tapped, when it is slipped 
inside of a special carton made just large 
enough to receive it. The carton is then 
covered with another wrapper, neatly let- 
tered, and containing directions how to 
liquefy the honey when desired. As a rule, 
the consumer is advised to use the honey in 
the solid form b}' explaining that it can be 
spread on bread like so much butter. 

It is advantageous to adopt the 1^-lb. 
brick or 4S to the 60-lb. cake from the 
square can. 



380 



GRANULATED HONEY 



CAUTION. 

The tin should not be cut off from the 
can of candied honey unless the honey is 
very solid. If it is slightly mushy there 
will be trouble. The mass of granulated 
honey will squash out of shape, and run all 
over everything. There is no use in trying 
to cut up honey like this into bricks. It 
should either be melted or put into oyster 
pails, where the process of solidifying can 
be completed. 

It may be questioned whether it pays to 
cut off square cans and take the honey in a 
solid chunk; but it enables one to fill rush 
orders for granulated honey on short no- 
tice. Second-hand cans are worth only a 
few cents; whereas to melt the honey out 
and re-candy is out of the question. 



water about as hot as the hand can bear, 
etc. In short, the trade must be educated 
to it. The fact that no unripe or glucosed 
honey can be put up in bags or bricks will 
be a strong " talking-point " on the purity 
of the honey. When the facts once become 
known, old prejudices give way. 

In the early days the author cut up some 
brick honey with a wire into packages 
weighing 5 ounces. These sold for a nickel. 
They went off so fast the demand could not 
be supplied. For the sake of experiment 
one 60-lb. can of granulated honey was 
cut into 160 cubes. The honey cost 6^/^ 
cents per pound. These cubes were retailed 
at 5 cents each, or 13V2 cents a pound — 
doubling on the money. 

After the trade gets educated to buying 
honev in this form no effort at all is neces- 



GENERAL REMARKS ON HOW TO MAKE HONEY 
CANDY QUICKLY. 

As we have already explained, continu- 
ous zero weather is not so favorable as 
weather somewhere near the freezing-point, 
now moderating up to the thawing-point, 
then freezing, then thawing again. When 
the weather remains continuously cold, set 
the honey out in pails or bags in a room 
where the temperature goes a little below 
freezing, leaving it for a day or two, then 
bringing it into a warm room. After it is 
thoroly warmed up, put it into the cold 
room again, and so continue with changes 
of temperature. Stir the honey occasion- 
ally, and always make it a rule to have 
some granulated honey mixed with that 
which is to be brought to a solid condition. 

EDUCATING THE PUBLIC TO GRANULATED 
HONEY. 

The question may arise whether it would 
be everywhere practicable to sell granu- 
lated honey in any one of the forms de- 
scribed. It could hardly be deemed advis- 
able to furnish buyers or commission houses 
that know neither the shipper nor the real 
character of such honey. The packer or 
producer must first introduce it to his own 
customers — people who know him. The 
nature of the honey must be explained; 
how put up ; that only the purest and best 
can be solidified in this manner; that it 
can be liquefied by putting the pail in 







"W. 



V- 



sary to sell it. The cost of the package is 
practically nothing, and all trouble from 
the honey candying again is overcome, be- 
cause the trade has been educated to know 
that such honey is the pure article. 

The time may come when granulated 
honey will be known on the market as a 
common article of commerce ; because when 
the public generally understands that such 
honey must he of the best quality, and ab- 
solutely pure, it will sell without any 
trouble. 

For particulars on how to prevent comb 
honey from granulating and how to dispose 
of it when it does granulate see Comb 
Honey, To Produce. 



H 



HANDLING BEES.— See Manipula- 
tion OF Colonies; Frames^ Self-spacing; 
Anger op Bees ; also Stings^ and Hives. 

HAULING BEES.— See Moving Bees. 



weed, is naturalized from Europe, and is 
widely distributed over Eastern and Cen- 
tral North America, particularly in Illi- 
nois, Kansas, and Nebraska. In the last- 
named State it reaches a height of from 




Heartsease or smartweed. 



HEARTSEASE {Polygonum Persicaria 
L.). — This is one of a large family of nec- 
tar-bearing plants of which the common 
buckwheat is one. Heartsease, sometimes 
known as lady's thumb, knotweed, or heart- 



three to five feet, and grows luxuriantly on 
all waste and stubble lands. The flowers in 
oblong clusters are generally reddish pur- 
ple, and, in rare instances, white. It yields 
in Nebraska, and other States in that sec- 



382 



HIVE-MAKING 



tion of the country, immense quantities of 
honey. One beekeeper, T. R. Belong, at 
the North American convention held in 
Lincoln, Neb., in October, 1896, reported 
two of his colonies yielded each 450 lbs. 
extracted honey, and that the average for 
his entire apiary was 250 lbs. per colony — 
all heartsease. While perhaps these yields 
were exceptionally large, quite a number of 
other beekeepers reported at the same con- 
vention an average of 200 lbs. from the 
same source. There are in Nebraska acres 
and acres of this honey plant extending 
over the plains as far as the eye can reach ; 
and, as it secretes nectar from August until 
frost, the enormous yields are not sur- 
prising. 




Heartsease. 

The extracted honey varies in color from 
a light to a dark amber; and the flavor, 
while not quite up to that of white honey, 
is very good. Heartease comb honey, in 
point of color, is almost as white as that 
of clover. The extracted granulates in very 
fine crystals, and looks very much like the 
candied product of any white honey. Care 
should be taken in liquefying, as hearts- 
ease honey is injured more easily by over- 
heating than any other honey. 



HEAT. — See Artificial Heat. 

HERMAPHRODITE BEES.— These are 
nothing more nor less than freaks of na- 
ture — that is to say, one will sometimes see 
worker bees having drone heads and drones 
with worker heads. They are not very com- 
mon, it is true ; but about once a year there 
is sent in to the author specimens of either 
the one or the other kind of bees that have, 
apparently, appropriated the wrong head. 
The beginner needs to be reminded that the 
head of a drone is very different in appear- 
ance from that of a worker or queen. The 
two compound eyes of the former are 
large and weU developed, while in the lat- 
ter they are much smaller. 

Under the heading of Drones^ to which 
the reader is referred, mention is made of 
another freak of nature — namely, drones 
with variously colored heads. 

HIVE-MAKING.— Unless one is so sit- 
uated that freights are high, and unless, 
also, he is a mechanic, or a natural genius 
in " making things," he had better let hive- 
making alone. Hives can be bought usual- 
ly, with freight added, for much less than 
the average beekeeper can make them him- 
self, if spoiled lumber, sawed fingers, and 
the expense of buzz saws are considered; 
moreover, hives made in the large factories, 
where they are turned out by the thou- 
sands, by special machinery run by skilled 
workmen, are generally much more accu- 
rately cut. 

The following letter from a practical 
planing-mill man, who ought to know and 
does know what he is talking about, sets 
forth the actual facts as they are : 

ELIAS BAMBERGER 

Manufacturer of 

SASH, DOCKS, BLINDS 

Contractors' and Builders' Supplies 

including all kinds of Window Glass 

Cor. Exchange and Adams Sts. 
Estimates Furnished on Application 

Freeport, Ills., June 11, 1907. 
The A. I. Root Co., Medina, Ohio. 

Gentlemen: — I received five of your AE 
525-10 hives yesterday, and find that I can 
not make my own hives and supplies as cheap 
as yours and use the same quality of lumber. 
You can see by the head of this letter that if 
any one can make hives cheaper than your 
prices or any of the so-called ''trust-hive" 
manufacturers, I ought to be able to do it ; 
but, using the same quality of lumber, I can 
not. John H. Bamberger. 



HIVE-MAKING 



383 



But there is fun in making things, even 
if they are not so well made; and there 
are some rainy or wintry days in the year, 
when, if one is a farmer, for instance, he 
can as well as not, and at little or no ex- 
pense for time, make a few hives and other 
equipment. Again, if one lives in a for- 
eign countrj^, he may not be able to get the 
hives here recommended. 

REQUISITES OF A GOOD HIVE. 

While it is very important to have good 
well-made hives for the bees it should be 
clearly understood that the hive will not 
insure a crop of honey. As the veteran 
Mr. Gallup used to say, "A good swarm of 
bees will store almost as much honey in a 
half -barrel or nail-keg as in the most elab- 
orate and expensive hive made, other things 
being equal." This is based on a good 
colony in the height of the honey season. 
If the colony were small, it would do much 
better if put into a hive so small that the 
bees could nearly or quite fill it. This 
would economize the animal heat so that 
they could keep up the temperature for 
brood-rearing and the working of wax. 
Again, should the bees get their nail-keg 
full of honey, unless more room were given 
them they would have to cease work or 
swarm, and either way a considerable loss 
of honey would be the result. The thin 
walls of the nail-keg would hardly be the 
best economy for a wintering hive, nor for 
a summer hive either, unless it were well 
shaded from the direct rays of the sun. 

P. H. Elwood of Starkville, N. Y., who 
owns over 1,000 colonies, said in Gleanings 
in Bee Culture some time ago, "A good 
hive must fill two requirements reasonably 
well to be worthy of that name. 1. It must 
be a good home for the bees. 2. It must in 
addition be so constructed as to be conven- 
ient to perform the various operations re- 
quired by modern beekeeping. The first of 
these requirements is filled very well by a 
good box or straw hive. Bees will store as 
much honey in these hives as in any, and in 
the North they will winter and spring as 
well in a straw hive as in any other. They 
do not, however, fill the second require- 
ment ; and to meet this, the movable-frame 
hive was invented." 

Under A B C of Beekeeping, subhead, 
The Modern Hive, are shown the general 



features of a hive, and under Hives and 
Frames will be shown styles and the spe- 
cial features that belong to each. But 
there is only one hive that is used largely 
thruout the United States, and that is the 
Langstroth — that is, it embodies the Lang- 
stroth dimensions. The frame is 17% long 
by 9% deep, outside measure. This estab- 
lishes the length and depth of the hive. As 
to width, that depends upon the number of 
frames used. It is the rule to allow 5-16 
bee-space between the ends of the frames 
and the inside ends of the hive. This will 
make the inside length of a Langstroth 
hive 18^4 inches, or the outside length 20 
inches if made of %-inch planed lumber. 
It is the rule to make the depth of the hive 
% inch deeper than the frame — % inch 
under the frame and ^^ inch on top. For 
diy climates a greater allowance should be 
made on account of shrinkage. The selec- 
tion of the frame, the number to the hive, 
and the distance they are spaced apart, 
then, determines the dimensions of the hive 
itself. 

As stated, the Langstroth is the standard 
thruout the United States; but there has 
been a tendency on the part of a very few 
toward a frame of the same length, but two 
inches deeper. There is also a tendency to 
go to the other extreme in adopting a 
frame of Langstroth length, but two or 
three inches shallower, using two stories of 
such a hive for a single brood-nest. 

On account of the diverse notions of 
beekeepers and the peculiarities of locality, 
it would hardly be worth while to give gen- 
eral directions for the manufacture of any 
one hive; and, besides, no printed direc- 
tions will give as good an idea of the con- 
struction of a hive as the very thing itself. 
For these and other reasons it would be far 
better for the one who intends to make 
hives to send to some manufacturer for a 
sample in the flat, all complete. With the 
several pieces for patterns he will then 
know exactly the shape and dimensions, 
how to make rabbets, and in general how 
the hive is constructed in every detail. If 
one does not find on the market just such a 
hive as suits his notion, of course he sees, 
or thinks he sees, " in his mind's eye " just 
what he wants to make; but in that case 
the author would advise him to make a 
sample or two before he makes very many 
of them; for nine times out of ten — yes, 



384 



HIVES 



ninety-nine times out of one hundred — he 
will discard the one of his " own get-up," 
and adopt some standard made by manu- 
facturers generally. 

HIVE ON SCALES.— See Scale Hive. 

HIVES.— The word "hive," broadly 
speaking, covers any sort of inclosure in 
which bees make their home. In the prim- 
itive days these consisted of hollow logs 
two or three feet long with a board for the 
cover and another board for the bottom. 
Later, boxes were constructed. (See Box 
Hives.) In early times straw skeps were 
used, and are still used in parts of Europe 
today. See Skep. 

The modern hive consists, first, of a 
brood-body, a box without top or bottom, 
to hold a series of frames. (See Frames.) 
Each frame incloses a comb. But no hive 
is complete without a roof or cover, and a 
bottom, usually called a bottom-board. In 
addition to the roof and hive body, with its 
frames and bottom, there are upper stories, 
or supers. A super, just as its name indi- 
cates, is an upper story — a box without 
cover or bottom to hold either a set of 
frames, the same as in the brood-nest or 
shallower, or a set of holders to support 
section honey-boxes in which bees store 
honey. For a further description of mod- 
ern hives, see A B C of Beekeeping^ espe- 
cially the drawing showing the interior and 
exterior of the hive. For particulars re- 
garding comb-honey supers, see Comb 
Honey^ Appliances for. For directions 
to make, see Hive-making. For a descrip- 
tion regarding the hives of early days, lead- 
ing up to the present, see Hives^ Evolu- 
tion OF. 

DIMENSIONS OF HIVES. 

Hives based on Langstroth dimensions 
are the standard. Some 30 years ago there 
were in use the American, Gallup, Lang- 
stroth, Adair, and Quinby frames. All of 
these required, of course, hives of different 
dimensions. Between the Adair, the Gal- 
lup, and the American there was but very 
little difference, comparatively, as they 
were cubical, and very nearly of a size. 
The Langstroth was long and shallow — the 
shallowest frame that had then been intro- 
duced; and the Quinby, having about the 
same proportions, was the largest frame in 



general use. By consulting the diagram 
containing the different sizes of frames it 
will be seen that there are practically two 
classes — the square and the oblong. As 
there would be but very little difference, 
theoretically and practically, between the 
results secured with a Gallup, American, 
and Adair, we will consider the arguments 
for the square frame. 

SQUARE frames. 

In nature, bees have a tendency to make 
a brood-nest in the form of a sphere; 




18% 
Quinby. 



>s: 



is-n 

Adair. >s: 



Langstroth. ^ 



12 

American. 



19^ 
Closed-end Quinby. 



Heddon, 
5H X 18^*6 



Danzenbaker, 
7^ X 17. 



17^8 

Jumbo. 



patches of brood are more inclined to be 
circular than square or oblong. Theoreti- 
cally, then, a circular frame would be the 
best ; but as that would not be practicable, 
owing to the difficulty in the construction 
of the frame and hive, obviously the square 
frame would come the nearest in conform- 
ing to nature and a perfect cube for the 
hive. The square frame, as a rule, calls 
for a hive in the exact shape of a cube. If, 
for instance, the frame was 12 inches 
square, outside dimensions, then the hive, 
if the combs were spaced 1% inches apart, 
and 12% inches wide inside, should take in 



HIVES 



385 



just nine American frames. Such a hive, 
it was argued, would conserve the heat of 
the bees to the best advantage, would give 
the greatest cubical contents for a given 
amount of lumber — barring, of course, the 
perfect sphere. As it economized heat in 
winter, it would winter bees better than a 
hive having oblong frames. 

All of this seemed to be very pretty in 
theory ; and there are some users of square 
frames who insist that the theory is borne 
out by actual experience. But the great 
majority of beekeepers, after having tried 
the square and the oblong frame, finally 
decided in favor of the Langstroth for the 
following reasons : 

THE LANGSTROTH FRAME AND HIVE AND 
WHY IT BECAME THE STANDARD. 

1. A shallow frame permits the use of a 
low flat hive that can easily be tiered up 
one, two, three, and four stories high. This 
is a great advantage when one is running 
for extracted honey, as all that is necessary 
when the bees require more room is to add 
upper stories as fast as the bees require 
them, and then at the end of the season ex- 
tract whenever it is convenient. Square or 
deep hives cannot be tiered up very high 
without becoming top-heavy and out of 
convenient reach of the operator. 

2. The long shallow frame is more easily 
uncapped because the blade of the uncap- 
ping-knife can reach clear across it. 

3. The shape of the Langstroth frame 
favors an extractor of good proportion. 

4. A deep frame is not as easily lifted 
out of a hive ; is more liable to kill bees in 
the process of removing and inserting 
frames. 

5. The shallow frame is better adapted 
for section honey. It is well known that 
bees, after forming a brood-circle, are in- 
clined to put sealed honey just over the 
brood. In a frame as shallow as the Lang- 
stroth, there will be less honey in the 
brood-nest and more in the boxes ; for bees, 
in order to complete their brood-circle in 
the Langstroth, will, with a prolific queen, 
often push the brood-line almost up to the 
top-bar, and, consequently, when honey 
comes in, will put it into the supers or 
boxes just where it is wanted. 

6. When bees are left to themselves they 
wiU generally form a cluster late in the 
13 



season, immediately over the entrance of 
the hive, and down two or three inches 
from the top of the frames. As the season 
progresses the cluster eats into the stores 
above it; and on reaching the top it works 
backward. It therefore transpires that the 
cluster reaches the top of the hive where it 
is the warmest during the coldest part of the 
year. In the case of the ordinary square 
frame the bees will be found just over the 
entrance, but four or five inches from the 
top ; but in the midst of the coldest weather 
the bees may not and probably will not be 
near the top of the hive; but on reaching 
the top they can progress backward only a 
comparatively short distance because the 
top -bar of a square frame is relatively 
short. In the case of the Langstroth hive, 
the bees during the entire cold part of win- 
ter stay in the top of the hive, where it is 




Tlie original Langstroth hive. 

the warmest. As the stores are consumed 
they move backward and gradually reach 
the back of the hive, and by that time 
warmer weather will probably prevail. 

In actual experience bees seem to winter 
just as well on a Langstroth as any other; 
and, as the shallow frame is better adapted 
to section honey, beekeepers naturally 
turned toward the shallower frame, with 
the result that now probably 99 per cent 
of all the frames in the United States are 
of Langstroth dimensions; and whatever 
advantage there may be in favor of the 
square shape, the beekeeper is able to buy 
standard goods so much cheaper that he 
adopts the Langstroth frame. 



386 



HIVES 



FRAMES SHALLOWER AND DEEPER THAN THE 
LANGSTROTH. 

A few years ago there was a tendency 
toward a frame still shallower than the 
Langstroth, which resulted in what is called 
the Heddon; but as eight or ten of these 
frames, or one super, make too small a 
brood-nest, two sets of such frames are 
used to accommodate a whole colony. Of the 
Heddon hive more will be given further on. 

There is another and growing class of 
beekeepers who feel that the Langstroth is 
not quite deep enough, and who, therefore, 
prefer the Quinby. They argue that 10 
such frames, or frames Langstroth length, 
and two inches deeper, are none too large 
for a prolific queen, and that these big col- 
onies swarm less, get more honey, and win- 




Original dovetailed hive, Langstroth dimensions. 

ter better. Of these, more will be said un- 
der the subject of "Large vs. Small Hives." 
The old original Langstroth hive that the 
Rev. L. L. Langstroth put out contained 10 
frames 17% x 9%.* Each hive had a por- 
tico, and cleats nailed around the top edge 
to support a telescoping cover, under which 
were placed the comb-honey boxes, or big 
cushions, for winter. There was a time 
when this style of hive was the only one 
used ; but owing to the fact that it was not 
simple in construction, that the portico was 
a splendid harboring-place for cobwebs and 
gave the bees encouragement for clustering 
out on hot days instead of attending to 
their work inside of their hives, a far 
simpler form of hive was devised. The 
Simplicity, first brought out by A. I. Root, 
having Langstroth dimensions, was the re- 
sult. Instead of having telescope covers 

* The length for nearly 50 years has been 17% 
instead of 17%. 



the contiguous edges of the hive were bev- 
eled so as to shed water and give in effect 
a telescoping cover. The cover and bottom 
of this hive were exactly alike, the entrance 
being formed by shoving the hive forward 
on the bottom, thus making an entrance as 
wide or narrow as seemed most desirable. 




But it had one serious defect, and that was 
the beveled edge. It was found to be prac- 
tically impossible at times, on account of 
the bee-glue, to separate the upper story 
from the lower one without breaking or 
splitting the bevel. Finally there was in- 
troduced a hive very much the same, hav- 
ing straight square edges, and along with 
it came the feature of dovetailing or lock- 
cornering, as shown in the hive previous. 




Modern hive based on Langstroth dimensions. 

This hive was introduced in 1889, and 
seemed to meet with the general approba- 
tion of beekeepers. It embodied in the 
main the Langstroth dimensions, but used 
eight instead of ten frames; for at the 
time it was introduced, nearly every one 
preferred eight frames. The original Dove- 
tailed hive had a flat cover, and a bottom- 
board made the same as the cover, except 



HIVES 



387 



that there were side-cleats to raise the hive 
off the bottom-board. 

Since that time there have been modifica- 
tions of the hive, and it is now made in 
eight, ten, and twelve frame sizes. While 
the eight was used almost exclusively, the 
ten-frame size has nearly supplanted it. 
There is also a tendency toward the twelve- 
frame size. See The Twelve-frame hive 
further on in this article. 

The cover is made single or double. The 
body is locked at the corners, and the bot- 
tom-board is made in several styles. See 
Entrances. 

The Hoffman self-spacing frames, de- 
scribed under Frames, Self-spacing, and 
Frames, to Manipulate, also Frames, are 
used in the Dovetailed hive almost exclu- 
sively. The supers for this hive are the 
same as those shown under Comb Honey. 

As now constructed the hive embodies 
the very latest developments in hives and 
hive-construction. It can be handled rap- 
idly, and is especially adapted for out- 
apiary work, where frequent moving from 
one field to another is necessary. It is 
standard, being made by all the supply- 
manufacturing concerns, and is for sale 
everywhere. The lock corner is especially 
well adapted for hot climates ; and for any 
place it is far superior to corners depend- 
ing on nails alone. The ordinary miter or 
halved joint is inclined to pull apart in 
parts of California, Texas, Florida, and 
other portions of our country subject to 
extremes of heat, or hot dry winds. 

Having discussed hives in a general way, 
it will now be in order to take up covers. 




Flat cover, old style. 

A very important requisite of a good 
hive is a good cover. While the flat cover 
— one making use of one flat board and 
two cleats — was a good one, yet, owing to the 
width of the single board, and increasing 
scarcity of such lumber, something made of 
two or three narrow boards had to be used. 
Accordingly, the Excelsior was devised. It 
consists of boards not exceeding 6 inches in 
width, because narrow boards can be easily 



secured, and because they will not shrink 
and check under the influence of the 
weather like the wide ones. The two side 
boards, B, B, are beveled or chamfered on 
one side so that the one edge is left only 




Excelsior flat cover. 

about three-fourths the thickness of the 
other edge, but the ends are left full thick- 
ness of the boards to shed water away from 
the edge and to give more nail-room for the 
grooved end-cleats, E, that slip over and 
bind the whole together. The purpose of 
the chamfering is to shed water to the sides 
of the hive and away from the centerpiece, 
AD. Of this centerpiece AD, the part D 
projects beyond A. It is tongued and 
grooved to fit a corresponding tongue and 
groove edge of the two side-boards that 
were beveled to shed water. The space 
under D is filled with a thin board ^ inch 
thick, the ends of which project into the 
%-inch groove of the end-cleats, E, where 
it is securely held in place. 




Gable cover. 



In very hot climates a two-thickness or 
gabled cover is used. The lower part of 
the cover is flat, and the upper part ga- 
bled, as shown in the accompanying cut. 



388 



HIVES 



TELESCOPE CO\^RS. 

There is a strong tendency at the pres- 
ent time toward a double or telescopic 
cover, as is shown in the illustrations below. 

The lower cover consists of two or more 
tongued-and-grooved boards, % inch thick, 
with rim of % x yg-mch wooden strip 
around the edge. At the center there is a 




Telescope cover. 

hole for a Porter bee-escape, so that by in- 
serting the escape the inner cover can be 
used as an escape-board. This inner cover 
takes the place of the metal-bound super- 
cover as used formerly. It lies directly 
over the frames, and over this is placed a 
shallow telescoping cover made of % lum- 
ber, and covered with sheet metal or roofing 
paper. 

A top protection of this sort is not only 
better than a single-board cover, but it 
shuts out the weather. The air-space be- 




Inner cover. 

tween the two covers gives the bees better 
protection from the direct rays of the hot 
sun if the hives are out in the open, and, 
if kept painted, such a cover will last in- 
definitely. The lower cover will be sealed 
down by the bees. The upper one cannot 
blow off because the downwardly project- 
ing sides hold it in place. Of course such 
an arrangement makes extra handling in 
opening and closing the hive; but the 
majority of beekeepers are beginning to 
see that this is more than offset by the 
greater durability and better protection. 

This cover is so far superior to all the 
other covers previously shown that it is 
rapidly superseding them. It is warmer 
in winter and cooler in summer. It is also 
more durable. 



HIVE BODIES OR BROOD-NESTS. 

These are plain boxes without top or bot- 
tom, preferably lock-cornered. They are 
rabbeted at the upper inside ends to re- 
ceive the projections of the frames referred 
to later on. Under head of "Frames" and 
"A B C of Beekeeping" there will be 
found a diagram showing the position of 
the hive body or brood-nest, and how the 
frames to hold the combs hang in the rab- 
bets before mentioned. Practically all of 
the hives sent out by the regular beehive 




factories are lock-cornered for additional 
strength. When made in local planing- 
mills the corners are usually "halved" by 
cutting out a rabbet in the sides or ends; 
but the lock-cornering is much preferable 
for the reason stated. 

HIVE BOTTOMS^ OR FLOORS. 

The general practice is to make the bot- 
tom or fioor of the hive separate from the 
hive body. Bodies are made to sit down 
upon raised edges of the floor or bottom. 




This fioor should preferably have a deep 
side and a shallow side. During hot weather 
it is customary to use the deep side so as to 



HIVES 



389 



give more space under the hive, affording a 
larger entrance and better ventilation. This 
deeper side is usually % i^ch in depth ; the 
shallower side, only % inch, is used by 
those who prefer to have a shallower space 
under the hive. When the wide space is 
used it is customary to have a contracting 
entrance-cleat. When colder weather comes 
on, or where the colony is weak, it is good 
practice to contract the entrance down to 
the space of ^ inch by anywhere from y^ 
to 8 inches wide. (See Entrances.) 

There are different styles of floor-boards 
or bottoms; but the kind used by those 
who have factory-made hives is like that 
shown in the illustration on the preceding 
page. 

BROOD-FRAMES. 

The modern hive consists not only of the 
parts already mentioned — cover, body, and 
bottom — but a series of frames, all of 
which hold a comb. In a modern hive the 
top of the frame has projections at each 
end that hang in the rabbets of the hive 
body. Each of the frames is removable, 
and may or may not be self -spacing. Some 
frames have the same width all around. 
Some have the end-bars made a little wider 
near the top, and some have end-bars that 
make contact with the adjacent end-bars 
their entire length. The latter are called 
"closed-end" frames. 

For particulars regarding frames the 
reader is referred to the A B C OF Bee- 
keeping at the beginning of this work, and 
Frames and Frames, self-spacing. 

As the closed-end frames make up a part 
of the inner walls of the hive in which they 
are used, a description will be given at this 
point. 

CLOSED-END FRAMES. 

Closed-end frames may be divided into 
two classes — the standing and suspended. 
The Quinby, already spoken of under 
Frames^ Self-spacing^ the Bingham, and 
the Heddon, are of the first-mentioned 
class; the Danzenbaker belongs to the lat- 
ter class. It is generally considered that 
frames with closed uprights, while not so 
convenient, perhaps, for general manipula- 
tion, are better adapted to wintering. 
Frames with partly closed end, like the 
Hoffman, or open all the way up, like the 



ordinary loose hanging frame, permit of 
currents of air around the ends of the 
frames, and (it is claimed), as a conse- 
quence, bees are not so much inclined to 
bring their brood clear out to the end-bars 
as they do when closed ends are used. The 
difference is more theoretical than real. 

the BINGHAM HIVE. 

Mr. Quinby was the first to apply Ru- 
ber's principle of closed-end frames in this 
country (see Hives, Evolution of). This 
he introduced shortly after the appearance 




The Bingham Hive. 

of the Langstroth hive. Not long after, 
Mr. Bingham in 1867 brought out his hive 
with closed-end frames with a narrow top- 
bar and no bottom-bar, but still embody- 
ing the chief features of Huber's hive of 
1789. But the peculiar feature of the 
Bingham was that it made use of shallow 
frames only five inches deep, a series of 
them being lashed together by means of a 
Avire loop and stretcher sticks, said loop 
drawing on the follower-boards in such a 
waj'' as to bring tight compression on 
frames inclosed in the manner shown. Seven 
of these brood-frames in the hive made up 
a brood-nest, and an entire brood-nest 
might consist of one or two sets of frames. 
The top-bar was dropped down from the 
top of the end-bars a bee-space, while the 
bottom-bars were flush with the bottoms of 
the end-bars. With a bottom-board having 



390 



HIVES 



a %-inch strip on each side, the ordinary 
bee-space is preserved thru the several divi- 
sions of the hive. 

The super is like any ordinary one 
adapted to comb honey, except that it uses 
coiled springs to produce the necessary 
tension. 

Altho Mr. Bingham used this hive for 
a great many years, and quite successfully 
too, no one else seems to have done much 
with it; but a modification of the hive is 
shown in the Danzenbaker and the Heddon. 

THE DANZENBAKER HIVE. 

The Danzenbaker consists of a brood- 
chamber of the same length and width as 
the ten-frame Langstroth Dovetailed hive, 
but deep enough to take in a depth of 




frame of only 7^2 inches. The rabbet, in- 
stead of bein^ near the upper edge, is 
dropped doT\Ti about midway; or, more 
strictly speaking, there is a cleat or board 
nailed on the inside of the ends of the hive. 




On this support hang the closed-end brood- 
frames, pivoted at the center of the end- 
bars by means of a rivet driven thru from 
the inside, as shown at I in the diagram. 
Ten of these frames fill the hive. As these 
frames are pivoted in the center, as shown 



at C, they can be reversed; and this feat- 
ure, while it costs nothing, is something to 
be desired, as it enables us to have all 
frames filled solid with comb. 

The bottom of the hive is the same as 
that for the Dovetailed hive, already de- 
scribed. The super for comb honey takes 
in the 4x5 plain section, and makes use of 
the fence-separator system. The sections 
are supported in section-holders; indeed, 
the whole arrangement is the same as the 




section-holder super already described in 
Comb Honey. 

This hive was designed primarily for the 
production of comb honey. As a comb- 
honey hive it is a very good one; but on 
account of handling the brood-frames it 
has become so unpopular that it has almost 
gone out of use. The hive with Hoffman 
or with the unspaced frames, will, in a 
given time, permit the examination of 
three or four times the comb surface of the 
closed-end frames unless we make a single 
exception of the closed-end Quinby, illus- 
trated and described under the head of 
FRAMES, Self-spacing. Where bee glue 
(propolis) is very abundant the closed-end 
frames become so badly gummed up that 
it is almost impossible to separate them at 



HIVES 



391 



times. For that reason the foul-brood bee 

inspectors generally advise against their 
use. 

The same general criticisms above men- 
tioned would apply with equal force 
against the Heddon hive next described, 
which likewise, and for the same. reasons, 
has all but gone out of use. 

THE HEDDON HIVE. 

This hive was patented and introduced 
in 1885. Its peculiar and distinguishing 
feature was in the use of one brood- 
chamber divided into halves horizontally, 
each half containing a set of eight closed- 
end close-fitting brood-frames, 5% inches 
deep by 18 1-16. The end-bars, as already 




The Heddon Hive. 

stated, were close-fitting — that is, the brood- 
frame slid into the hive with just enough 
play to allow of its easy removal and inser- 
tion. On the bottom inside edge of the 
ends of each case were nailed strips of tin 
to support the frames, and the whole set of 
eight were squeezed firmly together by 
means of wooden thumbscrews as shown. 
Under the head of Comb Hoxey mention is 
made of the value of compression for 
squeezing sections or section-holders or 
wide frames. The more tightly the parts 
are held together, the less chance there is 
for bees to chink propolis into the cracks. 

The bottom-board of this hive was much 
like that used on the standard hives, in 
that it had a raised rim on the two sides 
and end to support the brood-chamber, and 
a bee-space above the bottom-board, and at 



the same time provided for an entrance at 
the front. The cover was the ordinary flat 
one-board, cleated at the ends. 

The purpose of the inventor in having 
the hive divided in this way was to afford 
more rapid handling, and to accomplish 
contraction and expansion by simply tak- 
ing from or adding to the brood-part of 
the hive one or more sections. This divisi- 
ble feature of the hive, according to its in- 
ventor, enabled him to handle hives instead 
of frames, to find the queen by shaking the 
bees out of one or both of the shallow sec- 
tions. The horizontal bee-space thru the 
center of the brood-nest he considered an 
advantage in wintering, in that the bees can 
move up and down and laterally thru the 
combs. 

THE DADANT HIVE. 

Almost the very opposite of the Heddon 
LQ principle and general construction is the 
Dadant hive. While Mr. Heddon divided 
the brood-chamber into one, two, or three 
separate portions, the Dadants have it all 
in one large complete whole. The frames 
are 18% x 11^ — that is to say, they have 
the Quinby dimensions. There are ten to 
the hive. Such a hive has about the equiv- 
alent capacity of a twelve-frame Lang- 
stroth, regular depth. The Dadants have 
always insisted that their ten-frame Quin- 
bys, when compared with the ten-frame 
Langstroth, averaged up year after year, 
would give far better results, both in honey 
and in economy of labor. This opinion is 
not based on the experience of two or three 
years, but on a period covering a good 
many years. The large hives, they claim, 
swarm less, produce more honey, and win- 
ter better. They claim they do not have to 
exceed two per cent of swarming, and this 
average has been maintained year after 
year. Apparently the colonies in these 
large hives have very little desire to swarm ; 
but when they do swarm the swarms are 
enormous. In regard to this point, in an 
article that was published in Gleanings in 
Bee Culture, C. P. Dadant says: 

Don't understand me to say that, ^vith large 
hives, Tou will have no swarms, for this is 
incorrect ; but if you want to prevent swarm- 
ing to the greatest possible extent, you must, 
first of all, have large hives. Other things 
are required, such as the removal of the 
excess of drone combs, plentiful ventilation, 



392 



HIVES 



a supply of surplus combs, etc.; but the sine 
qua non, in our eyes, is large hives. 

With a little care it is not difficult to keep 
swarming down to such a point that the 
natural increase will barely make up for 
winter losses. In our case we find it insuf- 
ficient, and we resort to artificial swarms, or 
dividing, which we find much more satisfac- 
tory, for we can breed from the queens that 
we prefer, and, at the same time, keep our 
best colonies for producing honey. Every 
practical beeman will agree that it is the 
large colonies that give the large crops, 
whatever may be his opinion as to the size 
of hive needed. 



exceptions. And I hold that you cannot do 
this as fully with a tw^o-story eight-frame 
hive as with a hive that may be enlarged, 
one frame at a time, till it contains all the 
room that the queen may need. Your eight- 
frame hive gives her too much room at once 
when it is doubled in size. If the season is 
a little cool, there is a chance of delaying 
the breeding by chilling the combs. The bees 
will then concentrate themselves upon the 
brood and keep it within narrow limits, for 
the queen will seldom go out of the cluster 
to lay. 

As to the matter of wintering, these 




Dadant-Quinby hive. — "From Langstroth on the Honeybee," revised by Dadant. 



But if we must have swarms, with large 
hives they will be large, take my word for it. 

The Dadants have claimed that the ordi- 
nary eight and ten-frame hives are not 
large enough for good prolific queens ; that 
a brood-frame of Langstroth depth is too 
shallow^; that one never knows that a good 
queen can do till she is given a large hive 
and a large frame. Again, in one of their 
articles for Oct. 1, 1898, in Gleanings in 
Bee Culture, C. P. Dadant says: 

With the large hives we found queens that 
had a capacity of 4500 eggs per day. Excep- 
tions, you will say? Certainly, but it is a 
very nice thing to give a chance for those 



Jumbo hives seem to offer exceptional ad 
vantages. Mr. Dadant, in one of his arti- 
cles, says: 

The facts upon which I base my conclusion 
are those facts that we have seen under our 
own eyes, of better success in wintering with 
the large deep hive. We have thus stronger 
colonies for winter, which is in itself a great 
advantage, as the number of bees has much 
to do with their ability to keep warm, and 
their ability to retain the heat has also much 
to do with their honey consumption. A weak 
colony suffers much from the cold, and is 

compelled to eat more But to me the 

greatest advantage of the deep large frame 
is the greater ease bees have in reaching the 
honey while preserving a more compact cluster. 



HIVES 



393 



The Dadants have a considerable follow- 
ing in their vicinity; and in France the 
Dadant-Quinby has become almost the 
standard hive. But it should be remem- 
bered that the Dadants are extracted-honey 
producers ; and in France liquid honey has 
rather the preference. There can be no 
sort of doubt that these large hives, for 
extracted honey, have some advantages 
over the smaller ones; but when it comes 
to the production of comb honey, there is a 
question, and a big one too : Is such a large 
hive as good as a smaller one? In some 
localities the bees might fill only a brood- 
nest in such a hive ; whereas if a shallower 
one were used, like the Langstroth, the 
available comb space below would be filled 
with brood; and the honej^, when it did 
come in, and what little there was of it, 
would be forced into the supers. In the 
selection of a large hive, then, a good deal 
depends on the locality, and whether one 
proposes to run for comb , or extracted 
honey. 

THE TEN-FRAME HIVE OF EXTRA DEPTH. 



2Vs inches deeper, with Langstroth top- 
bar, would give the hive equal capacity. 
Such a hive would take regular Langstroth 
ten-frame bottom-boards, covers, supers, 
honey-boards, winter-cases — in fact, every- 
thing adapted to the regular ten-frame 
Langstroth Dovetailed hive. As the ten- 
frame hive is one of the standards, it seems 
reasonable to suppose that, if the large 
hive is really better, such a hive would be 
more simple and cost less than to adopt 
regular Quinby-frame dimensions, and 
make the hives as the Dadants show it. 
Indeed, we have been told that the Dadants 
would favor such a hive rather than the 
one they have adopted, if they were to start 
anew. The supplj^-dealer will make the 
brood-chamber for about 25 per cent more 
than the regular ten-frame Langstroth 
Dovetailed; the super, covers, and bottom- 
boards would, of course, cost no more. 
Where one by reason of locality or prefer- 
ence desires such large hives, the Jumbo 
ten-frame Langstroth of extra depth, suit- 
able for taking standard ten-frame fix- 
tures, is the hive to select. 



It was suggested by A. N. Draper, for- 
merly of Upper Alton, 111., one of Mr. 
Dadant's followers, that, instead of making 
a hive after the Quinby dimensions, and on 




The comparative difference in size between a regular 
eight-frame hive and a ten-frame jumbo. 

the Dadant pattern, a hive be constructed 
after the pattern of the regular ten-frame 
Dovetailed, having Langstroth dimensions 
save in one measurement — that of depth. 
He would add to the hive and frame 2% 
inches. As the Dadants ordinarily use nine 
frames in .their Quinby hives, ten frames 



THE TWELVE-FRAME LAXGSTROTH HIVE. 

There are some others besides the Da- 
dants who believe that the ordinary ten- 
frame Langstroth hive body makes too 
small a brood-chamber; that a good queen, 
such as ought to be in ever}- hive of the 
up-to-date honey-producer, will easilj^ fill a 
twelve-frame hive with brood. There is no 
use in denying the fact that the ordinary 
user of a common ten-frame hive often 
wishes he had a hive of two frames more 
capacity. To put on an upper story to 
take in the extra frames sometimes gives 
too much room. 

R. F. Holtermann of Brantford, Canada, 
operates something like 700 colonies on 
twelve-frame hives. He is one of the best 
/ and most extensive honey-producers in 
America. He tried out the ten and twelve 
frame hive side by side, and gives his ver- 
dict in favor of the latter. 

THE THIRTEEX-FRAME LAXGSTROTH HIVE. 

There are a few who use a thirteen-frame 
Langstroth hive, which is practically the 
same as the twelve-frame hive that has 
been in use so long. The advantage claimed 
is that the hive is larger and exactly 



394 



HIVES 



square. This makes it possible to reverse 
the position of the frames with reference 
tc the entrance, during summer or winter, 
by merely turning the hive around one- 
quarter-turn on the bottom. During the 
winter it is an advantage to have the sides 
of the frames exposed to the entrance. 
During the summer it is certainly better to 
have the ends of the frames next to the 
entrance, because then the air can blow in 
clear thru the hive, cooling it in hot weather. 
The advocates of the thirteen-f rame hive, 
like those of the twelve-framers, claim al- 
most immunity from swarming, and a hive 
large enough to accommodate practically 
all of the best queens. It is very seldom 
that any queen will go beyond 14 frames of 
brood, so that the thirteen-frame reaches 
the maximum capacity of most queens. 

TWO-STORY TEN-FRAME OR EIGHT-FRAME 
LANGSTROTH HIVES. 

Where the eight- or ten-frame hive is 
used, it is customary to have the colony 
breed in two stories. As already explained, 
the average queen will go beyond ten 
frames. If she or the bees are not given 
unlimited room for breeding, cells may be 
started and a swarm may follow. To pre- 
vent this it is usually customary to put on 
another hive body, or upper story contain- 
ing combs. In order to start the queen 
above, one or more combs of brood are put 
upstairs, and the empty ones from the up- 
stairs are put downstairs, preferably on 
either side of the brood-nest. The brood in 
the upper story induces the queen to go 
above when she might not otherwise do so, 
and thus expand the brood-nest, with the 
result that there may be thirteen or four- 
teen frames of brood, the other frames con- 
taining honey or pollen. In the production 
of comb honey it is customary, at the be- 
ginning of the flow, to put all the sealed 
brood in the lower story, removing the up- 
per story and putting the other combs of 
brood in a weak colony. A super of sec- 
tions is then put on the lower story, from 
which the upper story was removed. See 
" Comb Honey " and " Swarming," partic- 
ularly the subjects of prevention and con- 
trol of swarming. When producing ex- 
tracted honey the practice is to put a 
queen-excluder between the upper and 
lower stories after the flow starts. 



One reason why the ten-frame hive is so 
popular is because many beekeepers believe 
that the twelve- and thirteen-frame hives 
are too heavy to lift — that the ten is large 
enough ; that by the use of two stories, and 
raising brood in the upper story, all the 
breeding room that the queen needs, will 
be afforded and at the same time swarming 
will be kept under control. 

The author has tried to control swarm- 
ing by using two-story brood-nests, and 
finds that swarming is held under control 
nearly if not the same as in the larger 
hives; but these two-story brood-nests re- 
quire manipulation at a time of the year 
when help is scarce, or perhaps unobtain- 
able at any price. For this reason the ad- 
vocates of the Quinby, the ten-frame Jum- 
bo, of the twelve- and thirteen-frame Lang- 
stroth hives prefer a brood-nest large 
enough to take care of the capacity of most 
good queens ; for they say, if the bees have 
plenty of stores, no manipulation of the 
brood-nest is required until the first honey 
flow comes on, at which time the supers are 
put on. 

LONG-IDEA HIVES. 

Some 50 3'ears ago the long-idea hives — 
that is, 30- and 35-frame hives aU in one 
brood-nest — were advocated by various bee- 
keepers in the United States. Many at the 
time were very enthusiastic in praise of 
this hive; but when comb foundation and 
the one-pound section honey-box came to 
the front these hives were dropped by near- 
ly every one because they were not adapted 
to the production of comb honey. In later 
years, especially during and following the 
period of the Great War, extracted honey 
was produced almost exclusively. During 
this time attention was again directed to 
the Dadant- Quinby hive, the ten-frame 
Jumbo, practically the same thing, and the 
twelve- and thirteen-frame hives. The last 
two mentioned, it was argued, would not 
have to be tiered so high, because three 
thirteen-frame hives, for example, would 
be the approximate equivalent of flve 
eight-fram^e hives that would be so top- 
heavy and tall that they would require rails 
or props to keep them from being blown 
over. The ten-frame Jumbo requires two 
sizes of frames — one for the brood-nest and 
one for the extracting-supers. 



HIVES 



395 



WTiile quite a number were favoring the 
larger hives of the styles mentioned, there 
were a few who were going back to the old 
long-idea hive containing anywhere from 
25 to 35 frames. The dimensions of these 
hives would be more like those of a cofl&n 
or a trunk. The advocates of these hives, 
particularly 0. 0. Poppleton of Florida, 
who had always used them, claim that they 
are large enough so that no tiering up is 
required — no lifting on or off of upper 
stories, no manipulation of brood-combs 
from the lower to the upper story to hold 
back swarming — in short, nothing heavier 



frame will have a circle of brood running 
within about two inches of the top-bar. 
The general reason for this is because the 
comb will stretch near the top, making 
neither worker nor drone comb. The queen 
avoids this, and the bees fill it with honey. 
In a hive of two stories the queen is appar- 
ently slow about getting over this two 
inches of honey, % inch of a top-bar, % 
inch of a bee-space, ^ inch of a bottom- 
bar and another bee-space before she 
reaches the comb proper in the upper hive. 
In the long-idea hive it is claimed that the 
queen can move from comb to comb on a 




Long-idea hive holding twenty-five Langstroth frames. Twoi regular 10-frame supers may be placed side 
by side on this hive, as it is two and a half times the size of a regular 10-frame hive. 



to lift than a single brood-frame. They 
also claim almost entire immunity from 
swarming. 

The usual practice with such a long hive 
is to have the entrance on the side, the long 
way, and place the brood-nest in the center 
of the hive. This leaves room for ten or 
twelve frames capacity for more brood on 
either side. Mr. Poppleton argued that a 
queen would move sidewise from one brood- 
frame to another more readily than from 
one brood-frame in a lower hive body to a 
brood-frame in the hive above, and he was 
undoubtedly right. The argument was 
briefly this: That the average Langstroth 



horizontal line, because the brood surfaces 
are within % inch apart, the space between 
being filled with bees. When the queen ex- 
pands the brood-chamber in the natural 
way she moves from comb to comb. If the 
worker-cells are not stretched, and there 
are no obstructions, she will move vertical- 
ly as well as horizontally; but in the mod- 
ern tiered-up hive she may not move up- 
ward unless the brood is carried upstairs 
by the apiarist himself. It is for this rea- 
son that the old long-idea hive has been re- 
vived. 

Another advantage claimed for the long 
single-story hive is that it is adapted to the 



396 



HIVES 



use of old men, and women, young and 
old, or any one else who, for physical rea- 
sons, can not lift a weight of a filled super 
of 40 or 50 pounds, but who can handle 
individual units of one comb at a time. 

Finally, it is argued that during winter 
or coo] weather the brood-nests can be 
confined down to about twelve or fifteen 
frames, and the space on either end filled 
with packing material. If the cover of the 
long-idea hive is three or four inches deep, 
and telescoping, additional packing can be 
put on top. The hive is, therefore, adapted 
for wintering as well as for summering 
bees. 



ginner, to follow in the beaten paths, or, 
more exactly, use standard ten-frame Lang- 
stroth hive and equipment. As a rule, bees 
will sell at a higher price in these hives 
than when they are in something that is 
odd-sized or irregular. Moreover, the av- 
erage dealer or beehive manufacturer always 
has the standard equipment in stock. While 
the regular Langstroth may require extra 
manipulation and extra lifting (if they be 
compared with the long-idea hive), it would 
be wise to use these hives until the general 
public has proved that what some may call 
" freaks " are better than the standards. 




Root double-walled hive with removable bottom. 



The author has tested out some of these 
hives alongside of those tiered up. There 
is no denying the fact that there is less 
swarming with the former than with the 
latter. This was shown strikingly in the 
ease of our cell-builders at our queen- 
rearing yard. 

The author does not advocate the general 
adoption of any of these special hives in a 
large way. If the reader is interested, let 
him experiment with half a dozen or a 
dozen hives ; and if the tests of the few are 
satisfactory he can use more. It is usually 
a safe policy for the average reader of this 
w€ fk, especially if he is somewhat of a be- 



DOUBLE-WALLED OB CHAFF 
HIVES. 

The hives that we have thus far described 
are what may be called single-walled hives; 
that is, the outer shell or case consists of a 
single-board thickness of lumber. Such 
hives in the northern climates, as a rule, 
cannot very well be wintered outdoors on 
their summer stands. They either have to 
be carried into the cellar at the approach 
of cold weather, or else have to be put in 
outside packing-cases, as the single walls 
hardly afford sufiicient protection to enable 
the average colony to go thru the winter 



HIVES 



397 



safely, or without great loss both in bees 
and in stores. The poorer the protection, 
the greater the consumption of stores. A 
colony poorly protected outdoors will prob- 
ably consume twice as much as one ade- 
quately protected and with the possible 
handicap of dysentery. 

In the South, of course it is not neces- 
sary to carry the single-walled hives into 
the cellar or winter repository; but north 
of latitude 40, hives of single-board thick- 
ness either ought to be housed or protected 
with winter cases. Where one from choice 
or necessity has to winter outdoors, what 
are known as double-walled hives should be 
used. These have the same inside dimen- 
sions as the single-walled hive, and are 
generally made to take the same supers and 
the same inside furniture. The one shown 
in the illustration next following repre- 
sents a ten-frame Langstroth single-story 
double-walled hive; and as it represents 
the simplest form of wintering hive, we 




Buckeye double-walled hive with space between the 
walls filled with packing materials. 

will describe this only, leaving the reader 
to adapt it to the dimensions of whatever 
frame he is using. 

The space between the walls is filled 
with some porous material like dry leaves, 
planer shavings, cut straw or hay, ground 
cork, or any material that is light, loose, 
and porous. An examination of the fol- 
lowing illustrations will show how this 
warm ideal hive differs from the others. 

Bees are essentially warm-blooded ani- 
mals, and if they are not warmly housed in 
our northern climates they will die during 
winter. 

Careful observations have shown that 
these double-walled packed hives will yield 



larger returns in honey. 'For it is a well- 
known fact in the domestic economy of a 
hive that comb-building cannot progress 
unless a temperature of 98 degrees is main- 
tained. Frequently in good honey-gather- 
ing weather the nights are cold enough so 
that the inside of the hive will be chilled, 
and comb-building will stop; for the bees 
are compelled to leave that work to hover 
around their brood to keep it warm. In 
doing this they consume largely of their 
stores in order to keep up the necessary 
hive temperature. In the double-walled 
packed hive brood-rearing and comb-build- 
ing can continue, during ordinary summer 
weather, no matter what the temperature 
may be outside. 

But this is not all. While bees in single- 
walled hives often do come thru the winter 
successfully, the result is attained at a con- 
siderable loss in stores. Overfeeding on the 
part of the bees in order to keep up the tem- 
perature of the cluster, causes overloading 
of the intestines, and this sooner or later 
brings on the fatal disease known as dys- 
entery. (See Dysentery.) Nothing wiU 
use up a colony's vitality in the spring 
more than this disease. On the other hand, 
bees in double-walled packed hives unless 
the winter is severe will rarely have it. 
They come thru stronger, cleaner, and bet- 
ter, with a larger stock of stores in reserve 
to take care of the necessary brood-rearing 
that takes place as soon as warm weather 
opens up. 

The reason for this is plain: Experi- 
m.ents show that the internal temperature 
of a single-walled hive outdoors during 
winter is only slightly higher than that 
outdoors. On the other hand, the internal 
temperature of a double-walled packed 
hive is anywhere from 25 to 50 degrees 
higher than the outside temperature. (See 
Gleanings in Bee Culture, page 78, for 
1912.) The colder the atmosphere in which 
the bees are kept, the more they have to 
eat. Overfeeding plus cold causes dysen- 
tery. 

Taking everything in consideration, if 
the double-walled hives cost more than the 
single-walled, they will save from 25 to 50 
per cent of the stores, and anywhere from 
50 to 90 per cent of the winter losses, year 
in and year out. During spring and sum- 
mer a larger return in honey may be ex- 
pected for the reason the bees are not 



398 



HIVES 



obliged to stop their comb-building because 
their super is too cold nor stop brood-rear- 
ing in the spring. Neither are they forced 
to eat too much of the freshly gathered 
stores in order to keep up bodily heat. 

Under Wintering Outdoors will be 
found a description of the quadruple win- 
ter cases. Bees in four single-walled hives 
packed in one of these cases will be as 
well if not better protected than bees in 
the double-walled hives. In some locali- 
ties, where migratory beekeeping is prac- 




Buckeye hive dissected, showing separate parts, and how the 



brood-chamber packing is shut in by cleats M and L. 

wall brood-chamber ; T, inner wall brood-chamber ; X, 

ing space cover : L, M, packing space bottom ; F, 
cover ; E, chatt-tray ; D, super-cover. 

ticed, or where a scheme of out-apiaries is 
used, a single-walled is preferable to a 
double-walled hive, because it takes less 
room in the wagon or truck, is 
lighter, and more easily handled. 
Where such hives are used, they 
should be kept in a winter pack- 
ing-case until settled warm 
weather comes. 

The double-walled hive has the 
advantage in that it is more 
suitable for the backlot bee- 
keeper, the farmer beekeeper, or 
rhose who desire to leave their 
bees on the same stand the year 
round, and who, on account of 
other duties, cannot fuss with 
putting bees in the cellar and 
taking them out again, or pack- 
ing and unpacking in large 
winter cases. Even when bees are wintered 
in the cellar, a double-walled hive is a great 
advantage in that it protects the brood and 



the bees after the bees are set out of the 
cellar in early spring. If they could be 
kept in the cellar until settled warm 
weather, the bees would not be subjected to 
the rapid and severe changes of weather 
conditions. But this is not practicable. In 
localities where the climate is very severe, 
many find it advisable to put these double- 
walled hives in the cellar and set them out 
in the spring. Bees need protection, not 
only during cold winter weather, but in the 
spring, after they are set out when changes 
are often frequent and severe. 

CONSTRUCTION OF THE BUCKEYE 
HIVE. 

The brood-chamber is made of 
an outer and inner rim of select 
%-inch lumber, lock cornered to- 
gether for strength. The space 
between the two walls is covered 
over with a sort of picture-frame 
water-table. This is secured to 
the inner chamber in the manner 
shown; cleats I I as well as the 
water-table are then nailed to the 
inner and outer wall. The un- 
finished hive is turned upside 
dowTi before the bottom cleats 
are nailed in and the double wall 
filled with packing material. 

Experience shows that the top 
needs protection more than the 
Hence we have tray E made of 
%-inch lumber with a bottom of common 
burlap, which is left in a baggy condition 



A, outer 
W, pack- 
telescope 



sides. 




Buckeye hive dissected, showing the inner walls detached 
from the outer walls of the brood-chamber. 



SO that the tray will fit tightly to the hive, 
thus preventing the wind from whistling 
in under the tray. Cover D is put in place 



HIVES 



399 



after the frames and the bees are in the 
hive, then tray E is put on top of the 
whole. This is filled level full of packing 
material, such as leaves or planer shav- 
ings, and over this then is placed the large 
cap or cover that goes over the whole. 

It will thus be observed that we have 
something on the style and lines of an or- 
dinary refrigerator, or like a safe cabinet 
built to protect its contents from fire. Any- 
thing that will keep ice from melting will 
in like manner keep water from freezing. 
The principle is the same as that of the 
well-known thermos bottle. The thermos 
bottle will keep water cold or hot for 
hours and hours. The double-walled hive 
here shown will keep a cake of ice, if 
the entrance is closed, almost as well as a 
refrigerator. It will also hold a pail of 
boiling water and keep it hot for hours on 
the principle of a fireless stove. 

The general features that go to make up 
a refrigerator or a fireless cooker apply 
equally well to a beehive. 

Some have the idea that a hive having 
so-called dead-air space will winter bees as 
well as one having space filled with packing 
material. This is a mistake. In the first 
place, there is no such thing as " dead air " 
space in a beehive or in anything else. Air 
is bound to circulate. The air next to the 
outer wall that is cold cools and necessarily 
circulates over to the other side or inner 
side where it is warm. The cold air rush- 
ing over to the warm side cools the warm 
side, thus making the inner wall almost as 
cold as the outer. When a hive is so de- 
signed that it can hold packing material, 
this material holds an infinite number of 
pockets of air in little compartments. As 
the air in these compartments cannot circu- 
late, it follows that the outer wall may be 
comparatively cold, while the inner one will 
be warm. The fact that all refrigerators 
have the space between the walls packed 
with material, goes to show that the theory 
of " dead air " space between two walls is 
all wrong. Not only that, but actual prac- 
tice shows a big difference between the so- 
called double-walled dead-air-space hive 
and a real double-walled hive, the spaces 
between which are packed. This hive has a 
loose bottom and loose cleats, front and 
rear. In the spring refuse and propolis 
will accumulate on the bottom-board. All 
that is necessary is to lift the hive body off 



the bottom, loosen front and rear cleats K 
and 0, scrape and clean off the dirt, replace 
the cleats and put the hive back on its 
bottom. 

But the question may be asked why 
cleats K and are loose. During hot 
weather it is recommended that cleat K 
should be removed entirely. If the colony 
is very strong, remove cleat also, and this 
makes a draft between front and rear of 
the hive. During winter the entrance should 
be contracted down to not more than an 
inch or two in width. See Entrances. 

The hive just described is one of the 
standard double-walled hives that has been 
on the market for a number of years. 
There is a feeling, however, on the part of 
Government officials and others, that for 
very cold localities it does not afford 
enough packing. Indeed, Dr. E. F. Phil- 
lips, in charge of Bee Culture Investiga- 
tions in the Bureau of Entomology at 
Washington, D. C, stated that, in his opin- 
ion, the original two-story A. I. Root chaff 
hive was much better and was the best 
winter hive that was ever on the market. 
It provided for two or three times the 
amount of packing on the sides and top 
that is given in the Buckeye hive. Our ex- 
perience with it showed that the bees win- 
tered in it much better during severe win- 
ters than in the Buckeye. Moreover, the 
bottom was packed, as well as the sides, 




-^ :> viNj^=,^.iiS£= 



Original Root Chaff hive. 



ends, and tops. In the early editions of 
this work it was shown that bees wintered 
in this hive in our Medina climate for a 
series of twelve years with a loss not ex- 
ceeding on an average three per cent. This 
is a record beyond that subsequently se- 
cured in the Buckeye hive. 

For the average locality, where it is not 



400 



HIVES, EVOLUTION OF 



too cold, where there is plenty of snow, or 
where there are good windbreaks, the Buck- 
eye hive probably affords sufficient protec- 
tion. It is admirably adapted for localities 
like that of Tennessee, some of the other 
Southern States, and many parts of Cali- 
fornia, where the nights are cold, down 
almost to freezing, and the days are warm. 
The double walls prevent the bees from 
coming out too freely on warm days, and 
protect the brood at night. 

PACKING MATERIAL. 

We formerly used wheat or oat chaff; 
but as we could not secure this readily we 
gradually began to use planer-shavings, 
which we can get more easily. These, we 
find, answer every purpose, and we now 
use them exclusively. Forest leaves, if dry 
and well packed, will do just as well, and 
they have the advantage that they make the 
hive, when packed, lighter — that is, easier 
to lift and handle. 

HIVES, EVOLUTION OF.— Primitive 
hives were simply the trunks of hollow 
trees in which bees were lodged, cut down, 
and carried wherever the beekeeper desired. 
This plan of beekeeping is still practiced in 
some parts of Europe, in southeastern 
United States, and is common 
enough in Africa; The stingless- 
bee apiaries of South America 
have hives of this description. 

The next step was to construct 
a cylinder resembling the trunk 
of a tree, either of wood or 
earthenware. In northern cli- 
mates straw came into use, but 
had to be fashioned in the shape 
of a bell to make it easy of con- 
struction. This is the kind of 
hive which was so highly praised 
by poets. It has the merits of 
extreme simplicity and cheap- 
ness. Usually it had cross-sticks 
added inside to keep the combs 
from falling down. See Skeps. 

Not all beekeepers were satis- 
fied with these hives; and as 
early as the 17th century some 
few began to cast about for 
something better. Delia Rocca, 
who wrote a book on bees in the 
18th century, mentions bar hives 



as in vogue in the islands of the Grecian 
Archipelago, where he lived for many 
years.* Such hives were known even to 
the ancient Greeks. They resembled large 
flowerpots with wooden bars on which the 
bees were to fasten their combs. The shape 
of the hive made it practically impossible 
to cause a breakdown of the combs except 
by heat. 

The plan of a movable roof was another 
step in advance, as it gave the beekeeper an 
opportunity to put on an upper story or a 
super to hold the surplus honey where it 
should be, and remove it at the end of the 
honey harvest. 

Mewe, in Great Britain, constructed hives 
of wood on somewhat the same plan as 
early as 1652, and these were gradually 
improved by various inventors. 

Maraldi, about the same era as Mewe, 
invented a single-comb observation hive 
made with glass sides, which contained the 
germ of the movable-comb frame. He al- 
lowed too much space for one comb, and 
frequently the bees built their comb cross- 
wise. Still there was in the Maraldi hive 
the important advantage of handling one 



* Bar hives and movable combs are referred to in a 
book published in Italian in 1590. The author was 
Giovanni Rucellai.^ — A. C. Miller. 




Varieties of the skep. 



HIVES, EVOLUTION OF 



401 



comb at a time, and by this means to get 
a far better conception of what was going 
on inside the hive. Huber extended this 
idea by his improvement, Fig. 1, which 
came very near to the hanging movable 
frame invented by Langstroth 60 years 
later. 



beekeepers of New York State, whose 
names are revered by American beekeepers. 
An examination of the illustrations of 
Huber's hive makes it plain that he had a 
clear idea of what was required in a hive 
for practical purposes. Fig. 3 shows how 
he increased his apiary by artificial means. 




hSSiiifH'in; 



lijiiiiiiiiliiilliililiillliilllllililliliilii 



Fig. 1. — Huber's leaf hive, 1789. — From Cheshire. 

To Huber belongs the credit of inventing 
hives with movable frames,* and it was by 
the use of these that he was able to make 
the discoveries in apiculture which so as- 
tonished and delighted the scientific world 
(see Fig. 2). Huber invented these hives 
about 1789, or perhaps a little earlier. It 
has been contended by some -vvi^ters that 
Huber's hive was not practical; but some 
of the most practical beekeepers the world 



In this case he divided a strong colon}^ by 
slipping a board between the frames, there- 
by splitting it in two. His plan of pro- 
viding a part of each frame for surplus 
honey (Fig. 2) is excellent. Thus it is evi- 
dent that Huber invented some of the prin- 
cipal features of our movable-comb hives. 
The Heddon and Bingham hives are on the 
movable-comb plan. See Hives. 

About 1819 Robert Kerr of Stewarton, 




^31-'>litg'il,sr:ili^/|.'w:iLw/IWlki 



i3LLMH%r 



Fig. 3. — Huber hive, showing how he artificially increased the number 
of his colonies. E, E, E are entrance holes. — From Cheshire. 



has yet produced used modified Huber 
hives, notably Quinby and Hetherington, 



* This honor is usually ascribed to Langstroth, for, 
indeed, he was the first one to invent an all-round 
practical hive and frame — a frame that provided a 
bee-space all around it ; but he did not invent the first 
movable frame (see Frames). 



Scotland, invented a bar hive of consider- 
able merit, shown in Fig. 4. This hive was 
used very successfully, and is still in use, 
but with movable frames instead of mere 
bars. It was still further improved by 
Howatson, also of Scotland, about 1825. 



402 



HIVES, EVOLUTION OF 



Here we have the tiering principle clearly 
comprehended; and had this author and 
inventor grasped the idea of movable-comb 
frames instead of bars he would have in- 
vented a hive on the Heddon principle. 

Prokopovitsch, a Russian, about 1830, 
invented and made in large numbers a 
movable-comb hive of great merit. See 
Fig. 5. In his own apiaries, of which he 
had many, were over 3000 of these hives in 
actual use. His pupils (for he established 
a school of beekeeping) had many more 
in use. 

It may be noted that his surplus frames 
bear considerable resemblance to our bee- 
way sections, and that his hives were dove- 
tailed. Prokopovitsch was certainly a bee- 
keeper of remarkable abilities. He em- 



he adopted frames he did not change the 
construction of his hives in the least. 

Next came Langstroth with his epoch- 
making movable-comb hive with movable 
roof, which combined the essential require- 
ments of a hive. All the combs in the 
Langstroth hive are readily removable with- 
out the slightest annoyance either to the 
beekeeper or the bees. Langstroth did his 
work so well that he left very little for 
future inventors to do. Many have tried 
to improve his hive, but in most cases the 




Fig. 4.— The Stewarton hive, 1819 ; shallow- 
bar hive with glass strips between bars. 
— From Cheshire. 

ployed means and methods far ahead of his 
time. 

It has been claimed by some writers that 
Dzierzon of Germany invented movable 
frames in 1845 ; but it is evident he has no 
claim whatever to this distinction. As a 
matter of fact, according to his own state- 
ments, he used bars until 1855, when he was 
persuaded by Baron Berlepsch to use mov- 
able frames, which had just been intro- 
duced from America. ( See Dzierzon ; also 
Dzierzon Theory.) Dzierzon's bar combs 
were removed by using a long knife to cut 
the attachments from the back of the hive 
one by one; for, to reach the comb at the 
front of the hive, all the other combs had 
first to be removed. His hive was far in- 
ferior to those already mentioned. When 




Fig. 5. — Prokopovitsch's hive, 1830. — From Framiere. 

so-called improvement has proven to be a 
backward step. The striking feature of the 
Langstroth hive is the provision for a bee- 
space on all sides of the comb. This bee- 
space cannot be less than one-sixth of an 
inch nor more than one-third. This alone 
was a great discovery, and placed Lang- 
stroth far above the mere inventor. See 
Frames ; also A B C of Beekeeping. 

From his writings it is evident that 
Langstroth knew nothing about what others 
had done before him in this line; and it is 
apparent that his invention was the result 
of a profound study of the bee and its 
habits. To some extent he was misled by 
others into thinking that the principle of 
the Langstroth hive had been discovered by 
Dr. Dzierzon independently, whereas it is 



HONEY 



403 



now proven that the German beekeeper had 
no claim to the invention of the hanging 
movable comb, to say nothing of the bee- 
space and the movable roof, which are es- 
sential features of the hive. 




Debeauvoy's hive, 1845 ; invented in France before 
Langstroth's hive appeared. 

Langstroth's invention, accompanied by 
an excellent treatise* on the art of keeping 
bees, created a revolution in beekeeping in 
a short time, linking his name with that 
of Huber as the two founders of modern 
apiculture. 

HIVES, MANIPULATINa.— See Man- 
ipulation OF Colonies. 

HIVE-STANDS.— See Apiary. 

HOLLY {Ilex opaca Ait.). — American 
holly. A small tree, 20 to 50 feet tall, with 
a trunk sometimes six feet in circumfer- 
ence. Bark smooth and grayish white. 
The coriaceous, spiny-toothed, elliptical 
leaves, with red berries in the axils, are 
familiar to every one. As in the common 
gallberry, which belongs to the same genus, 
the flowers are small, white, and polygamo- 
dioecious, the staminate being clustered and 
the pistillate solitary. It extends thruout 
the Southern States west to Texas and 
north to Pennsylvania, whence it follows 
the coast northward to Massachusetts. 

American holly is widely distributed in 
Georgia, but is seldom very common in any 
locality. The flowers expand in April, and, 
altho the honey is never obtained pure, it is 
undoubtedly excellent. In Florida it is 

* A reprint of the original work has been published 
by The A. I. Root Company; price $1.00. 



confined to the northern part of the State, 
where it blooms a little earlier than m 
Georgia. The honey is always mixed with 
that of other early spring flowers. For 
example, on the eastern coast it forms a 
flne blend with the honey of the saw pal- 
metto. In South Carolina the holly is also 
considered a valuable honey-producer, and 
the odor of the flowers is very noticeable in 
the apiary when the trees are in bloom. In 
Massachusetts the holly does not flower un- 
til June. There is in this State a variety 
with yellow fruit. 

There are several species of Ilex with red 
berries which are liable to be confused with 
American holly, as they are valuable as 
honey plants, and may attain the size of 
small trees, but they may be easily distin- 
guished by their smaller leaves which are 
never spiny-toothed. The myi^tle-leaved 
Ilex {I. myrtifolia) is fairly common in 
cypress swam.ps in the wire-grass region of 
Georgia. It blooms at the same time and 
usually in the vicinity of the common gall- 
berry, and the honey is believed to be 
equally good, for the bees gather the nectar 
most eagerty. The yaupon (7. vomitoria) 
and the dahoon (7. Cassine) may grow 20 
feet or more tall, and in the Southern 
States are helpful in building up colonies 
in early spring. In New England the black 
alder (7. verticillata) is a common shrub in 
swamps and is much visited by bees. 

HONEY. — Many readers of a work of 
this kind, no doubt, have a good idea of 
the physical properties of a honey, and 
may be able from the taste to determine 
to some extent from what special plant 
any given honey was mainly produced, and 
it may be possible they may have an idea 
of the chemical composition. They may 
also be able to supply a good definition of 
a honey. But for the benefit of others, a 
brief statement covering this extensive field 
may not be out of place. 

As regards definition: 

According to the Century Dictionary, 
" Honey is a sweet viscid fluid collected 
from the nectaries of flowers and elaborated 
for food by several kinds of insects, espe- 
cially by the honeybee (Apis mellifica)" 
An accepted German definition is, " Honey 
is the nectar obtained from flowers by 
worker bees, which, after modification in 
the honey-stomach of the latter, is stored in 



404 



HONEY 



the cells of the comb for the nourishment 
of the young brood." In this country the 
food standards consider " honey as the nec- 
tar and saccharine exudations of plants, 
gathered, modified, and stored in the comb 
by honeybees {Apis mellifica and Apis dor- 
sata)." In the latter definition there is in- 
cluded, besides the nectar of flowers, also 
saccharine exudation of plants. This comes 
about in that many plants contain sugar in 
their saps, and, when an exudation of sap 
takes place, and the water in the sap is 
evaporated, a saccharine residue remains, 
which is gathered by the bees. Also, many 
trees exude a sweet sap when stung by 
some insect, and this is also gathered by the 
bees (see Honeydew). 

Physically considered, honey may be a 
solid block resembling a pound cake of 
creamery butter or it may be semi-solid or 
decidedly liquid. The old idea that crystals 
of dextrose in a honey indicated beyond 
doubt that the product was badly adulter- 
ated with sugar should be and has been dis- 
pelled. 

In color, honey may be water-white, or 
it may grade thru the yellows to the brown 
into the seal brown and nearly to the black. 
It has been known to be decidedly red in 
color, and again at another time to have a 
greenish tinge — none of these indicating 
by any means the addition of artificial 
colors, but being due entirely to the source 
of the bees' food. Honey may be as mild 
or as strong in flavor as one can imagine, 
and may possess all the fragrant aroma im- 
aginable, and again have a nauseous aroma. 
Yet in each case it will be absolutely pure. 

The consuming public are very apt to 
jump at conclusions as regards purity of 
this product on account of these various 
flavors and aromas. A person used to clo- 
ver or alfalfa honey would immediately say 
buckwheat honey was not honey at all; 
and, vice versa, one used to buckwheat 
honey would say clover honey was nothing 
more than a mild-flavored sugar syrup. 

As regards composition : 

Honey belongs to the carbohydrate foods. 
It is practically a solution of the two su- 
gars, dextrose and levulose in water with 
sucrose in varying small quantities, nat- 
urally flavored and containing aromas im- 
parted to it by the flower and by the bee. 
Early analyses of honey were very incom- 
plete. Hassall in his " Food— Its Adulter- 



ations and the Methods for their Detec- 
tion," published along in the sixties, re- 
ports moisture, cane sugar, glucose, insol- 
uble matter, and mineral matter in four 
samples. In his report he states, "With the 
exception of these, so far as we are aware, 
no reliable analyses have yet been made." 

Wiley in Part 6, Bulletin 13, Division of 
Chemistry, United States Department of 
Chemistry, published in 1892, gives a 
rather complete analysis of a number of 
American honeys. But by far the most 
complete and exhaustive study of Ameri- 
can honeys was made by Browne and pub- 
lished in 1908 as Bulletin 110, Bureau of 
Chemistry, United States Department of 
Agriculture. Following this, in 1912, Bryan 
published results of examinations of im- 
ported honeys from Cuba, Mexico, and 
Haiti as Bulletin 151 of the same bureau 
and department. Miss Alice R. Thompson 
in 1908 published results of the examina- 
tion of Hawaiian honeys as Bulletin No. 
17, Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion. 

Abstracting these, we obtain some inter- 
esting facts, and at the same time a fairly 
complete analysis of representative Ameri- 
can honeys, together with those liable to 
enter the American market. 

Browne made a classification of his sam- 
ples according to floral origin; that is, 
placing all those supposed to be obtained 
from clover together, etc., and then at- 
tempted drawing some conclusions as to 
physical and chemical constants of each 
variety. While the results do show some 
conformity to type, they are not as close as 
could be desired, for examination of the 
pollen found in the samples showed that 
the bees had gathered nectar from other 
flowers, altho the prevailing pollen was 
that of the species under which the analysis 
had been classified. 

In this same bulletin is a rather ex- 
haustive study of the several kinds of pol- 
len found and the characteristics of the 
pollen of the various individual flowers. 
The quantity of pollen varied considerably 
in the samples, hence the examination for 
pollen cannot give any index of the percen- 
tage of adulteration. From the kinds of 
pollen found one can judge with some de- 
gree of accuracy the kind of flowers visited, 
but it is hardly safe to say that with the 
absence of a certain pollen, the nectar from 



HONEY 



405 



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that flower has not been gathered and 
stored. 

In the preceding table are contained the 
analytic results of the examination, show- 
ing the average, maximum, and minimum 
figures for American, Hawaiian, Cuban, 
Mexican and Hawaiian honeys. 

It is noted that the American as well as 
the Hawaiian honej's are divided into two 
classes — levorotatory and dextrorotatory. 
The former may be termed honeys under 
the National Food Law, while the latter are 
honeydew honeys. The standard of food 
products under the national law states that 
" Honey should be levorotatory, and should 
contain not more than 25 per cent water, 
not more than .25 per cent ash, and not 
more than 8 per cent of sucrose. 

Th,e quantity of ash stated is too low, as 
Browne's examination has shown 0.90 per 
cent ash. 

The anal3i;ical figures given in the analy- 
ses are for percentage of moisture, invert 
sugar, sucrose, dextrin, ash, and undeter- 
mined matter. The acidity of the honey 
samples has also been given. 

In American honeys there is an average 
of 3.73 per cent of undetermined matter. 
The composition of this material is the 
subject of much work now, and the sub- 
stances found in this class by the chemist 
are often the deciding figure in determin- 
ing the adulteration of honey with commer- 
cial invert sugar. 

The composition of the sugars reported 
as invert sugar, viz., percentage of dextrose 
and levulose, are sometimes of value. Tak- 
ing Browne's results for the average of the 
various species of honey we find : 

Kind of Honey Dextrose Levulose 

Alfalfa 36.85% 40.24% 

White clover 34.96 40.24 

Alsike clover 36.06 40.95 

Sweet clover 36.78 39.59 

Catclaw 38.21 40.81 

Mesquite 38.04 41.03 

Locust 35.98 40.35 

Dandelion 35.64 41.50 

Goldenrod 34.45 37.85 

Aster 33.93 41.31 

Apple 31.67 42.00 

Raspberry 33.57 41.34 

Buckwheat 36.75 40.29 

Wild buckwheat 35.39 41.36 

Cotton 36.19 39.42 

Basswood 36.05 39.27 

Sumac 33.72 37.61 

Tupelo 24.73 48.61 



406 



HONEY, ANALYSIS OF 



In every case the levulose predominates. 
This is of value, as in commercial invert 
sugar the two are equal or the dextrose 
predominates. See Invert Sugar. 

The distinction between honey and honey- 
dew honey is only possible by means of the 
polariscope. If a solution of the honey 
turns a polarized ray of light to the left it 
is levorotatory, and the honey is a true 
honey; but if it turns the ray to the right 
it is a honeydew honey, provided no com- 
mercial glucose has been added. 

For further consideration see Granu- 
lated HoNEY^ Extracted Honey, Honey- 
dew, Honey as Food, Honey, Analysis 
OF, and Nectar. 

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF HONEY. 

The amount of water present in honey 
depends upon the degree of evaporation to 
which the bees have brought the product in 
the hive. Honey which has been taken out 
of the hive prematurely is said to be " un- 
ripe." According to the committee on food 
standards and also the German standard, 
honey which consists of more than 25 per 
cent of water must be classed as immature. 
It is obvious some standard percentage such 
as this is necessary, even tho arbitrary, in 
order that a basis may be had for determin- 
ing what honeys are unripe. 

Honey which has not been capped over is 
sometimes ripe, but more often unripe ; and 
the combs of unripe honey should never be 
placed on the market as anything but im- 
mature honey. It possesses poor keeping 
qualities. Honey extracted from uncapped 
combs should be exposed to evaporation be- 
fore bottling. 

The amount of moisture in honey is not 
conditioned by the nectar of the flower 
from which the honey is derived. It varies 
in some degree, however, with the environ- 
ment of the apiary. Evaporation within 
the hive is promoted or retarded by local 
conditions of humidity. For this reason 
honey from arid parts of the country is 
thicker in general than honey from regions 
where rainfall is plentiful. The difference 
in average water content of ripened honeys 
between those from the humid States of the 
upper Mississippi and those from the 
Southwest, is 3.5 per cent, according to the 
tests in the Government sugar laboratory. 



The degree of granulation which a par- 
ticular sample of honey may reach, as well 
as the length of time it takes to granulate, 
is another physical characteristic worth 
noting and forms roughly an index to its 
purity. Honeys high in dextrose are prone 
to granulation. This characteristic of al- 
falfa honey is well known. Conversely, 
honeys low in dextrose do not granulate 
readily. Note that tupelo, a non-granulat- 
ing honey, shows only 24.73 per cent of 
dextrose, while alfalfa, an early granulat- 
ing honey, shows by the table 36.85 per 
cent. See science of granulation under 
Granulated Honey. Impure honeys, such 
as honeydew honey and honey adulterated 
with glucose, do not granulate as readily 
as a pure honey. Sage and tupelo by na- 
ture seldom granulate. This characteristic 
is utilized by packers in preparing a prod- 
uct which will not readily crystallize on the 
market when exposed to changes in temper- 
ature. See Bottling. 

Ordinarily honey is judged by its color, 
flavor, and density. There is an almost 
endless variety of flavors, making it prac- 
ticable to suit the most exacting connois- 
seur. The flavors, like the evanescent aroma 
of honey, are very difficult to describe and 
really cannot be satisfactorily com.muni- 
cated thru printed description. Alfalfa, 
buckwheat, basswood, cotton, orange, and 
several other kinds of honey have a charac- 
teristic flavor and aroma which any one 
accustomed to them can recognize without 
difficulty. The presence of honeydew is 
usually detected by a burnt-sugar flavor. 
The flavors of some of the prominent honeys 
are described under the respective plants. 

Color is a fair guide, but not always so, 
for the famous heather honey of Europe is 
quite dark, and yet no honey stands higher 
in popular esteem on that continent. The 
best honeys of this country are usually 
spoken of as white, and, tho this is not 
quite correct, still it is near enough for all 
practical purposes without coining a new 
word. 

Clover honey may be taken as the typical 
white honey by which others may be con- 
veniently judged. For the purpose of com- 
parison some may be a little lighter, and 
others a little darker shade; but these nice 
points of distinction are visible only to an 
expert. See Honeys and their Colors. 



HONEY, Al^ALYSIS OF 



407 



It has been the custom of a number of 
honey producers to market their products 
under such names as " white-clover honey," 
" sage honey," and " pure orange honey." 
Upon this practice, Bulletin No. 110 of the 
Bureau of Chemistry makes the following 
statement : " Bottled honeys are frequently 
labeled by some floral designation, and 
these honeys, even when within the stand- 
ard, often show a suspicious variation from 
the analj'ses of such honeys of known floral 
origin, especially as regards sucrose con- 
tent. The microscopic examination of these 
honeys frequently shows an abnost com- 
plete absence of pollen from the flower in 
question. Beekeepers and bottlers of honey 
are sometimes extremely careless in the 
labeling of their products and apply the 
name of almost any flower, thinking that 
they keep within the requirements of the law 
so long as their product is pure honey. 
This is a mistake, as the product should be 
labeled exactly according to its origin." 
see Labels for Hoxet. 

HONEY, ANALYSIS OF.— Outside of 
the determination of moisture or water con- 
tent, the methods of analysis of honeys can 
hardly be carried on by the beekeeper or 
bottler ; first, on account of the rather com- 
plicated procedures, and, second, on ac- 
count of the expensive apparatus needed. 
The moisture determination described be- 
low for the beekeeper or bottler is not so 
accurate as that one described for the chem- 
ist, but it will yield comparative results. 
It is the one in general use by makers of 
maple, sorghum, and also cane sjrrup. 

The analytical procedure described for 
the chemist are all well-known methods and 
should yield accurate results. It is on the 
interpretation of analytical results that the 
chemist may fail, if he has not had some 
little experience with honey. This latter 
phase of the question would easily fill many 
pages, and then it would be doubtful 
whether the whole field had been covered in 
such a way as to explain all cases and con- 
ditions. So one can give here only the out- 
line of the general and special methods 
used in honey examination, followed with 
some remarks about detecting adulteration. 

For sake of convenience and ease of pre- 
sentation, the method of procedure adopted 
is to divide the matter into statements of 
the methods for the individual determina- 



tions ; then follow with maximum and mini- 
mum figures obtained on pure honeys for 
each determination. Maximum or mini- 
mum figures not given may be obtained from 
the table of analysis given under Honey. 

The first step in any analytical examina- 
tion is the drawing of a representative 
sample. This is of greatest importance and 
prevents difficulties with honey on account 
of partial crystallization or candying of 
numerous honeys. 

SAMPLING. 

Comb. — In comb honey it is necessary to 
either select a representative comb or better 
to take portions of a number of combs. 
Then by means of a knife cut across the 
top of the comb and allow the honey to 
drain from the cells. Should the honey have 
granulated in the comb, it will be necessary 
to heat the comb in a water bath at a tem- 
perature not above 160° Fahrenheit until 
the wax liquefies, stirring, then allow the 
whole to cool. The wax will solidify in a 
layer on top. This can be removed and the 
sample is ready for analysis. Should the 
liquid so obtained be full of dirt, treat it as 
given below under "Extracted Honey." 

ExTEACTED HoNEY. — If the Sample is 
free from granulation, and also clear and 
clean and in a perfectly liquid condition, no 
preparation is necessary. When the sam- 
ple has granulated or shows partial granu- 
lation, it should be heated on a water bath 
(never over a direct flame) to a tempera- 
ture never over 160° Fahrenheit until the 
crystals are in solution. If the sample is 
dirty, it can be passed in this state thru a 
fine linen cloth to filter. The heated honey 
is allowed to cool to collect and solidify the 
wax. It is then ready for analysis. 

Drawing representative samples from 
large containers is a difficult proposition. 
The best procedure in such cases should bo 
to liquefy the whole, then stir before taking 
the sample. Under these conditions only 
could one obtain an average sample. 

MOISTURE METHOD FOR BOTTLER. 

The necessary apparatus are a Bauine 
hydrometer graduated from — 50 which 
can be obtained from any wholesale d»'ug- 
gist or chemical house, and a tin cylinder as 
shown in cut about two inches in diameter 
and twelve inches high. 



408 



HONEY, ANALYSIS OF 



BY BAUME HYDROMETER. 

A hydrometer or spindle is an instru- 
ment for showing the density of a liquid. 
Hydrometers are graduated to various 
scales and for various purposes. The one 
generally used for rough sugar work is the 
Baume. The standard of graduation is an 
arbitrary one and varies somewhat with 
different makes. The usual Baume hydrom- 
eter is made of glass and shows a gradua- 
tion from zero to 50, divided into degrees, 
as shown in figure below. The density is 
measured by floating the hydrometer freely 
in the liquid, which is generally held in a 




Hydrometer and its position in the liquid. 

tall cylinder, as shown in the illustration. 
The point on the scale where the instrument 
comes to rest is considered the density. It 
will be noted that the surface of the liquid 
is curved up at the points of contact with 
the metal cylinder, and also with the hy- 
drometer. The correct reading of the in- 
strument is on a line with the surface of 
the liquid as shown in the cut and not at 
the upper edge of the curved portion. The 



temperature at which Baume hydrometers 
are standardized is 60° F., unless it is 
otherwise marked on the stem of the hy- 
drometer, so for correct readings the honey 
should be cooled to that temperature. A 
honey of standard density has a Baume 
reading of 40.9°, but if measuring the 
density of the warm honey by drawing 
some out into a cylinder the density will 
be somewhere about 37° to 40°, and on 
cooling 40.9° to 41.5°. This is readily un- 
derstood when one considers that the zero 
of the hydrometer is at the upper end and 
the 50 at the lower end. On heating a 
liquid, there is an expansion and the liquid 
is lighter, so the hydrometer sinks further 
down than on cooling, when there is a con- 
traction of the liquid. The accuracy of 
these glass hydrometers is very much af- 
fected by using them in hot liquids, hence 
it is not good practice to use the accurate 
instruments in the hot honey. 

The following table shows the solid con- 
tent and the water content for different 
degrees Baume. These figures are only 
approximate. A gallon of the honey should 
be weighed to give accurate results. 

DRY SUBSTANCE AND WATER CORRESPONDING 
TO EACH DEGREE BAUME. 



fcca 



Q M a. 



^S 



-Sol 
" o g 

b? ^ 



9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 



1.7 
3.5 
5.3 
7.0 
8.8 
10.6 
12.3 
14.1 
16.0 
17.7 
19.5 
21.3 
23.0 
24.8 
26.6 
28.4 
30.3 
32.1 
33.9 
35.7 
37.5 
39.4 
41.2 
43.1 
44.9 



98.3 

96.5 

94.7 

93.0 

91.2 

89.4 

87.7 

85.9 

84.0 

82.3 

80.5 

78.7 

77.0 

75.2 

73.4 

71.6 

69.7 

67.9 

66.1 

64.3 

62.5 

60.6 

58.8 

56.9 

55.1 



il 26 
II 27 
II 28 
II 29 
II 30 
II 31 
32 
33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
38 
39 
40 
41 
42 
43 
44 
45 
46 
47 
48 
49 
50 



46.8 

48.6 

50.5 

52.4 

54.3 

56.2 

58.1 

60.0 

61.9 

63.9 

65.8 

67.8 

69.7 

71.7 

73.7 

75.7 

77.7 

79.7 

81.8 

83.8 

85.9 

88.0 

90.1 

92.2 

94.4 



53.2 
51.4 
49.5 
47.6 
45.7 
43.8 
41.9 
40.0 
38.1 
36.1 
34.2 
32.2 
30.3 
28.3 
26.3 
24.3 
22.3 
20.3 
18.2 
16.2 
14.1 
12.0 
9.9 
7.8 
5.6 



Taken at 



HONEY, ANALYSIS OF 



409 



It is not to be understood that a degree 
Baume corresponds to 1.7 per cent of 
sugar, for the hj^drometer measures other 
dissolved solids also. 

In order to determine relatively the num- 
ber of degrees Baume of the cooled honey 
when the reading is made with the hydrom- 
eter at a high temperature, it is necessary 
to take the temperature at the same time 
that the hydrometer is read. Subtract 60 
from the number of degrees Fahrenheit of 
the heated honey (this being the normal 
temperature) and multiply the difference bj^ 
0.0265. This figure (which is the tempera- 
ture corrreetion expressed in degrees 
Baume) is added to the Baume reading of 
the hot honey; and the result is the 
Baume reading of the cooled honey. For 
example, a heated honey shows a reading 
of 38 at a temperature of 160° F. Then — 
160° minus 60 equals 100 
100 times .0265 equals 2.65 
38 plus 2.65 equals 40.65 

The cooled honey would read 40.65, or 
by above table have about 25.5 per cent 
water. 

MOISTURE FOR THE CHEMIST. 

Weigh 2 grams of the sample in flat- 
bottom aluminum (or platinum) dish 2V2 
inches in diameter containing from 10 to 
15 grams of fine quartz sand which has 
been thoroly washed and ignited. A small 
glass stirring rod is weighed out with the 
dish and sand, and after the addition of the 
honey and weighing dissolve the latter in 
5 to 10 cc. of distilled water and thoroly 
incorporate with the sand by stirring with 
the rod. Then place the dish in a vacuum 
oven and dry to constant weight at from 
68° to 72° C. under a 20 to 24 inch 



ASH (mineral matter). 

Carefully weigh 5 grams of the honey in 
a tared platinum dish, add a few drops of 
olive oil, and heat the whole over a flame, 
using care not to lose any honey by spat- 
tering. Then ignite in a muffle or over 
direct flame at a low red heat. Cool, weigh, 
and calculate percentage. Should the ash 
run around .1 per cent it would be well to 
check the result by using 10 grams of the 
honey. The greatest care is necessary in 
ashing a product not to overheat. 



DEXTRIN. 

Tranfer 8 grams of the honey to a 100 
cc. flask with 4cc. of water and add sufifi- 
cient absolute alcohol to bring up to the 
mark. (The transfer is best made by de- 
canting as much as possible of the liquid 
honey into the flask, then adding 2ce. of 
water to the dish (from a burette) to take 
up adhering honey and again decanting. 
By using Ice. more of the water in two 
successive washings and adding a few cubic 
centimeters of the absolute alcohol each 
time before decanting, the honey can be 
completely transferred without the necessi- 
ty of using more than 4cc. of water. 
Finally rinse out the dish with absolute 
alcohol and then add it to the flask with 
continual agitation until the volume has 
reached lOOcc. Allow this to stand until 
the dextrin has settled out on the sides of 
the flask and the supernatant liquid is per- 
fectly clear. 

Then decant the clear solution thru a 
filter and wash the precipitated residue 
with lOcc. of cold 95 per cent alcohol to 
remove the adhering liquid, pouring the 
washings also thru the filter. Dissolve the 
residue adhering to the flask and the parti- 
cles which may have been caught upon the 
filter in a little boiling water and wash into 
a tared platinum dish. Evaporate the con- 
tents of the latter and drj^ in a vacuum 
oven to constant weight as for the moisture 
determination. The alcohol precipitate is 
liable to carry sugars with it so it is neces- 
sary to determine the weight of these and 
therefore m^ake corrections for them. 

After determining the weight of the 
dried alcohol precipitated, redissolve the 
latter in water and make up to a definite 
volume. If the alcohol precipitate weighs 
as much as 0.5 gram, the volume should be 
50cc.; from 0.5 to 1.0 gram, it should be 
lOOcc. ; from 1.0 to 1.5 grams 150cc. and 
so on. Determine the sugars in aliquots 
from the filtered solution of the alcohol 
precipitate, both before and after inver- 
sion. The total alcohol precipitate less the 
weight of invert sugar and sucrose gives 
the weight of dextrin, from which the per 
cent can be obtained. 

reducing sugars. 

Take lOcc. of the solution used for the 
immediate polarization determination (see 



410 



HONEY, ANALYSIS OF 



later) before inversion and make up to 
250cc. in a flask with water. Use 25cc. 
for reduction according to Allilins' method. 
Calculate the results expressed as dextrose 
to invert sugar by the factor 1.044. If 
Munson and Walker's method is used for 
reducing sugar determination, use 25cc. of 
the above sugar solution and 25cc. of 
water. Allihns' method and also Munson 
and Walker's methods are given in detail 
in the Official Methods of the Association 
of Agricultural Chemists, in various hand- 
books for sugar chemists, such as Browne's, 
Spencer, and in most works on food analy- 
sis as Leach, etc. 

SUCROSE. 

Determine the total sugars after inver- 
sion by transferring lOcc. of the 55cc. 
solution (see later) used for the invert 
polarization to a 250cc. flask and making 
up to the mark with water. Take 25cc. 
for a reduction by either Allihns' or Mun- 
son and Walker's method. Calculate to 
per cent invert sugar. Subtract the per 
cent of invert sugar before inversion from 
this figure and multiply the difference by 
the factor 0.95 to obtain the per cent of 
sucrose. The percentage of sucrose cannot 
be determined accurately from the polari- 
zations. 

POLARIZATIONS. 

Transfer 26 grams of honej^ to a lOOcc. 
(true cc.) flask with water, and add 5cc. 
of alumina cream ; make up the solution to 
volume at 20° C, and filter and polarize the 
liquid at once for the " immediate polariza- 
tion." Transfer 50cc. of this filtrate to a 
50-55cc. flask; add 5cc. of concentrated 
hydrochloric acid, and allow the whole to 
stand over night for inversion. Place the 
remainder of the filtrate in a flask, after 
removing the quantity necessary for the 
reducing sugar determination, and allow 
to stand over night. On the following day 
again polarize the two solutions at 20° and 
also at 87° C, making a total of five differ- 
ent readings. 

The polarization at 87° C is a rather 
difficult one to make. It is necessary to 
have a water- jacketed tube and run water 
of about 95° thru at first to bring quickly 
the temperature up to around 85°, then run 



the water at about 90°. When the solution 
itself has reached 87°, make a reading. If 
much time is necessary to bring the solu- 
tion up to 87°, it might be well nearly to 
neutralize the invert solution before mak- 
ing the reading. This practice will give 
different results, and also the solutions will 
turn much darker, making a reading more 
difficult. 

The purpose of the 87° reading is to 
obtain a reading after the invert sugar has 
become optically inactive. With substances 
other than honey dextro readings at 87° on 
the inverted solution would indicate the 
presence of commercial glucose. In honeys 
the reading is due to the excess of dextrose 
plus the natural dextrins. Many chemists 
have fallen into this mistake. 

ACIDITY. 

Dissolve 10 grams of honey in water and 
titrate with tenth-normal sodium hydroxide, 
using phenolphthalein as indicator. Ex- 
press the acidity as formic acid. 

It is known that the sting of a bee is due 
to formic acid, so all analyses are calcu- 
lated to formic acid. Experimental work 
on the acids of natural honey has shown 
that there are two groups of acids present, 
volatile and non- volatile acids. Of the 
former, formic acid forms about one-half, 
the others being butyric, valeric, caproic, 
and capric. Of the non-volatile acids lactic 
acid predominates, then malic acid, suc- 
cinic, and oxalic have been recognized. 
Where the honey has soured or fermented 
the acid formed is acetic. 

DEXTROSE AND LEVULOSE. 

The percentage of these sugars can be 
calculated from the polarizations and re- 
ducing sugar contents. The results are only 
true when the reducing sugar content has 
been determined by Allihns' method. The 
calculation is as follows: 

Multiply the direct polarization at 87° 
by 1.0315 (lOOcc. of solution at 20° ex- 
pands to 103.15cc. at 87°). Subtract this 
figure from the direct constant polarization 
at 20°, and then divide by the factor 
2.3919. The figure thus obtained is the 
grams of levulose in the normal weight of 
honey. Hence to find percentage, this must 
be divided by 26. 



HONEY, ANALYSIS OF 



411 



The percentage of levulose, so found, if 
subtracted from the percentage of invert 
sugar obtained by reduction will give very 
closely the percentage of dextrose if these 
two sugars are present in nearly equal 
amounts. If these two sugars differ widely 
in percentages an error is introduced into 
the original calculation of invert sugar and 
hence in the percentage of dextrose. The 
most accurate procedure is to reduce the 
levulose to its dextrose equivalent in cop- 
per-reducing powder by multiplying by the 
factor 0.915. This subtracted from the to- 
tal reducing sugars as dextrose will give 
the true percentage of dextrose. The re- 
sults then of this determination, viz., per 
cent of dextrose plus per cent of levulose, 
will be greater than the percentage of in- 
vert sugar found by reduction, but such re- 
sults are correct. 

UNDETERMINED. 

The sum of the percentages of water, 
sucrose, levulose, dextrose, ash, dextrin, 
acidity, subtracted from 100 gives the per- 
centage of undetermined matter. This con- 
sists of wax particles, pollen grains, albu- 
minoids, proteids, tannin, essential oils, 
combined acids, and a number of other 
substances. 

PROTEIN. 

Weigh out 2 grams of the honey and 
transfer to a 500cc. Kjeldahl flask; add 
10 grams of powdered potassium sulphate 
and 25cc. of C. P. sulphuric acid. Place 
the flask in an inclined position, and heat 
below the boiling-point of the acid for 
from 10 to 15 minutes, or until frothing 
has ceased (a small piece of paraffin ma}' 
be added to prevent extreme foaming). 
This part of the operation is tedious on 
account of the sugars in the honey. Grad- 
ually increase the heat until boiling is ob- 
tained, then continue boiling until the mix- 
ture is colorless or nearly so, or until oxida- 
tion is complete. This may take over five 
hours. Cool and add 200cc. of water, then 
neutralize with sodium hydroxide solution 
(a few drops of phenolphthalein may be 
added to the liquid to determine easily 
when enough soda has been added). Con- 
nect immediately with a condenser and dis- 
till into half or tenth normal acid. Titrate 
this with tenth normal alkali, using cochi- 



neal as an indicator. A blank should be 
run with the reagents and the results sub- 
tracted from those obtained from the honey 
before calculating the percentage of nitro- 
gen. The per cent of nitrogen times 6.25 
gives the per cent albuminoids or protein. 
American honeys run from 0.1 to 1.0 per 
cent, and even higher. German honeys 
average about 1.08 per cent with a range 
from 0.30 to 2.42 per cent. 

DETECTION OF COMMERCIAL GLUCOSE. 

The dextro rotation of a honey at 87 
is due to honey dextrins. These are dif- 
ferent in character from those dextrins 
obtained by the acid hydrolysis of starch, 
or such as occur in commercial glucose. 
One point of difference is the fact that 
honey dextrins are not colored by iodin 
solution, while the dextrin of glucose, ex- 
cept those of high-conversion products, are 
colored by iodin. Due to this fact Beck- 
man has proposed the following test, which 
is qualitative in nature. 

Prepare a one-to-one solution of honey 
with water and add a few drops to 2cc. of 
iodin solution. If commercial glucose be 
present the solution turns red or violet. 
The depth and quality of the color depend 
upon the quantity and nature of the glu- 
cose employed for adulteration. A blank 
test with a pure honey of about the same 
color, using the same quantity of iodin solu- 
tion, should be made at the same time for 
the purpose of securing an accurate com- 
parison of color. 

If the original honey is dark in color or 
the test is not delicate enough, one can take 
the honey solution, add absolute alcohol 
until all the dextrins are precipitated, 
allow these to settle (never filter), decant 
liquid, and dissolve the dextrin in hot 
water, then treat with iodin. By this means 
as low as 2 per cent glucose can be de- 
tected. 

To determine the quantity of commercial 
glucose the following method by Browne 
gives fair results. It is better than other 
proscribed methods. 

METHOD FOR ESTIMATING GLUCOSE PROM THE 
POLARIZATION. 

The invert polarization at 20° is sub- 
tracted from the invert polarization at 87°, 



412 



HONEY, ANALYSIS OF 



So 






Invert 
at 20 


Is 


Polariz. 
difference 
between 
20 and 87 


.1 
III 


hi 


% glucose 
found by 
the above 
formula 


100 




+153.8 


+ 153.34 


+ 144.32 




30.02 


30.45 




50 


50 


+ 67.0 


+ 65.67 


+ 73.81 


8.14 


53.67 


54.50 


56.9 


20 


80 


+ 15.4 


+ 13.42 


+ 33.00 


19.58 


69.00 


70.35 


19.2 


10 


90 


— 2.4 


— 4.84 


+ 18.59 


23.43 


74.42 


74.12 


8.8 


5 


95 


— 11.5 


— 14.30 


+ 11.66 


25.96 


75.74 


77.80 


3.8 


3 


97 


— 14.2 


— 16.94 


+ 9.13 


26.07 


76.62 


78.01 


3.7 


2 


98 


— 16.0 


— 18.70 


+ 8.14 


26.84 


76.64 


78.34 


1.2 


1 


99 


— 18.2 


— 20.90 


+ 6.93 


27.83 


77.20 


78.87 


.0 





100 


— 19.5 


— 22.11 


+ 5.94 


28.05 


77.68 


78.93 


.0 



and the result multiplied by 77 (the aver- 
age per cent invert sugar after inversion in 
pure honeys). This product is divided by 
the per cent invert sugar after inversion 
found in the sample under examination. 
This figure is multiplied by 100 and the re- 
sult divided by 26.7. The result so ob- 
tained is the percentage of pure honey in 
the sample under examination. This per- 
centage subtracted from 100 gives the per 
cent glucose. 

The table at the top of page gives results 
by this method on mixture of honey with 
varying percentage of glucose. 

The percentages actually found agree 
fairly well with those added. However, it 
is not safe for the percentage of glucose 
in mixtures with less than 10 per cent. Its 
presence in small quantities is easily told 
thru the qualitative test described above. 

' ENZYMES. 

Enzymes are bodies of varying chemical 
nature (considered to be albuminous in 
nature) which occur in the constitution of 
animals and plants and effect decomposi- 
tion of certain chemical compounds occur- 
ring in association with them without being 
used up themselves. They are all destroyed 
by high heat, but at lower temperatures are 
more or less affected. In honey, both in- 
vertase and diastase are present and are 
the principal ones. Invertase is capable of 
breaking up sucrose into dextrose and lev- 
ulose while diastase is capable of changing 
starch into dextrose. All honeys contain 
these enzymes. Boiling a honey destroys 
them. Heating a honey to 170° or 180° F. 
(a temperature above that recommended 
for liquefying a honey) destroys the action 
of invertase and weakens but does not de- 
stroy diastase. To destroy the activity of 
the latter it is necessary to bring the tem- 
perature up to 200° F. 



The test for enzymes is then important 
in assisting in the determination of adulter- 
ation with commercial invert sugar. A 
color reaction (See below Browne's or 
Bryan's modification of Fiehe's test) and 
a positive diastase test would signify com- 
mercial invert sugar. 

The method of carrying on the test is as 
f ollow^s, " Moreau method." 

Ten grams honey with 2 to 3cc. of water 
are added drop by drop, shaking constant- 
ly to lOOcc. absolute alcohol. Allow to 
stand, then decant, and add cold recently 
boiled distilled water to the precipitate and 
filter. Repeat this process on a second 10 
grams of the honey, boiling the filtered so- 
lution a few minutes. According to an- 
other method use the same amount of 
honey, but add 250cc. of 95 per cent alco- 
hol, shake and centrifuge, then wash the 
precipitate repeatedly with 75 per cent al- 
cohol to remove all sugars, next dissolve in 
cold water and neutralize the solution to 
methyl-orange, using tenth normal sodium 
hydroxide, then add 1.5cc. of one per cent 
formic acid. 

The invertase is determined by adding 
5cc. of ten per cent sucrose solution to a 
portion of the honey-extracted solutions, 
made to lOOcc. with cold recently boiled 
distilled water and determine the reducing 
portion of each of the honey-extracted solu- 
tion. To the remainder of the solution, add 
5 drops of toluene to prevent growth of 
micro-organisms; place in an oven at 25 to 
30° C. for four days and again determine 
reducing sugars. For diastase, use the 
same procedure as described above, starting 
with 10 grams of honey, except that a solu- 
tion of starch, equivalent to 0.25 grams of 
potato starch is substituted for sucrose and 
the solution is kept at 45 to 50° C. 
for 24 hours in place of 4 days at 25 to 
30° C. The results in each case are ex- 



HONEY, ANALYSIS OF 



413 



pressed in grams of reducing sugars per 
100 grams of honey. 

The following figures for diastase on 
pure German honeys have been obtained: 
0.60 to 3.68, and for invertase 1.05 to 12.02. 
There are no figures so far published for 
American honej's. 

ALBUMINOID PRECIPITATE. 
" LUND^S TEST.-*' 

In the undetermined matter of honey, 
there are varying quantities of substances 
precipitated by the addition of tannin and 
also phosphotungstic acid. The quantity of 
the precipitate so obtained has been used 
as a measure of adulteration. Commercial 
invert sugar contains none of these mate- 
rials, hence no precipitate, so that a figure 
for this test below the minimum of a pure 
honey in conjunction with the diastase test 
and color test strongly indicated adultera- 
tion. 

For these tests a special glass tube is 
necessary, similar in form to a Horvet 
maple tube. The tube should hold over 
40cc., and have a mark at the 40cc. point. 
The lower portion of the tube should hold 
4cc., and be 8mm. in diameter and be 
graduated into tenths of a cubic centimeter. 
The upper portion should be 16mm in 
diameter. The lower portion of this part 
should be graduated into half cubic centi- 
meters up to 20cc. ; from 20cc. to 40cc, 
there need be no graduation. 

LUND^S TANNIN TEST. 

Take 20cc. of a filtered ten-per-cent 
honey solution in the tube and add 5cc. of 
a five-per-cent tannin solution (in distilled 
water), then add distilled water to the 
40cc. mark and shake thoroly. Allow the 
tube to stand 24 hours and then read off 
the volume of the precipitate. Results in 
Germany on this test show pure honeys 
never go below 0.9cc. of the precipitate 
and seldom below 1.2cc. and may go as 
high as 4.0cc. Adulterated honeys show 
figures from nothing up to 0.30 and higher, 
but seldom above l.Occ. 

LUND^S PHOSPHOTUNGSTIC-ACID TEST. 

In a tube described above, add 20cc. of 
a filtered ten-per-cent honey solution and 



then 5cc. of the following reagent: phos- 
photungstic acid, 2 grams; sulphuric acid 
(1 to 4), 20 grams; water, 80 grams; then 
water to the 40cc. mark. Shake as before 
and allow to stand 24 hours. Pure honeys 
show from 0.3cc. to 40cc. of a precipitate, 
while adulterated honey much less. This 
latter test has been used more than the 
tannin test. Results from American honeys 
by American chemists have not been pub- 
lished. 

COLOR TESTS. 

In the commercial manufacture of invert 
sugar there is more or less decomposition 
of a small percentage of the levulose, giv- 
ing rise to furfural or oxymethyl furfural. 
This latter body when treated with various 
reagents develops brilliant colors. This, 
then, is the basis of a color test for com- 
mercial invert sugar. As levulose and dex- 
trose are present in pure honey, it is 
claimed that by overheating these same 
furfural bodies will be formed. Much has 
been written pro and con on this point, 
possibly mainly to cast doubt on these very 
delicate color tests. Heating as carried on 
by the beekeeper (up to 160° F.) will never 
develop furfural in a pure honey. Heat- 
ing to boiling and then cooling will not de- 
velop this substance. Boiling a very acid 
honey may give a very slight test, but 
taken along with the strength of color 
shown by commercial invert sugar when 
present in as low as 5 per cent no one 
would be confused by the test. 

The number of these color tests proposed 
are too many to be given in one place. The 
following are easily w^orked. 

BROWN^S ANALIN ACETATE TEST. 

Prepare fresh each time it is used the 
following reagent : 

To 5cc. of anilin (this should be water- 
white) add 5cc. of water, shake, and then 
add glacial acetic acid to clear the emulsion 
(generally about 2cc. is necessary). To 
5cc. of a 1-to-l solution of the honey with 
water in a test tube add 1 to 2cc. of the 
above reagent. Allow the latter to flow 
down the walls of the test tube to form a 
layer. In the presence of commercial in- 
vert sugar a red ring forms at the junction 
of the two liquids. 



414 



HONEY AND ITS COLORS 



BRYANTS MODIFICATION OP FIEHE^S TEST. 

Prepare the following reagent fresh at 
each time of testing : 

Five-tenths gram of resorcinol in 50cc. 
of hydi'ochloric acid (Sp. Gr. 1.19). Place 
lOcc. of a 50-per-cent honey solution in a 
test tube and run 5cc. of redistilled ether 
on top. Shake contents gently (taking 
care not to form an emulsion), and allow 
to stand until ether layer is perfectly clear ; 
transfer 2cc. of the clear ether solution to 
a small test tube, and add a large-sized 
drop of the reagent. Shake, and note the 
color immediately. In the presence of com- 
mercial invert sugar the drop in the bottom 
assumes an orange-red color, turning to a 
dark red. Most pure honeys show this 
coloration when allowed to stand anywhere 
from half to one hour, but never on the 
immediate application of the reagent. 
Heated honeys do not develop an immedi- 
ate coloration. 

FEDER'S ANILIN CHLORIDE TEST. 

Prepare freshly each time it is used the 
following : 

To lOOcc. of C. P. anilin add 30cc. of 
25 per cent hydrochloric acid. For the 
test, 5 grams of the honey are mixed direct- 
ly in a porcelain dish with 2.5cc. of the 
anilin reagent. A bright-red color indi- 
cates commercial invert sugar. Pure honeys 
may show a faint pink color at the start, 
but on standing this very often disappears. 

SUMMARY. 

To form a conclusion on a sample of 
honey it is necessary to make most of the 
determinations described above. A mois- 
ture determination gives the data as to 
whether a sample complies with the United 
States standards in this particular. The 
determination of reducing sugars before 
and after inversion gives the only reliable 
data as to sucrose content. In this connec- 
tion it should be noted that a fresh honey 
may show a high percentage of sucrose, 
but on standing show less, little or none de- 
pending on the activity of the enzyme in- 
vertase in the honey. The polarization fig- 
ures, together with the reducing sugar con- 
tent, furnishes the data along with the 
Beckman test for the presence or absence 



of commercial glucose. The presence of 
large quantities of sodium chloride in the 
ash would also help in deciding on com- 
mercial glucose. Too much dependence 
cannot be placed on the chlorine content 
of a honey unless it is known that the 
honey was not produced near salt water. 

For commercial invert sugar the per- 
centage of dextrose and levulose, the 
amount of ash and composition of the ash, 
the amount of tannin and phosphotungstic 
acid precipitate, the diastase and invertase 
reaction, the percentage of nitrogen, and 
the color tests are all helpful and needed. 
The presence of tartaric, phosphoric, hy- 
drochloric, and sulphuric, also acetic acids 
in appreciable quantities are extra, and are 
valuable determinations. The quantity and 
kind of pollen, also appearance, are some- 
times of value in deciding on a honey. 

For the further consideration of this 
subject see Granulated Honey, Ex- 
tracted Honey, Honeydew, Honey as 
Food, and Nectar. 

HONEY AND ITS COLORS.— The va- 
rious kinds of honey differ very much in 
color, flavor, and density. One variety may 
be practically colorless, while another pro- 
duced in the same locality, under the same 
conditions, by the same bees, but from dif- 
ferent flowers, may be a dark brown. One 
kind may contain less than one-sixth of 
water, while another may contain a fourth. 
The proportions of dextrose, levulose, and 
sucrose vary considerably; but as the ex- 
tent of the variation is known to chemists 
they are compelled to take this into account 
in forming an opinion from the analytical 
figures. 

Ordinarily honey is judged by its color, 
flavor, and density. There is an almost 
endless variety of flavors, making it prac- 
ticable to suit the most exacting connois- 
seur. Color is a fair guide, but not always 
so, for the famous heather honey of Europe 
is quite dark, and yet no honey stands 
higher in popular esteem on that continent. 

The best honeys of this country are usu- 
ally spoken of as " water- white," and, tho 
this is not quite correct, still it is near 
enough for all practical purposes without 
coining a new word. 

Clover honey may be taken as the typi- 
cal white honey by which others may be 
conveniently judged. For the purpose of 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



415 



comparison some may be a little lighter, 
and others a little darker shade; but these 
nice points of distinction are visible only to 
an expert. 

Taken by this standard, in the North we 
have all the clovers — white, alfalfa, crim- 
son, mammoth, alsike, sweet — and the Euro- 
pean sainfoin; basswood, raspberry (wild), 
willow-herb (or fireweed), milkweed, Can- 
ada thistle, apple, cucumber (pickle), and 
Rocky Mountain bee-plant. In the South 
we have white honey from the following: 
Gallberry (holly), sourwood, tupelo, man- 
grove, cotton, palmetto, bean, huajilla, cat- 
claw, huisache, mesquite, California sage, 
and some others of less importance. In 
the American tropics the chief white honey 
is from logwood or campeche; on all trop- 
ical seashores, from campanilla (Cuba), 
and the mangrove (courida). 

Amber-colored honey comes from many 
sources. Among them, only the more famil- 
iar ones can be noted in a popular book of 
this kind; namely, goldenrod, wild sun- 
flower, heartsease, Spanish needle, sumac, 
poplar, gum, eucalyptus, magnolia, mari- 
gold, horsemint, horehound, carpet-grass, 
and the hog plum (hobo), rose-apple, and 
royal palm of the West Indies. 

Of dark honeys we take two great exam- 
ples — the buckwheat of the United States 
and Europe, and heather, which is confined 
to Europe alone. The latter, tho dark, is a 
rich, strong-flavored, thick honey, so dense 
that the extractor is not used to take it 
from the combs. That produced in Scot- 
land commands a very high price, while 
that of England is cheaper, being gathered 
from another species of heather. In North 
Germany the heath or heather honey com- 
mands a good figure. It is largely pro- 
duced by migratory beekeepers, their bees 
existing on white clover during summer, 
and in the fall being moved to the heaths. 

Buckwheat honey is not nearly so good 
as clover, either in flavor, density, or color; 
but it is so liberally produced in buckwheat 
localities that it is a paying crop to the 
beekeeper. It blooms late, hence the bees 
can be prepared in ample time to profit 
by its bloom. This feature alone makes it 
very valuable to the beekeeper who is for- 
tunate enough to live in a buckwheat- 
growing section. In those parts of this 
country where buckwheat is grown largely, 
consumers are willing to pay as much, or 



almost as much, as they will for fine white 
honey. Indeed, many prize it more highly. 

In France there is a great demand for 
buckwheat honey from bakers of a kind of 
bread which has been made for centuries. 
No other sort of honey is desired by these 
bakers, who derive nearly all their supply 
from Brittany, where buckwheat is com- 
monly sown. Attempts have been made to 
get the bakers to use other dark honeys, 
but without success. 

In Europe there are some prominent 
honeys which are almost or quite unknown 
in this country. Heather has been men- 
tioned. Sainfoin is another which is quite 
common, being almost the same as our 
alfalfa honey. Narbonne honey belongs 
to this class. In southern Europe romarin 
(rosemary) is very highly spoken of; and 
in Greece there is the classically famous 
honey of Mount Hymettus, from wild 
thyme. In Australia the honey of eucalyp- 
tus is highly appreciated, but attempts to 
sell it in England have always ended in 
failure, altho it ought to be useful for per- 
sons suffering from coughs and colds. In- 
stead of the eucalyptus flavor proving to 
be an attraction it proved to be a draw- 
back. In California, eucalyptus has a lim- 
ited demand. 

HONEY AS A FOOD. — Nearly 80 
pounds of sugar on the average is annually 
consumed by every man, woman, and child 
in the United States. It is only within the 
last few centuries that sugar has become so 
low in price as to come into general use 
even among the poorest families. Former- 
ly, honey was the principal sweet, and it 
was one of the items sent as a propitiatory 
offering by Jacob to his unrecognized son, 
the chief ruler of Egypt, 3000 years before 
the first sugar refinery was built. 

The health of the present generation 
would be greatly benefited if honey could 
be at least partially restored to its former 
place as a common article of diet. The 
almost universal craving for sweets of 
some kind shows that the system demands 
food of this kind, but the excessive use of 
sugar brings in its train a long list of ills. 
Prof. A. J. Cook of Sacramento, Cal.,, says, 
" If cane sugar is absorbed without change, 
it will be removed by the kidneys, and may 
result in their breakdown. . . . There 
can be no doubt but that in eating honey 



416 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



our digestive machinery is saved work that 
it would have to perform if we ate cane 
sugar. . . . We all know how children 
long for candy. This longing voices a need 
and is another evidence of the necessity of 
sugar in our diet. . . Children should 
be given all the honey at each meal time 
that they will eat. It is safer and will 
largely do away with the inordinate long- 
ing for candy and other sweets, and in 
lessening the desire will doubtless diminish 
the amount of cane sugar eaten." Dr. 
Nuttall, a physician of the Pacific Medical 
Institute, Los Angeles, Cal., has stated that 
honey is a most valuable food, and that he 
is recommending it to patients suffering 
from impaired digestion. 

Dr. Talmadge of Salt Lake City, Utah, 
is using honey very successfully in the 
treatment of typhoid-fever patients, and 
he finds that it is readily absorbed even by 
those whose digestion is very weak. Dr. 
J. H. Kellogg, Battle Creek, Mich., en- 
dorses honey as the best form of sweet. In 
fact, all doctors and physicians who have 
made a study of honey as compared with 
sugars or syrups, strongly recommend its 
use. 

Honey, like fruits and other foods with 
a high percentage of sugar, is to be classed 
with those furnishing the carbohydrates, 
and comparison should be made upon this 
basis. The carbohydrates are energy-form- 
ers, as contrasted with foods containing 
protein (the tissue-forming element), with 
those largely fat, and with those containing 
the small amount of mineral matter which 
is necessary in bone-building. As a carbo- 
hydrate it ranks one-fifth less than sugar, 
the difference between them being due to 
the presence of the water in honey. The 
energy value is 1485 calories per pound, a 
calorie being the unit of heat required to 
raise the temperature of one gram of water 
one degree centigrade. This exceeds the 
caloric contents of every other food but 
dates, being far ahead of meat, eggs, bread, 
milk, or vegetables. Its value for furnish- 
ing energy without going thru a prolonged 
digestive process has given it a place in 
army rations. Immense quantities of honey 
were used by the armies in the great war 
of Europe because at the time honey was 
actually cheaper than sugar and because it 
is naturally more delicious and convenient 
a spread for bread than raw sugar. 



Basing food value upon the amount of 
energy in calories to be derived from a 
food, and taking the average prices into 
consideration, honey is a more economical 
food than pears, oranges, figs, bananas, 
strawberries, and grapes, other foods in the 
same class of energy-producers. Of foods 
in other classes, honey is more economical 
as an energy-producer than celery, toma- 
toes, canned corn, and all the meats, with 
the possible exception of pork chops. On 
the other hand, it is less economical than 
bread, cereals, potatoes, baked beans, and 
apples. 

These comparisons were made from stud- 
ies and tables from the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture and other sources. The dia- 
gram (next page) shows graphically the 
constituents of an average jar of honey. 
The flavor of honey depends largely upon 
the presence and proportion of the ele- 
ments bracketed as "undetermined matter." 

*INORGANIC ELEMENTS PRESENT IN HONEY. 

" The animal body requires for its well- 
being the following inorganic elements: 
Phosphorus, P.; iron, Fe. ; calcium, Ca. ; 
magnesium, Mg. ; chlorine, CL; sodium, 
Na.; potassium, K. ; sulphur, S.; manga- 
nese, Mn.; and silicon. Si. As to the im- 
portance of manganese and silicon, opin- 
ions differ; but both of these elements are 
present in the ash of the honey. Until 
recently the inorganic parts in honey had 
received but little attention. Some are of 
the opinion that the ground on which the 
plant grows would influence the amount of 
inorganic elements in the nectar; for in- 
stance, that land with much iron would 
produce nectar or honey with much iron 
content. Others hold that certain plants 
have a special affinity for some of the inor- 
ganic elements, and will take these up while 
they partly or entirely neglect others. . . 
The above enumerated inorganic elements 
that the animal body requires are all found 
in the ashes of honey of various origin. 
The only exception is silicon. 

" It is generally known that iron is very 
important to the human body. It is an 
important constituent of the red blood cor- 
puscles. Chlorosis is a sign that the body 
is suffering from a lack of iron. For such 

* Condensed from an article by Dr. Fehlman in the 
Schweizerische Bienenzeitung, by J. A. Heberle. 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



417 



Invert sugar, 
75% ■> 


r 


/ \ 


— 






y 


Dextrin, l.S'/r 












Protein, .37o- 
Moisture, 17%- 






— -> 







Le\iilose, 41% 
(fruit sugar) 



Dextrose, 34% 
(grape sugar) 



Sucrose, 1.9% 



Ash, .18% 

Undetermined matter, 3.68% 

Nitrogen, .04% 

Acid, .1%, 



/ Iron, lime, sodium, 
/ sulphur, magnesia, po- 
I tassium, manganese, 
\ phosphoric acid, pol- 
] len grains, albumen, 
aromatic bodies (ter- 
penes, etc.) higher al- 
cohols (manitol, etc.), 
and various other bod- 
ies of indefinite or un- 
known character. 



persons honej^ is a very valuable medicine. 
Why not in such cases eat honey regularly, 
which supplies the iron in the most assimi- 
lable form, instead of artificial iron pre- 
parations? Besides iron, manganese seems 
also to influence favorably the building of 
blood. 

" Phosphoric acid with calcium is the 
principal constituent of the skeleton, but is 
also found in the brain and nerves. It is 
often prescribed in chlorosis and for con- 
valescent persons, especially in prepara- 
tions which are closely related to the form 
in which it is present in the brain, as ovale- 
cithin, phytin, glycerin phosphates, etc. 

" Calcium is an important part of the 
skeleton and teeth, but is also found in the 
soft tissues of the body, and is probably 
a necessary part in the protoplasm of most 
cells. It is continually exchanged, and 
therefore an indispensable part of our 
food. Calcium and potassium seem also to 
influence the work of the heart. 

" Sugar, altho a valuable food, has no 
trace of inorganic matter. It consists of 
carbon, hydi^ogen, and oxygen only. Con- 

14 



sidering the excellent qualities of honey, 
and its moderate price, it should be used 
far more extensively." 

THE USE OF HONEY IX COOKING. 

The simplest way to serve honey is the 
most common — just spread it on bread or 
rolls, either in the form of comb or liquid. 
It goes as far as jam in this way. Honey 
is often served with rice, breakfast cereals, 
pancakes, and similar foods. Honey and 
cream is an ideal combination. Honey can 
be used to advantage in flavoring ice cream, 
gelatine creams, and delicate blanc-manges. 
Honey combines particularly well with or- 
anges, apples, bananas, peaches, and dried 
fruits. A delicious substitute for maple 
syrup is made by honey diluted with hot 
water, and the same syrup cold is superior 
to undissolved sugar for sweetening sum- 
mer drinks. This method of flavoring goes 
well with carbonated water. 

Fruits cooked in honey keep indeflnitely. 
Bar-le-Duc currants, which seU ordinarily 
at a high price, are often made by cooking 
currants in honey. A brighter color is pres- 



418 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



ent in fruits so preserved than in those 
bottled in the usual way, as honey is a pre- 
servative. 

Indiscriminate substitution of honey for 
corresponding amounts of molasses or su- 
gar in recipes does not always give the 
expected results. The cook should keep in 
mind the difference in chemical nature be- 
tween honey and syrup before making up a 
recipe. Better bake a small amount as a 
test before entirely filling a new recipe. 

Less soda is required when substituting 
honey for ordinary molasses. Experiments 
in the government nutrition laboratory 
have shown that Y^ level teaspoonful of 
soda is generally the amount required with 
a cupful of honey. In baking with sour 
milk and soda it is well to add a pinch of 
baking-powder to every pint of flour. 
Cakes will be lighter and finer grained if 
this is done. When baking-powder is sub- 
stituted for soda use a little more. 

When honey is used in a recipe less milk 
is required on account of the water in the 
honey. Compared with some of the " corn 
syrups " on the market, honey is sometimes 
considered, pound for pound, more expen- 
sive, but where two or three cups of syrup 
will be required in a recipe only one of 
honey is necessary. The cake or cooky is 
improved in flavor and healthfulness with 
no increase in cost. 

Baked foods keep much better when 
prepared with honey instead of with sugar. 
It was formerly believed that cakes baked 
with honey absorb moisture from the air, 
but experiments have been made in the 
government nutrition laboratory which 
seem to show that the softness of the honey 
cake is due to the presence of the levulose 
in the honey. The fact that such cakes, tho 
soft, never become soggy, even tho exposed 
to moist air for a long time, seems to bear 
out this conclusion. Cakes should be al- 
lowed to " ripen " for a day or two at least, 
to develop the honey flavor. Honey fruit 
cakes, hermits, and the like are better at 
the end of two or three weeks. 

Cakes made with honey and butter will 
keep until the butter grows rancid. Cook- 
ies made with honey will not dry out. 
Dough itself containing honey will stay 
fresh indefinitely. The remarkable merits 
of goods baked with honey have led large 
wholesale bakers and cracker manufactur- 



ers to use quantities in their product. Some 
big firms buy honey annually by the car- 
load. The same power in retaining mois- 
ture and freshness is present in icings made 
with honey. The icing will last for months 
unimpaired in consistency and taste, and is 
especially valuable for such cakes as fruit 
cakes which are to be kept for a long time. 
Orange, bitter almonds, lemon, and fruit 
flavors generally blend well with honey, as 
do also anise, cardamon, coriander, and 
other spicy seeds. 

Contrary to directions for cooking honey, 
as given in some of the old cook books, it 
is seldom necessary to bring honey to the 
boiling-point and then skim and cool it. 
Bringing honey to the boiling-point is sure 
to give a burnt flavor. It should not be 
kept unnecessarily hot for any length of 
time. 

THE HONEY EECIPES. 

All of the recipes here given have been 
thoroly tested; but any recipe, while it 
may be succesful in the hands of the ori- 
ginator, often needs modification when it is 
tried by others. All will give good results, 
but the following 20 recipes (pictured on 
page 420) are especially fine. In this con- 
nection we wish to call particular attention 
also to the one for making cereal coffee. 
The ingredients used are so simple and the 
work of preparing consumes so little time 
that there is no one who should miss trying 
this delightful drink. It has a very rich 
flavor, especially when cream is used, with- 
out the scorched, bitter taste that most 
cereal coffees have. The expense, of course, 
is so little as to be practically nothing. The 
honey and egg used allow the bran to 
brown to a rich color without burning, so 
that the final result is surprising. Try it. 

1. OATMEAL COOKIES 



2 cups rolled . oats 

2 cups flour 

1 teaspoon soda 

1 tablespoon grated choc- 
olate or cocoa 
Vz teaspoon cinnamon 
Vz teaspoon cloves 



Vz teaspoon nutmeg 

Vz teaspoon salt 

1 cup chopped raisins 

% cup chopped nuts 

1 cup honey 

1 cup sour cream 

2 eggs 



Sift the dry ingredients together (except the rolled 
oats) and add all other ingredients, the soda dissolved 
in the sour cream. Stir well, and drop by teaspoon- 
fuls into cooky pans, or balce in gem-pans. Nuts may 
be omitted. 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



419 



-HONKT BUSKS 



rich flavor and the fresh natural color of the fruit thus 
prepared. 



3 cups flour 

2 cups milk 
% cup honey 
% cup warm water 

1 cake compressed yeast 
% teaspoon salt 



3 tablespoons melted 

butter 
Raisins, currants, or car- 

damon seed 
1 egg 
1 cup flour 



Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Mix the 
flour, milk, honey, yeast, and salt and set in a warm 
place to rise. When very light, add the beaten egg, 
butter, and enough flour to make a stiff dough. Knead 
lightly and mold in small biscuits or twists. Raisins, 
currants, or cardamon seed may be added at discre- 
tion. Rub the top with beaten egg ; cover, and let 
them rise again until they are double in bulk, and are 
very light and fluffy. Bake 20 to 25 minutes in a 
moderate oven, glazing them with sugar and water 
just before removing them from the oven. 

3. HONEY BAKED BEANS. 

Soak over night one pint of small white beans. 
Bring to a boil, adding baking soda the size of a 
bean, and allow to simmer for half an hour. Drain, 
and cook till tender in salted water, but not long 
enough to break the skins. Drain and rinse the beans, 
and put them in an earthern bean-pot. Pour over 
them a pint of milk, adding a tablespoonful of butter, 
2 tablespoonfuls honey, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. 
Cover closely, and bake in a slow oven till the milk is 
absorbed. 



-LADY FINGEKS 



1 cup honey 

2 eggs 

% cup butter 

4 cups flour 



^ teaspoon baking pow- 
der 
Vz teaspoon soda 
1 teaspoon salt Sugar 



Blend the honey warmed with butter, add beaten 
eggs and flour, sifted with the dry ingredients. Cut 
la strips. Roll in sugar. Bake in a quick oven. 

5. — MARSHMALLOW CREAM 



M cup honey 
1 teaspoon gelatine 
% cup cold water 



Vz cup boiling water 

Whites 2 eggs 
1 teaspoon vanilla 



1 teaspoon lemon extract 

Dissolve gelatine in the usual way, heating it over 
a teakettle until thoroly dissolved. Cool, but do not 
chill ; stir in the honey, and add to the whites of the 
eggs beaten very light, a few spoonfuls at a time, 
beating constantly. Divide into 2 parts ; to one part 
add a color and flavor with vanilla, about 1 teaspoon ; 
to the other part add 1 teaspoon lemon extract. Mold 
in layers, adding nuts to one part and maraschino 
cherries to the other. Serve with or without whipped 
cream. 

6. — FRUIT CANNED WITH HONEY 

Prepare fruit as usual in canning. Put on to boil. 
When the fruit is ready for canning add honey, about 
as much of it as one would use of sugar. Be sure to 
let the fruit come just to the boiling point ; but after 
adding the honey do not boil, as this is liable to dam- 
age the fine flavor of the honey. Have the jars ready, 
clean, and very hot ; put in the fruit and seal. Fruit 
canned thus keeps better than by the old method of 
canning with sugar ; it has in addition the delicate 
flavor of the honey. Only those who regularly use 
honey in canning and preserving can appreciate the 



-SOUR-MILK CAKE 



V4: cup lard or butter 
Vz cup sugar 
Vz cup honey 
% cup sour milk 

1 egg 

1% cups flour 



Vz teaspoonful soda 
1 teaspoon baking pow- 
der 
% teaspoon cinnamon 
% teaspoon cloves 

Pinch salt Nutmeg 



Beat the sugar and lard to a cream and then add 
the egg well beaten and the other ingredients. Use 
little nutmeg and mix the soda with the flour. Bake 
in either jelly-tins or loaf in a moderate oven, and 
put together with caramel frosting. 



8. — GRAHAM PUDDING 



%, cup butter 
% cup honey 
Vz cup milk 
1 egg 



IVz cups graham flour 
Vz teaspoon soda 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 cup seedless raisins 



Melt the butter ; add the honey, milk, and egg, well 
beaten ; dry ingredients mixed and sifted, and raisins. 
Turn into buttered mold; cover and steam 2% hours. 
Serve with pudding sauce. 

9. HONEY NOUGATINES 



Va cup honey 
% cup pure corn syrup 
Paraffin (size of a pea) 
1 cup sugar 
% teaspoon salt 
M: cup water 



1 teaspoon vanilla 
Whites 2 eggs 
^ pound chocolate 
1 cup almond or walnut 
meats, chopped fine 



Mix the honey, corn syrup, or glucose, sugar, paraf- 
fin (piece size of pea), and water and boil until a 
drop makes a hard ball when dropped in cold water 
(248° F.). Stir occasionally while boiling. Pour part 
of the syrup gradually on to the whites of the eggs, 
beaten dry. Add the salt. Beat constantly in pour- 
ing. Boil the remainder of the syrup until it is brit- 
tle when tested in cold water (290° F.), and again 
pour on the eggs, this time all of the syrup, and beat 
constantly while pouring. Then boil the mixture and 
beat constantly until it is crisp when tested. Cool in 
a buttered tin. Cut in oblong pieces and coat with 
chocolate. 

10. — HONEY DROP CAKES 



1 cup sugar 

2 tablespoons honey 
2 or 3 eggs 

% cup shortening 

Vs cup buttermilk or sour 

cream 
% teaspoon soda 



teaspoons baking pow- 
der 

Pinch salt 

teaspoon vanilla, 

orange, or lemon to 
taste 

About 3% cups flour 



Cream the sugar, shortening, and honey, add the 
eggs well beaten and then the buttermilk. Sift the 
dry ingredients in flour enough to make a stiff bat- 
ter to drop from spoon. Bake in moderate oven. 
These cakes will run together in baking, and must be 
cut apart with a knife, but are much better than 
rolled, and much less trouble to bake. 



11.- 

% cup honey 
Vz cup butter 

2 eggs 
% cup milk 

1 cup raisins 
% cup chopped citron 



-FRUIT CAKE 



1 cup maraschino 

cherries, cut up 
3 teaspoons baking pow- 
der 
% teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon ginger 
6 cups flour 



420 



HONEY AS A FOOD 




The results of twenty of the recipes selected as the best. See preceding and following pages. 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



421 



Warm the butter, honey, and milk over a slow fire ; 
cool, and add the well-beaten eggs, the salt, and the 
ginger. Sift the baking powder with the flour ; dredge 
the fruit with flour, and add these alternately, 
well and bake in greased loaf-tin about an hour. 



Mix 



12. APPLE PUDDING 



Apples sliced fine 
14 cup honey 
Cinnamon 
Butter 
1 teaspoon salt 



2 eggs 

Vz cup water 

3 or 4 slices bread 

crumbled 
1 cup cooked rice 



The rice should be cooked for several hours. 
Beat into this the yokes of the eggs. In the 
bottom of the pan place a layer of crumbs with dots 
of butter here and there ; then a layer of apples, with 
honey and cinnamon on top. The third layer is a 
mixture of rice, egg, and salt. The fourth and fifth 
layers are a repetition of the first and second. Add 
water and bake in a moderate oven. Cover with 
meringue. 



13. — DOUGHNUTS 



1 egg 

1 cup sweet milk 

1 cup honey 

2 tablespoons shortening 



1 teaspoon cream tartar 
1 teaspoon soda 

Flour 

Pinch salt 



Cream the honey and shortening together and add 
the egg, well beaten, and the other ingredients. Mix 
well, and add flour enough to roll out and cut easily. 
Roll out on baking board, and cut with doughnut- 
cutter. Fry in hot lard. The honey in this recipe 
makes the doughnuts a delicious brown, and also keeps 
them moist for a long time. 



TMPKIN PIE 



14.—] 

2 cups sifted pumpkin 

% cup sugar 

1 cup honey 

4 tablespoons flour 

Mix the flour with the sugar and add to the pump- 
kin. Then stir in the honey, the spices, and the milk 
with all its cream. Recipe makes 2 pies. 



2 teaspoons ginger 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

3 cups milk 



15. GINGER DROP CAKES 



1 cup sugar 
1 cup honey 
1 egg 
1 cup lard 



% cup sweet milk 
1 tablespoon ginger 

Vz teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon soda 



Cream the sugar, lard, and honey together. Dissolve 
the soda in a little hot water. Add the egg well beaten 
and the milk. Use enough flour to make the batter 
stiff enough to drop from spoon. Bake in greased gem 
pans in moderate oven, or drop on greased pan from 
spoon. 

16, HONEY CORNSTARCH PUDDING 

% cup honey iVz tablespoons cornstarch 

% teaspoon salt 4 cups scalded milk 

Mix the honey, salt, and cornstarch. Stir in the hot 
milk gradually, stirring until smooth. Stir and cook 
over boiling water until the mixture thickens. Cover 
and cook 15 minutes. Turn into a wet mold, chill, 
and serve with cream and sugar. 



17. 



HONEY FONDANT 

% cup honey 



2 cups granulated sugar 
V2 cup water 

Mix, put over fire, and stir only until the sugar is 
dissolved. Boil carefully until able to shape a very 
soft ball when tested in cold water (about 238° F.). 



Do not stir while boiling and do not scrape off sugar 
which adheres to the side of the pan. When done 
pour into greased platter and partially cool. Beat 
and stir with a wooden spoon until it begins to crum- 
ble and then knead with the hands like dough. Pack' 
in a bowl, cover with cloth, and set aside until needed. 
When ready for use the bowl of fondant may be set 
in hot water until soft enough to handle. Any flavor- 
ing may be added when shaping into candies. The 
honey flavor alone is delicious when the fondant is used 
to stuff dates. 

The use of honey in fondant obviates the necessity 
of using cream of tartar. The slight acidity of the 
honey keeps it from graining too soon. If the fondant 
is boiled too hard, pull until white ; the result will be 
a fine taffv. 



18. 



-WHOLE-WHEAT BREAD 



1 quart whole-wheat flour 1 large cooking spoon 

(may be % graham honey 

or Vs rye) Vz compressed yeast cake, 

1 pint water (may be ^ or the equivalent 

scalded milk cold) 1% teaspoons salt 

Butter, size of an egg 

Dissolve the yeast thoroly in the water ; have the 
water slighth' warm in cold weather. Add the honey; 
mix well ; add the salt, and stir until dissolved. Mix 
the flour and water thoroly by means of a large cook- 
ing spoon, putting all together at once. The dough 
should be rather sticky and soft. If the dough is too 
stiff with a pint of water, more may be added, a tea- 
spoonful at a time thoroly incorporated, until the right 
consistency is obtained. If the bread is wanted rather 
dry, leave the dough stiffer. 

Cover closely, keeping in a warm place in cold 
weather, and vice versa. In the morning turn the 
dough out on the board, and knead into it the butter, 
flouring the board and hands as lightly as possible. 
Make 2 leaves in narrow pans, cover, and keep warm 
to rise. It should about double in bulk. If the dough 
is not covered closely the surface will dry so as to 
form a skin. This will cause streaks in the bread. 
Bake 30 to 40 minutes in an oven not too hot. This 
bread does not become stale as soon as other bread. 
It contains all the vitalizing elements of the grain. 



19. TIP-TOP LEMON PIE 



3 eggs 

14 cup honey 
1 tablespoon flour 



% lemon 

1 teaspoon melted butter 
1% cups rich milk 



Combine thoroly the yolks of the 3 eggs beaten 
light, the honey, flour, the juice, flesh, and grated rind 
of half a lemon, and the butter. Mix thoroly in the 
order given and add the milk ; pour into a pie-plate 
lined with a good crust, pricked to prevent air blis- 
ters. Bake until set. Cover with a meringue of the 
whites, beaten with 3 tablespoons honey and a few 
drops of lemon juice, and brown lightly. 

Many prefer to bake the crust separately and also 
cook the filling in a double boiler before putting it in 
the shell . 

20.— BAKED SQUASH 

Peel and slice the squash into pieces about V2 inch 
thick. Place slices in the bottom of a large bread 
pan. Dot each slice with a generous piece of butter ; 
strew honey over squash, 1 teaspoon to each slice ; 
then pour in enough hot water to cover the bottom of 
the pan. After cooking on top of the range for 10 or 
15 minutes, turn each slice with a knife and boil until 
tender. More hot water may have to be added. Place 
the ran in the oven and let the squash take on a deli- 
cate brown. Serve at once after removing from the 
pan. 



422 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



HONEY CAKES. 

Lemon Cakes. — Bring IVz cupfuls of honey to the 
boiling point. Skim if necessary. Add % cupful of 
butter and cool. Add 2 cupfuls of pastry flour, stir- 
ring it in carefully. Let this mixture stand over 
night. When ready to bake, stir in the gyrated yellow 
rind of 1 lemon, 2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice, V2 
cupful of chopped blanched almonds ; add ^ tea- 
spoonful of soda dissolved in a little lukewarm water, 
and bake in small round tins. Ice when cool. 

Nut Cakes. — Beat to a cream Vz cupful of but- 
ter and 1 cupful of powdered sugar. Beat into 
this 1 egg well beaten and % cupful of honey. 
Stir in 2 cupfuls of pastry flour, previously sifted, 
with 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and last stir 
in V2 cupful of finely chopped filberts. Let the mix- 
ture stand where it is very cold (do not freeze) over 
night. When ready to bake, roll the dough very thin, 
cut into fancy shapes, brush them over with the 
white of an egg diluted with a teaspoonful of warm 
water. Sprinkle the cakes with granulated sugar 
and chopped filberts. Bake in a hot oven until a 
golden brown. 

Short Cake. — Three cups flour, 2 teaspoonfuls bak- 
ing powder, 1 teaspoonful salt, V2 cup shortening, 1% 
cups sweet milk. Roll quickly, and bake in a hot 
oven. When done, split the cake and spread the lower 
half thinly with butter, and the upper half with Vz 
pound of the best-flavored honey. (Candied honey is 
preferred. If too hard to spread well it should be 
slightly warmed or creamed with a knife.) Let it 
stand a few minutes and the honey will melt gradu- 
ally, and the flavor will permeate all thru the cake. 
To be eaten with milk. 

Soft Cake. — One cup butter, 2 cups honey, 2 eggs, 
1 cup sour milk, 2 teaspoonfuls soda, 1 teaspoonful 
ginger, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 4 cups flour. 

Egg LESS Cake. — One cupful sugar, Vz cup honey, 1 
cupful sour milk, 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, 1 cupful 
chopped raisins, 1 cupful chopped dates, 1 teaspoonful 
soda, 2% cupfuls ^flour. Spices may be added to taste. 

Sponge Cake. — One coffee-cup honey, 1 cup flour, 
5 eggs. Beat yolks and honey together. Beat whites 
to a froth. Mix all together, stirring as little as pos- 
sible. Flavor with lemon juice or extract. 

Railroad Cake. — One cup honey, 1 heaping 
cup flour, 1 teaspoonful cream tartar, % teaspoonful 
soda, 3 eggs, and a little lemon juice. Stir all to- 
gether ten minutes. Bake 20 minutes in quick oven. 

Lemon Cakes. — One cup butter, 2 cups honey, 3 
eggs well beaten, 1 tablespoonful essence of lemon, Vz 
cup sour milk, 1 teaspoonful soda. Flour enough to 
make as stiff as can well be stirred. Bake at once in 
quick oven. 

Jelly Roll. — ^Three eggs or yolks of 6, 1 cup 
of white sugar (scooped), 1 cup of flour (heaped), 

1 teaspoonful of butter, 2 tablespoonfuls of sweet 
milk, 2 teaspoonfuls of cream tartar, 1 teaspoonful 
soda or 2 of baking powder. Bake in an oblong 
pan, spread with granulated honey, and roll at once. 
Set where it will cool quickly. 

Swiss Cake. — Melt 4 ounces butter ; add 1 lb. 
of honey, stirring well ; take it off the fire and let it 
cool. Add the minced rind of a large lemon, 4 
ounces sweet almonds chopped fine, a little nutmeg, 

2 scant teaspoonfuls of baking soda, dissolved 
in a little water. Mix these well and add flour until 
very stiff, and set in a cool place 12 hours. Roll out 
% inch thick, cut into squares, decorate with nuts 



and chopped citron. Bake in hot oven. Make two 
dozen cakes from this amount. 

Pork Cake. — One pound fat pork chopped fine, 
1 pint boiling water poured on pork ; 2 cups honey, 
3 teaspoonfuls soda, 2 cups raisins, 2 teaspoonfuls 
each of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg; about 7 
cupfuls of flour. 

Coffee Cake. — 1 cup of honey, Yz cup of sugar, 
shortening size of an egg, 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon- 
ful soda dissolved in % cup of cold coffee (scant), 
1 teaspoonful of cinnamon, Yz teaspoonful of cloves, 
Vz teaspoonful of nutmeg, 1 cup of raisins (floured). 
If too thin, add a little more flour. 

Fruit Cake. — Two cups of honey, 2 cups ol 
raisins, 1 cup of shortening, Yz cup of sour milk, 1 
teaspoonful soda, Y2 teaspoonful cloves, Y2 teaspoon- 
ful cinnamon, Y2 teaspoonful nutmeg, 4 cups flour. 
Bake 40 minutes. 



Fruit Cake. — One and one-half cups honey, % 
cup butter, ^ cup sweet milk, 2 eggs well beaten, 
3 cups flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 2 cups 
raisins, 1 teaspoonful each of cloves and cinnamon. 

Fruit Cake. — One-half cup butter, % cup honey, 
Ys cup apple jelly or boiled cider, 2 eggs well beaten, 
1 teaspoonful soda, 1 teaspoonful each of cinnamon, 
cloves, and nutmeg; 1 teacupful each of raisins and 
dried currants. Warm the butter, honey, and apple 
jelly slightly ; add the beaten eggs, then the soda dis- 
solved in a little warm water ; add spices and flour 
enough to make a stiff batter, then stir in the fruit 
and bake in a slow oven. Keep in a covered jar sev- 
eral weeks before using. 

Fruit Cake. — Two eggs well beaten, 1 cup but- 
ter, Yz cup sour cream, 1 cup honey, Y2 cup sugar, 
1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in warm water, 1 tea- 
spoonful cinnamon, 1^ teaspoonful cloves, 1 cup raisins, 
1 cup currants, 2 cups flour. 

Honey Tea-cake. — One cup honey, % cup soui 
cream, 2 eggs, Y2 cup butter, 2 cups flour, scant Y2 
teaspoonful soda, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar. Bake 
30 minutes in a moderate oven. 

Fruit Cake. — Four eggs, 5 teacups flour, 2 tea- 
cups honey, 1 teacup butter, 1 teacup sweet milk, 6 
teaspoonfuls baking powder, 1 lb. raisins, 1 lb. cur- 
rants, 1 teaspoonful cloves, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon, 1 
teaspoonful nutmeg. Then bake in slow oven. The 
above will keep moist for months. 

Citron Cake.— Tvvo eggs, 1 cup dark honey, 4 
tablespoonfuls butter, 1 cup milk, 3 cups flour, % 
lb. citron chopped fine, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 
1 teaspoonful lemon. 

Raisin Cake. — Three eggs, 1 cup honey, 4 table- 
spoonfuls melted butter, 1 cup sweet milk, 1% cups 
raisins chopped fine, 3 cups flour, Yi teaspoonful salt, 
Y2 teaspoonful soda, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 1 
teaspoonful vanilla extract. 

Drop Cakes. — Two eggs beaten without separat- 
ing, 3 tablespoonfuls softened butter, % cup honey, 
lYs cups flour, 1% teaspoonfuls baking powder. Drop 
on buttered baking-sheet about Y2 teaspoonful of bat- 
ter to a cake. Put them well apart ; spread lightly 
with the bowl of a tin spoon, dipped in cold water ; 
press one pecan nutmeat on the top of each. 

Drop Cakes. — One cup honey, Y2 cup sugar, ^ 
cup butter or lard, Y2 cup sour milk, 1 egg, % tea- 
spoonful soda, 4 cups sifted flour. Flavor to taste. 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



423 



Choice Drop Cakes. — One gallon honey (dark 
honey is best), 15 eggs, 3 lbs. sugar (a little more 
honey in its place may be better) ; 1^ oz. baking 
soda, 2 oz. ammonia, 2 lbs. almonds chopped up, 2 
lbs. citron, 4 oz. cinnamon, 2 oz. cloves, 2 oz. mace, 
18 lbs. flour. Let the honey come almost to a boil; 
then let it cool off, and add the other ingredients. 
Cut out and bake. The cakes are to be frosted after- 
ward with sugar and white of eggs. 

Drop Cakes. — Take Vz cupful of butter, Vz cupful 
of sugar, and blend them ; after which add 1 cupful 
strained honey, the beaten yolks of 2 eggs, 3 table- 
spoonfuls of lemon juice, and the whites of 2 eggs 
beaten dry. Mix well, and add SV2 cupfuls of flour 
and 1 teaspoonful of soda ; 1 teaspoonful baking pow- 
der, a little nutmeg. More flour may be added, if 
needed, and it often is, for the dough should be stiff 
enough so that it will drop by spoonfuls on to a 
buttered bakingpan. Shape round, and bake in a 
moderate oven. 



HONEY COOKIES. 

Aunt Millie's Cookies. — One cup butter beaten 
light, 1 cup sugar beaten to cream with butter, 1 
cup honey. Let honey warm ; put 1 teaspoonful of 
soda in the honey. If you have fermented honey, 
use that with soda, as it is as good as cream tartar. 
If you have not the fermented honey, then use 2 
teaspoonfuls of cream tartar and 1 teaspoonful of 
soda, or 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder. When 
the honey has cooled, beat light and add to the but- 
ter and sugar. Then add 1 cup cold water, 1 tea- 
spoonful vanilla, flour to make a very stiff dough. 
Fill a salt-shaker with powdered sugar ; shake over 
the sheet of dough after it is rolled ; press the sugar 
by rolling the rolling pin over it once more. Then cut 
out and bake brown in a moderate oven. 

Cream Cookies. — One teacupful extracted honey, 
1 pint sour cream, scant teaspoonful soda, flavoring 
if desired; flour to make a soft dough. 



Tea Cakes. — Blend Vs cup honey, 1 teaspoonful 
butter, 1 egg well beaten, % cup flour, sifted with 
half a teaspoonful of baking powder, and a pinch of 
salt. Drop by teaspoonfuls on a tin, and bake in a 
quick oven. These proportions will make about 20 
cakes. 



Ginger Cake. — One cup honey, Vz cup butter, or 
drippings, 1 tablespoonful boiled cider, in V2 cup of 
hot water (or V^ cup sour milk will do instead). 
Warm these ingredients together, and then add 1 
tablespoonful ginger and 1 teaspoonful soda sifted 
in with flour enough to make a soft batter. Bake in 
flat pan. 

Gingerbread. — Warm together Vz cup of brown 
sugar and honey, with Vs cup of shortening. Re- 
move from stove ; add % cup sour milk and 2 eggs ; 
pour gradually into bowl containing 2 cups of flour 
sifted with a tablespoonful' of ginger, a scant tea- 
spoonful of soda, and a little salt. Other spices may 
be added. Bake in moderate oven. 



Gingerbread. — One egg, 1 cup honey (dark), 1 
cup milk (sour), 2 tablespoonfuls butter, V2 tea- 
spoonful soda, 1 teaspoonful ginger. Flour to make 
rather stiff batter. 



Ginger Cake. — Put 1 cup darkest honey into a dish 
with % cup brown sugar ; 1 teaspoonful salt, % 
teaspoonful vanilla, % teaspoonful ground cloves, % 
teaspoonful cinnamon, % teaspoonful ginger. To this 
add 2 tablespoonfuls soda dissolved in 1 cup boiling 
water. Stir together well ; Vz cup cold water. Nearly 
1 cup shortening. Stir in flour until thick as molasses. 
Break in 1 large egg; beat thoroly with egg-beater. 
Pour into two 9-inch jelly-tins and tuck in raisins. 
Bake in an even, brisk oven. 

Ginger Cake. — Three cups flour, Vz cup butter ; 
rub well together. Add one cup brown sugar ; 2 
large tablespoonfuls ginger ; same of caraway seeds 
if you like ; 5 eggs, 2 cups honey, 3 teaspoonfuls 
baking powder. Beat it well, and bake in an iron 
pan an hour or more. 



Layer Cake. — Two-thirds cup butter, 1 cup honey, 
3 eggs beaten, Vz cup milk. Cream the honey and 
butter together, then add the eggs and milk. Then 
add 2 cups flour containing l^^ teaspoonfuls baking 
powder previously stirred in. Then stir in more flour to 
m.ake a stiff batter. Bake in jelly-tins. When the 
cakes are cold take finely flavored candied honey, and, 
after creaming it, spread between layers. 



Fowls' Cookies. — Three teaspoonfuls soda dissolved 
in 2 cups warm honey, 1 cup shortening containing 
salt, 2 teaspoonfuls ginger, 1 cup hot water ; flour 
sufficient to roll. 

Vinegar Cookies. — One cup of butter and lard 
mixed ; 1 cup of sugar, 4 eggs, 2 cups of honey, 3 
teaspoonfuls of soda in Vz cup of boiling water ; 
spices to taste ; flour to roll out ; Vz cup of vinegar. 

Hard-time Cookies. — One pint of honey, ^ tea- 
cupful of granulated sugar, % pint of melted lard 
and butter mixed ; 1 even teaspoonful soda dissolved 
in ^ cup warm water ; ^ teaspoonful of ginger, 
V2 teaspoonful nutmeg, a little salt. Roll rather thin, 
and bake quickly. 

Swiss Cookies. — Prepare some dough as for the 
gingerbread, and mix with it % lb. crushed almonds, 
orange and lemon juice, and cinnamon ; and, if de- 
sired, cloves to suit the taste. 

Tennessee Cookies. — Melt together 1 cup of honey 
and 1 cup of lard or butter. When cold, add % of a 
cup of sugar, a pinch of salt, a tablespoon of soda and 
1 egg. Stir in flour enough to make a stiff dough ; 
roll, and cut into small cakes, and bake on greased 
tins, in a moderate oven. 

Sugarless Cookies. — Two cups honey ; 1 cup 
butter, 4 eggs (mix well) ; 1 cup buttermilk (mix) ; 
1 good quart flour ; 1 level teaspoonful soda or 
saleratus. If it is too thin, stir in a little more flour. 
If too thin it will fall. It does not want to be as 
thin as sugar cake. Use very thick honey. Be sure 
to use the same cup for measure. Be sure to mix 
the honey, butter, and eggs well together. You can 
make it richer if you wish by using clabbered cream 
instead of buttermilk. Bake in a rather slow oven, 
as it burns very easily. To make the cookies, use a 
little more flour, so that they will roll out well with- 
out sticking to the board. Any kind of flavoring 
will do. 

Ginger Cookies. — One cup honey, % cup of sugar, 
Vz cup shortening, Vz cup warm water, 1 teapsoonful 
soda, 1 teaspoonful ginger, 5 cups flour, pinch of salt. 

Honey-jumbles. — Two quarts flour, 3 tablespoon- 
fuls melted lard, 1 pint honey, M pint molasses, IVz 
level tablespoonfuls soda, 1 level teaspoonful salt, % 
pint water, Vz teaspoonful vanilla. 

Ginger Cookies. — One cup honey, 1 cup sugar, 1 
cup buttermilk, 1 cup lard, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 tea- 
spoonful cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful ginger, 1 teaspoonful 
soda, heaping; 1 teaspoonful lemon extract. Stir stiff 



424 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



with flour ; for gingerbread, mix stiff and roll out and 
cut and bake in quick oven. Also very good with 
caraway seeds instead of spices. 

GiNGERSNAPS. — One pint honey, % lb. butter, 2 
teaspoonfuls ginger. Boil together a few minutes, and 
when nearly cold put in flour until it is stiff. Roll 
out thin and bake quickly. 

Dark Cookies. — One cup brown sugar, Vz cup sour 
cream, % cup butter, % cup dark honey, 1 egg, 1 
tablespoonful cinnamon, 1 scant teaspoonful soda. 
Flour to make thick batter. Improved with chopped 
nuts sprinkled over and pressed in with the bowl of 
spoon. 

Lemon Snaps. — Mix 1 quart honey, V2 lb. powdered 
sugar, ^ lb. fresh butter, and juice of two oranges or 
lemons. Warm just enough to soften the butter. Beat 
the mixture very hard. Add a grated nutmeg. Mix 
in gradually 2 lbs. or less of flour. Make a dough 
hard enough to roll out easily. Beat it well all over 
with rolling-pin. Roll % inch thick ; cut with tum- 
bler dipped in flour. Bake well on buttered tins. 

Oatmeal Cookies. — Cream together 1 cup sugar, V2 
cup honey, % cup lard or butter, 6 tablespoonfuls 
milk, V2 cup raisins, 2 cups rolled oats, 2 eggs ; sift 
together 2 or more cups flour, Vz teaspoonful salt, 2 
teaspoonfuls cream of tartar, 1 teaspoonful soda ; 1 
teaspoonful cinnamon. Mix together, and roll quite 
thick. 

Doughnuts. — One egg, 1 cup sweet milk, 1 cup 
honey, 2 tablespoonfuls shortening, 1 heaping teaspoon- 
ful cream tartar, V2 teaspoonful soda. Flour to roll 
and cut easily. Pinch of salt. 

Doughnuts. — Take two eggs, butter, the size of an 
egg; 1^/^ cupfuls alfalfa honey; 1 cupful of sour 
milk to which has been added 1 teaspoonful of soda 
and flour to roll, to which add 2 teaspoonfuls of cream 
of tartar. 

Sugar Cookies. — One and one-half cups sugar, i/^ 
cup honey, V2 cup butter or lard, % cup sour milk, 1 
level teaspoonful soda, V2 nutmeg, grated, 1 pinch of 
salt. Add flour to make a rather soft dough. Roll out 
to %-inch thick, and bake in quick oven. 

BREAD, GEMS, ETC. 

Brown Bread. — One heaping coffee-cup of corn 
meal ; 2 cups graham flour ; sift three times together, 
then beat together with 1 cup of honey, 2 cups sweet 
milk, 1 cup sour milk, 1 dessertspoonful soda and 1 
teaspoonful salt. Place in form, and steam S^/^ hours. 

Brown Bread. — One cup corn meal, 1 cup rye meal, 
1 cup sour milk, % cup or less of honey ; a teaspoon- 
ful of salt and a teaspoonful of soda. Steam 4 hours, 
and then dry in the oven 15 minutes. It may be 
added that most of the molasses now sold is not fit to 
eat, and in any case honey is much better. 

Steamed Brown Bread. — Two cups graham flour, 
sometimes heaped, depending on condition of milk, 

1 cup meal, % cup dark honey or sugared honey, 

2 cups sour milk, 1 teaspoonful salt, 2 teaspoonfuls 
soda dissolved in one tablespoonful boiling water, 
stirred into the milk and honey ; % cup of raisins. 
Stir thoroly ; flll pound baking powder cans half full ; 
cover tight, and steam 3 hours. 

Graham Bread. — TTiree cups graham flour, 1 table- 
spoonful salt (scant), % cup honey, 2 cups sour milk, 
1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in warm water ; pinch 
baking powder ; a few nuts chopped fine. Bake 1 hour 
and 15 minutes. 



Graham Bread. — One pint sweet milk, l^ cup ex- 
tracted honey, Vs cup sugar, 1 teaspoonful soda, a 
pinch of salt, 2V2 cups grahain flour. Stir all into 
a batter in a vessel in which it is to be steamed for 
S hours. Then remove from the steamer and bake 
V2 hour. 

Graham Bread. — One and one-half cups sour milk, 
V2 cup shortening, % cup honey, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful 
soda, 3 cups graham flour. 

Honey Graham Biscuits. — Use 2 cups graham flour, 
2 cups white flour, i/^ cup butter, i^ cup honey, 2 
teaspoonfuls baking powder. Sift the flour and baking 
powder well together ; rub the butter into the flour 
thoroly. Add the honey, and just enough sweet milk 
to make a soft dough. Roll out and bake in a quick 
oven. 

French Muffins. — One and one-half pints flour, 
1 cup honey, V2 teaspoonful salt, 2 teaspoonfuls baking 
powder, 2 tablespoonfuls butter, 3 eggs, and a little 
over half a pint milk or thin cream. Sift together the 
flour, salt, and powder ; rub in the butter cold ; add 
beaten eggs, milk, and honey. Mix smoothly in batter 
as for pound cake. About half fill sponge-cake tins, 
cold and well greased, and bake in good steady 
oven for eight minutes. 

Cornmeal Cake. — One cupful cornmeal (yellow), 
% cupful white flour, putting both in flour sieve ; 
add one level teaspoonful soda and a rounding tea- 
spoonful cream of tartar, and sift all together ; then 
add 1 cupful of honey, % cupful of shortening ; add 
enough sweet milk to mix to a batter that will not 
run, but drop from spoon in a lump. Bake one-half 
hour in hot oven. 

Bran Gems. — Take 2 cups bran, 1 scant cup wheat 
flour, 1 large pinch salt, 1^/^ cups buttermilk, 1 level 
teaspoonful soda, 3 tablespoonfuls strained honey. Mix 
the bran, flour, and salt thoroly, add buttermilk, in 
which soda has been dissolved ; lastly, add honey. 
Bake until (crusty) thoroly done in greased gem-pans 
in a hot oven. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Honey Cereal Coffee. — Use 1 egg, 1 cup honey 
(preferably dark), 2 quarts wheat bran. Beat the 
egg, add honey, and lastly the bran, and stir until 
well blended. Put in oven and brown to dark brown, 
stirring frequently, being careful the oven is not too 
hot. To prepare the coffee, allow one heaping table- 
spoonful to a cup of hot water, and boil for at least 
ten minutes. 

Plum Butter. — Take 4 quarts of plums after being 
rubbed thru the colander. Let it come to a boil ; 
tlien add 1 quart of honey, and 1 quart of sugar, or 2 
quarts of honey, and boil until it crusts on top when 
cooled, or about fifteen minutes. Stir frequently to 
prevent burning. 

Apple Butter.— One gallon good cooking apples, 1 
quart honey, 1 quart honey vinegar, 1 heaping tea- 
spoonful ground cinnamon. Cook several hours, stir- 
ring often to prevent burning. If the vinegar is very 
strong, use part water. 

Baii-le-Duc Preserves. — These preserves are be- 
lieved to be the finest of their kind, and have hitherto 
been imported at extravagant prices. Other fruits be- 
sides currants may be treated in this way, as honey is 
of itself a preservative. These preserves do not require 
to be kept absolutely air-tight. 

Take selected red or white currants of large size, 
one by one ; carefully make an incision in the skin 
1/4 of an inch deep with tiny embroidery scissors. 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



425 



Thru this slit remove the seeds with the aid of a 
sharp needle ; remove the seeds separately, preserv- 
ing the shape of the fruit. Take the weight of the 
currants in honey, and when this has been heated 
add the currants. Let it simmer a minute or two, 
and then seal as for jelly. Tlie currants retain their 
shape, are of a beautiful color, and melt in the mouth. 
Care should be exercised not to scorch the honey ; 
then you will have fine preserves. 

Custard. — Use 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful honey (or 
more to suit individual taste), 1 cup rich milk, nut- 
meg or other flavoring. Beat the eggs, and add the 
honey and other ingredients. 

Honey Beans (Navy). — Soak beans and bacon over 
night and cook till skins crack. Place 1 onion, % 
pound bacon, and butter the size of an egg in the bot- 
tom of a bean-pot or iron spider. Pour over the beans 
2 tablespoonfuls olive or cooking oil, and 2 table- 
spoonfuls best quality extracted honey. Lay sliced 
Greening apples to cover over the top of beans. Keep 
moist while baking. Bake until well done. Add pep- 
per to suit taste. 

Baked Beans. — Boil 2 pints of beans in slightly 
salted water until tender; then add 1 cupful of 
extracted honey and Vz cupful of butter, with salt and 
pepper to suit taste. Bake in a covered baker until 
solid, but not dry. 

Summer Drink. — One spoonful fruit juice and 1 
spoonful honey in i/^ glass water ; stir in as much 
soda as will lie on a dime, and then stir in half as 
much tartaric acid, and drink at once. 

Filling for Layer Cake. — Take 1 tablespoonful 
of lemon-juice, 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of granulated 
honey ; stir to a smooth cream. When cake is done, 
lay on a plate ; spread with the honey while hot. 

Pickled Grapes in Honey. — Seven pounds good 
grapes (wine grapes if possible) on the stalks, care- 
fully packed in a jar without bruising any of them. 
Make a syrup of 4 pounds of honey, a pint of good 
vmegar with cloves, etc., to suit the taste. Then 
boil the syrup for twenty minutes, carefully skim- 
ming it. While boiling hot, pour the syrup over the 
grapes and seal up. This will keep perfectly for 
years, as the honey is a preservative. 

Honey Crab-apple Jelly. — Boil fruit with as litt"Te 
water as possible ; squeeze thru a jelly-bag. Add % 
cup of honey and ^/^ cup of sugar to 1 cup of juice ; 
then boil about tv/enty minutes, or until it begins to 
jell. Pour into glasses. Do not cover up until cool. 

Baked Apples. — Split some sour apples, cut out 

the core, and fill pan. When they begin to soften, 

fill the cavity with some honey and lemon juice. Set 
back in stove to finish baking. 

Salad Dressing.- — Take 1 egg, well beaten, with 
2 dessertspoonfuls honey. Add a pinch of salt ; pepper 
to taste ; i/4 teaspoonful of mustard. Stir well to- 
gether, and add Vz cup of vinegar. Let come to a boil, 
stirring constantly. Cool, and add V2 pint of sweet 
cream just before using. 

Salad Dressing. — Take the yolks of 4 eggs, beat 
well, add 4 tablespoonfuls cider vinegar, 2 table- 
spoonfuls butter, 2 tablespoonfuls honey, 1 teaspoonful 
mustard. Mix thoroly together, and cook in a double 
toiler to a smooth paste, stirring constantly. Mix 
with thick sweet cream, when ready to use. It will 
keep two weeks in a cool place. 

Steamed Pudding. — Use 2 eggs, % cup honey, 1 cup 
chopped raisins, % tcaspoonfr.l salt, V2 teaspoonful 



soda, 14 teaspoonful cinnamon, ^ teaspoonful cloves, 
V2 teaspoonful allspice, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder, 
2 tablespoonfuls ground chocolate, 1 cup sweet milk, 
1 1/4 cups flour ; more if needed. Steam three hours. 

Mince Meat. — Four pounds of apples, pared, cored, 
and minced; IVz pounds of raisins, stoned and 
minced ; 4 pounds of beef suet shredded, or 2 pounds 
butter ; 1 pound honey and Vz pound sugar ; % 
pound of mixed spices, minced rind of 4 lemons and 
juice of two lemons. Make a month before using. If 
apples are very sour, use more honey. 

Buckwheat Pancakes. — Take scant 2 quarts of 
water at a little below blood heat — cooler if weather 
is warm ; dissolve salt in the water till it tastes 
almost briny ; % compressed yeast cake, thoroly mixed 
in water before flour is added. Mix in the water a 
large tablespoonful of liquid honey; add the buck- 
wheat flour thru a sieve. The batter should then be 
stirred or beaten a long time. If any batter is left, 
set away in a cool .jlace, not too tightly covered. 
When ready for the next batch add the necessary 
quantity of salted warm water and the honey ; stir 
thoroly, and then add the buckwheat as before. It is 
better to mix a little too thick rather than too thin. 
Water can be safely added before baking, if necessary. 
If scur in the morning from being kept too warm, 
use a little baking soda, dissolved in warm water. 
The old batter is useless after the soda treatment. 

Buckwheat Pancakes.— When buckwheat pancakes 
are raised over night and the soda is put in when ready 
to bake, add one or two spoonfuls of extracted honey. 
It makes them bake nice and brown, and gives them a 
fine flavor. 

Junket. — To a pint of milk, just warm, add 2 des- 
sertspoonfuls of honey and Vz junket tablet, dissolved 
in cold water ; flavor to taste. Set in a warm place 
until firm. 

HONEY CANDY. 

Caramels. — Take 1 pint honey, 1 teaspoonful cinna- 
mon or vanilla, i/^ pound cocoa, % pound pecan nuts, 
2 pounds sweet almonds. Cut the nuts fine, and boil 
them with other ingredients until thick. Cool and roll 
out. Cut in squares and dr}' in the oven. 

Caramels. — One cup extracted honey of best flavor ; 
1 cup granulated sugar ; 3 tablespoonfuls sweet cream 
of milk. Boil to " soft crack," or until it hardens 
when dropped into cold water, but not too brittle — 
just so it will form into a soft ball when taken in the 
fingers. Pour into a greased dish, stirring in a tea- 
spoonful extract of vanilla just before taking off. Let 
it be Vz or % inch deep in the dish ; and as it cools 
cut in squares and wrap each square in paraffin paper, 
such as grocers wrap butter in. To make chocolate 
caramels, add to the foregoing one tablespoonful melted 
chocolate, just before taking off the stove, stirring it 
in well. For chocolate caramels it is not so import- 
ant that the honey be of best quality. 

Taffy. — Boil some honey until it hardens when 
dropped into cold water. Pull it till it becomes white. 
Any quantity may be used. A pound requires twenty 
minutes' boiling and siirring. Great care must be ex- 
ercised not to burn the honey. It makes very fine 
taffy. 

Peanut Honey Candy. — Take 1 cup butter, 2 cups 
honey, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup boiling water, ^ tea- 
spoonful cream tartar, Yz teaspoonful glycerine, a tiny 
dash of soda. Boil ten minutes to a soft ball, and 
set in cool place. Whon it has cooled slightly, stir 
in one or two tablespoonfuls of peanut butter, or to 
suit the taste ; keep stirring till creamy ; then pour 
into buttered pans ; mark in squares. 



426 



HONEY AS A FOOD 



Peanut Candy. — Use 1 cup honey, 1 cup granu- 
lated sugar, 4 tablespoiifuls sweet cream. Boil until 
it cracks when dropped in cold water. Remove from 
the fire and stir in a pound of peanuts that have been 
previously shelled and well crushed with the rolling- 
pin. Pour into a greased par and set to cool. 

Peanut Rolls. — Take 1 cup butter, 2 cups honey, 
1 cup boiling water, % teaspoonful cream tartar, ^ 
teaspconful glycerine, a tiny dash of soda. Boil ten 
minutes ; pour over a layer of rolled peanuts which 
have been scattered evenly over the bottom of the but- 
tered pan. When nearly cold, mark off in long strips 
and roll up tight ; then slice across with a sharp 
knife, before it gets quite cold. 

Honey Chocolate. — Chocolate sweetened with honey 
rather than with sugar is excellent. It is very easily 
made : Melt 1 pound of gelatine in a pint of water ; 
add 10 pounds of honey, thoroly warming the same, 
then add 4 pounds of cocoa. Flavor with vanilla 
when taken off the fire, and then pour into greased 
dishes or molds. 

French Candies.— In an enameled sauce-pan melt 
1 part of gelatine in 1 part of water, stirring well. 
When at the state of a soft paste, add 4 parts of honey 
previously warmed, stirring lively. Take from the 
fire; add the desired flavor and color, mixing care- 
fully, and pour into a shallow lightly greased dish. 
Let it dry for a few days. 



Candy. — Granulated sugar 1 cup ; strained honey 1 
tablespoonful ; butter, size of walnut ;, sweet cream 
enough to dissolve the mixture. It does not need much 
cooking. When taken from the fire, beat with a spoon 
until smooth. 

HONE if REMEDIES. 

Cough Syrup. — One-third teaspoonful of powdered 
ipecac dissolved in 1 teaspoonful of cold water. Add 
a teacupful of warm water, a tablespoonful of ex- 
tracted or strained honey, and boil down half. 

Honby-and-tar Cough-cure. — Put a tablespoonful 
liquid pine tar into a shallow tin dish and place it in 
boiling water until the tar is hot. To this add a pint 
of extracted honey and stir well for half an hour, 
adding to it a level teaspoonful pulverized borax. 
Keep well corked in a bottle. Dose, teaspoonful every 
1, 2, or 3 hours, according to severity of cough. 

Cough Syrup. — Buy a five-cent package of lobelia 
herb ; put about % of it in a large cup of good cider 
vinegar ; put it in a granite dish to simmer on the 
stove for not less than Vz hour, but do not let boil 
after the strength is well out of the herb. Strain, 
put back on the stove, stir in about as much honey 
as you have used vinegar. See that the honey is 
well mixed while hot. Bottle ready for use. Dose, 
about % teaspoonful every 15 minutes if the cold is 
bad. 



Nougat. — Take 3 cups granulated sugar, 1^. cups 
any kind nut-meats, % cup honey, % cup hot water, 
white of one egg beaten stiff. Boil the sugar, honey, 
and water together until they make a rather hard ball 
when dropped in cold water. Remove from the fire, 
pour in the beaten white of the egg, and beat briskly 
with a silver fork. After beating a while, pour in the 
nut-meats and beat until it begins to form a hard 
creamy mass, then pour into a buttered tin to cool. 

Taffy. — Use 3 cups sugar, % cup extracted honey. 
% cup hot water. Boil all together till it spins a 
thread when dropped from a spoon, or hardens when 
dropped into cold water. Pour into a greased vessel. 
When cool, pull until white. 

Popcorn Balls. — Use 2 gallons of corn, 2 cups gran- 
ulated sugar, 3 tablespoonfuls honey, 2 tablespoonfuls 
apple vinegar, % cup of water. Stir together and 
boil until it will rattle in water. Then pour over the 
corn, and mix well. Dampen the hands in cold water 
and form into balls. 

Popcorn Balls. — Take 1 pint extracted honey ; put 
it into an iron frying-pan, and boil until very thick ; 
then stir in freshly popped corn, and, when cold, mold 
into balls. These will specially delight the children. 

Good Candy. — Use 2^^ cups sugar, % cup honey, 
Vz cup water. Boil until thick syrup. Pour one 
cupful of syrup on the beaten whites of 2 eggs, stir- 
ring meanwhile. Boil remainder of syrup till it hard- 
ens when dropped in water ; then pour it into the 
syrup and eggs, stirring briskly. Add a cupful of pea- 
nuts. Stir until it begins to harden ; then spread in a 
pan and cut in squares. Flavor to taste. If properly 
made it will be soft and pliable. 

Crystallized Honey Popcorn. — Take 1 teacupful 
water-white honey, 1 teacupful white sugar, 1^ table- 
spoonful butter, 1 tablespoonful water. Boil until 
brittle on being dropped in cold water. Have ready 
2 quarts of nicely popped corn, and pour the candy 
over until evenly distributed over the corn, stirring 
briskly until nearly cool. 

Honey Candy. — Take 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls 
honey. 2 tablespoonfuls of water, walnut meats. Cook 
and test like molasses candy. 



Cough Syrup. — Make 3 pints of strong tea by boil- 
ing a good-sized bunch of old field balsam in a covered 
vessel; strain, add IVz cups of sugar; boil to 2 
pints ; take from the fire ; add a small teaspoonful 
of pine tar ; let cool five minutes, then add ^ cup of 
strained honey. Dose: 1 teaspoonful as often as 
needed — 2 to 4 hours, according to the case. 

For Colds. — Boil 2 ounces of flaxseed in a quart 
of water ; strain, and add 2 ounces of rock candy, 
V2 pint of honey, juice of 3 lemons. Mix, and let 
all boil well. Let cool and bottle. Dose: One cupful 
on going to bed ; V2 cupful before meals ; the hotter 
the better. 

Honey for Freckles. — Half a pound of honey, 2 
oz. glycerine, 2 oz. alcohol, 6 drams citric acid, 15 
drops ambergris. Apply night and morning. 

Balm of Gilead Salve. — Four ounces mutton tal- 
low ; 1 pint balm-of-Gilead buds ; 3 ounces loaf 
sugar ; 1 ounce castile soap ; 1 ounce rosin ; 3 ounces 
beeswax ; 1 ounce alum ; 1 pound lard. Put the buds 
in a kettle with the lard, and boil slowly for half an 
hour, stirring often. Strain, and take the buds out. 
Put in the rest of the ingredients, and cook slowly 
until done. This usually takes from one-half hour to 
an hour ; excellent for chapped hands or lips, sores, 
or cuts, frost bites, and piles. 

Honey as a Softener op the Hands. — Many are 
unaware that the very best cosmetics are made with 
honey as a prime ingredient. Here is one for the 
hands, which is said to be very fine: Rub together 1 
lb. of honey and the yolks of 8 eggs ; gradually add 1 
lb. oil of sweet almonds, during constant stirring: 
work in % lb. bitter almonds, and perfume with 2 
drams each of attar of bergamot and attar of cloves. 
Of course, the quantities may be reduced if necessary. 

Honey Soap. — Cut 2 pounds of yellow soap in thin 
slices and put into a saucepan with suflBcient water to 
prevent the soap from being burned. Place on the 
fire, and as soon as all the soap has dissolved add 1 
pound of honey and stir until the whole begins to boil. 
Then remove from the fire, add a few drops of essence 
of cinnamon, pour into a deep dish to cool, and then 
cut into squares. It improves by keeping. 



HONEYCOMB 



427 



HosBY-PASTE FOR CHAPPED Hands. — An excellent 
paste for chapped hands is made as follows: The white 
of 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of glycerine, 1 ounce of honey, 
and sufficient barley flour to compose a paste. 

Cold Cream. — One cup of honey, % of a cup of 
beeswax, 1 cup of cottolene. Melt all, take it off the 
fire, and stir till it is cool. Rose or violet perfume 
may be added. It should be well protected from the 
kir. The blending should be well done. This is fine 
for chapped or rough hands, if they are slighly 
moistened before applying. 

Polish for Kid Shoes. — Beeswax softened with 
neatsfoot oil. The composition is made by mixing 
the oil with the melted wax so as to be, when cold, 
about like butter, soft enough to " spread." A small 
portion of lampblack is also mixed in while the mass 
is melted. If there is any ordinary shoe polish on 
shoes, it should be washed off and the surface allowed 
to dry. An old toothbrush can be used to apply a thin 
even coat, which is then polished with a soft woolen 
rag, see-sawed across the surface. 

Waterproofing for Leather. — Take 2 pounds tal- 
low, 1 pound resin, i/^ pound beeswax. Melt over a 
slow fire ; and before apph'ing to the uppers of boots 
or shoes, fill the leather with neatsfoot oil, as there is 
less danger of burning the leather, and they will keep 
soft and pliable longer. For the soles use the tallow 
and resin in equal parts. Be careful not to burn the 
leather. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

In Bureau of Chemistry Bulletin No. 
13, Part VI. (out of print), page 871, will 
be found a bibliography of honey literature 
for the 3^ears 1867 to 1891, inclusive. In 
BuUetin No. 110, page 89, will be found a 
continuation of this up to the first part of 
1907. In Bulletin No. 154, page 17, the 
bibliography takes the literature up to the 
close of 1911. These bibliographies were 
compiled by A. H. Bryan, chief of the 
sugar laboratory, and are complete. 

Browne, C. A. Chemical Analysis and 
Composition of American Honeys. Bui. 
110, U. S. Dept. Agr. Bureau of Chemis- 
try. 1908. 

Browne, C. A. Methods of Honey-test- 
ing Hawaiian Honeys. Bui. 17, Hawaii 
Agr. Bureau of Entomology, 1911. 

McGill, A. Strained Honey. Bui. 217, 
Inland Revenue Dept. Ottawa, Canada, 
1911. 

Van Dine, D. L., and Thompson, A. R., 
Hawaiian Honeys. Bui. 1, Hawaii Agr. 
Exp. Sta. 1908. 

Root, H. H. The Use of Honey in 
Cooking. A. I. Root Co., Medina, 1916. 

Hunt, C .L., and Atwater, H. W. Honey 
and its Uses in the Home. U. S. Dept. 
Agr., Farmers' Bui. No. 653, 1915. 



Honey for Cooking, special number of 
Gleanings in Bee Culture, Medina, vol. 42, 
Oct. 1, 1915. 

Michaelis, Reinhold. Deutsches Honig- 
buechlein, 1911. 

HONEY - BOARDS. — See Extracted 

HoxEY^ and Hrt:s. 

HONEYCOMB.— A beautiful thing in 
nature is a piece of comb honey with its 
snowy whiteness and its burden of sweet- 
ness. Aside from its whiteness and sweet- 
ness, the marvelous structure of the comb 
compels our admiration. The waUs of its 
cells are so thin that from 3000 to 4000 
of them must be laid one upon another to 
make an inch in thickness, each wall so 
fragile as to crumble at a touch, and yet so 
constructed that tons of honey stored in 
them are transported in safety thousands 
of miles. 

Formerly the word " honeycomb " meant 
both the comb and the honey contained in 
it; in other words, what we now caU 
" comb honey " was called " honeycomb." 
Wherever the word " honeycomb " is found 
in the Bible, it means " comb honey." 

It is only in comparatively recent years 
that the real source of the wax of which 
comb is constructed has been known. In 
1684 Martin John discovered that with the 
point of a needle he could pick scales of 
real beeswax from the abdomen of a bee 
^^orking at comb-building. 

These wax scales may be found plenti- 
fully on the floor of a hive at a time when 
much comb-building is going on. They are 
somewhat pear-shaped, as shown next page, 
where is shown also the powerful jaw of 
the worker by which the wax is worked. 
These wax scales are much more brittle 
than the wax that has been worked into 
comb, and are transparent, looking some- 
what like mica. Some say they are white, 
some say pale yeUow. Likely enough both 
are right, the color depending upon the 
pollen consumed. 

These wax scales are secreted by eight 
wax-glands on the under side of the abdo- 
men of the worker bee, as seen in the cut 
next.* Examine a swarm lately hived, 
and you will find plenty of bees showing 
this appearance. When first secreted, wax 

* For a description of how these are removed by the 
bees see Wax. 



428 



HONEYCOMB 



is liquid. It is derived from the blood of 
the bee by cell action. So it is an expen- 
sive product, and one might well say it is 
derived from the " sweat and blood " of the 
bee, for it is sweat out from the blood by 
the wax-glands. Just how expensive it is 
seems a hard matter to learn. For many 




Wax scale. 



Jaw of a worker bee. 



years the stereotyped expression was, 
" Every pound of wax requires 20 pounds 
of honey for its production." Later inves- 
tigations have cut down that estimate 
greatly. But there is no agreement. Some 
estimate as low as 3 or 4 pounds of honey 
to one of wax. Others say 7, 15, or some 
other numbers. 

Some hold that the secretion of wax is 
involuntary, and that, if not utilized, there 
will be so much dead waste, and so nothing 




Wax scales on the under side of the abdomen of a 
worker. — After Cheshire. 

can be gained by trying to save the bees the 
work of secretion. But this is by no means 
the general view. Cowan says, in " The 
Honeybee," page 171, " "Wax is not pro- 
duced at all times, but its secretion is vol- 
untary." The practically unanimous agree- 
ment among beekeepers, that a very much 
larger quantity of extracted than of comb 
honey can be obtained, is hard to explain 
without admitting that the furnishing of 
drawn combs saves the bees much labor in 
the way of wax-production, and that that 
production depends on conditions that come 
largely under the control of the beekeeper. 
A high temperature favors the secretion 
of wax, and when it is produced in large 



quantities the bees hang inactively in clus- 
ters or festoons. 

" Wax is not chemically a fat or glycer- 
ide," says Cheshire, in " Bees and Bee- 
keeping," Vol. I., page 160, "hence those 
who have called it ' the fat of bees ' have 
grossly erred; yet it is nearly allied to the 
fats in atomic constitution, and the physi- 
ological conditions favoring the formation 
of one are curiously similar to those aiding 
in the production of the other. We put our 
poultry up to fatten in confinement, with 
partial light; to secure bodily inactivity 
we keep warm, and feed highly. Our bees, 
under Nature's teaching, put themselves up 
to yield wax under conditions so parallel 
that the suitability of the fatting-coop is 
vindicated. 

" The wax having been secreted, a single 
bee starts the first comb by attaching to the 
roof little masses of the plastic material, 
into which her scales are converted, by pro- 
longed chewing with secretion; others fol- 
low her example, and the processes of 
scooping and thinning commence, the 
parts removed being always added to the 
edge of the work, so that, in the darkness, 
and between the bees, grows downward that 
wonderful combination of lightness and 
strength, grace and utility, which has so 
long provoked the wonder and awakened 
the speculation of the philosopher, the nat- 
uralist, and the mathematician." 

A chief use for the honeycomb being to 
furnish cradles for the baby bees during 
their brood stage, the problem is to find 
what arrangement will accommodate them 
in the least space and with the least ex- 
penditure of wax. If we pile a number of 
cylinders with rounding bottoms, and just 
back of them, back to back, and as closely 
as they can be packed, another series of 
c.ylinders, we shall have an arrangement 
that will leave a great waste of room be- 
tween the lines of contact of those cylin- 
ders, and another waste between the points 
of contact of the rounding bottoms. If we 
exert pressure on those cylinders so that 
the sides and bottoms come into contact, 
we shall have cells that are six-sided, with 
bottoms that are made of three lozenge- 
shaped plates, or what, as a whole, is an 
exact counterpart of honeycomb. Some 
have argued that bees make the cells cylin- 
drical in the first place, and then, by pres- 
sure from within, force the cells into the 



HONEYCOMB 



429 



forms of hexagons ; but, unfortunately for 
this theory, plaster casts, of which cross- 
sections have been made of combs in all 
processes of construction, show that bees 
start their work by making true hexagons 
and not circles or cylinders. This can be 
seen by looking thru a piece of glass on 
which combs have been built. However 




How combs are attached to a vertical support. 

the combs are made, their general construc- 
tion is such that the greatest economy of 
space and material is effected, both for 
holding brood or honey. There would be 
an equal saving of wax if the cells could be 
square with flat bottoms; but such cells 
would not fit the young bees, nor would the 
comb be as strong. The hexagonal is the 
very best possible form of construction. 

By far the larger portion of the cells in 
a hive will be found to measure about five 
to the inch. These are called worker-c^lls, 
and may be used for rearing worker-brood, 
or for storing honey or pollen. A smaller 
number of cells will be found to measure 
about four to the inch. These are called 
drone-cells, and may be used for rearing 
drone brood, or for storing honey — seldom 
for pollen. 

If the worker-cells were exact hexagons 
measuring five to the inch, there would be 
exactly 28 13-15 cells to the square inch on 
one side of a comb. But there is not this 
exactness, as will be shown by careful 
measurement, altho the eye may detect no 
variation. Count the number of cells in a 
given length in a horizontal row of cells, 
and then make the same count in one of 
the diagonal rows, and you will find they 



are not precisely the same. That shows 
that the cells are not exact hexagons. 
Measure the cells in a number of combs 
built by different colonies, or even by the 
same colony, and it will be found that they 
are by no means all of them five to the 
inch. 

This, of course, refers to natural comb 
built by the bees without any comb founda- 
tion being supplied to them. Comb foun- 
dation is generally made with cells of such 
size that worker comb built upon it con- 
tains about 27 cells to the square inch. 

Instead of lessening our admiration, the 
slight variation from exactness in the work 
of comb-building, when the bees are left 
free to take their own course, rather in- 
creases it, just as a piece of " hand-made " 
work is often more admired than that 
which is " machine-made." The marvelous 






A characteristic spur of natural comb built from a 
horizontal support. 



ingenuity displayed in adjusting the work 
to varying circumstances is something far 
beyond machine-like exactness. Cut a few 
square inches of comb out of the middle of 
a frame of worker comb in the middle of 
a honey-flow, and the chances are ten to 
one that the bees will fill the hole with 
drone combs. A few cells will be built that 
are neither drone-cells nor worker-cells, and 
these are called accommodation cells; but 




'\ 



HONEYCOMB 



431 



so skillfully are the adjustments made in 
passing from worker to drone cells that at 
a hasty glance one would likely say that 
all were either worker or drone cells. Ob- 
serve the small pieces of comb started at 
different points on the same top-bar on 
previous page. They may be at such dis- 
tances apart that, when the two combs 
meet, if built with rigid exactness, the cen- 
ter of a cell in one comb will coincide with 
the edge of a cell in the other comb. Yet 
so skillfully are measurements made, and 



The merging of drone to worker conib. 

SO gradual the change as one comb ap- 
proaches the other, that the unaided eye 
can detect no variation from an unbroken 
comb of worker-cells, and the whole is such 
an exquisite work of skill as no human ex- 
pert can equal. Who taught the bees to 
make such measurements? Besides the 
worker and drone cells, queen-cells are 
built at times, as described. 

In general, comb is built so that an angle 
is at the top and bottom of each cell, as in 
Fig 1 ; and this is believed to give greater 
strength than if the cells were built like 
Fig. 2. 




Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



When combs are built upon foundation, 
the rows of cells run in a horizontal line 
with exactness. But when the bees build 
at their own sweet will, there is no little 
variation from the horizontal. 

While the cell-walls vary from 1-3000 to 
1-4000 inch in thickness, the septum is thin- 
ner, sometimes being as thin as 1-5000 of 
an inch when first buUt. But as successive 
generations of young bees are reared in the 
cells, cocoons and secretions are left at the 



bottom of each, and in time the septum 
may become Yg inch thick. From this it 
happens that, altho worker comb is % i^ch 
thick when first built, specimens of old 
comb may be found measuring an inch in 
thickness, since the bees draw out the cell- 
walls at the mouth of the cell to balance the 
additions made at the bottom of the cell, so 
as to maintain the same depth in an old cell 
as in a new one. 

When, however, worker-cells are used for 
storing honey, if there be room for it, the 




Cross-section of honeycomb, enlarged view. The cells 
are partly filled with honey. This illustration shows 
that the cells are not straight and horizontal, but 
curved and slanting upward. 

depth of the cells may be so increased that 
the comb may be two or three inches thick. 
Drone comb is even more likely to be thus 
built out. The cells of both kinds slant up- 
ward from the center to the exterior of the 
comb, yet so slightly that to the casual ob- 
server they appear entirely horizontal. Yet 



HONEYCOMB 



433 



when the comb is so greatly- thickened for 
the storing of honey, the slant may be 
much increased, giving the cell a curved 
appearance. 

Formerly it was taught that the cappings 
placed over honey are air-tight, and this 
in spite of the fact that it is a common 
thing to see white comb honey become 
watery and dark when kept in a damp 
place, the thin honey finallj^ oozing out 
thru the cappings. Cheshire, who at one 
time held that the sealing of honey-cells is 
air-tight, says (Bees and Beekeeping, Vol. 
I., page 174), "By experiments and a mi- 




Drone cells used for honey storage. It will be seen 
that the lower part of the opening is capped first. 
This, with the slant of the cell, keeps the new honey 
from running out. 



croscopic examination, I have made evident 
that former ideas were inaccurate, and that 
not more than 10 per cent at most of the 
sealing of honey is absolutely impervious 
to air." The sealing of brood-cells, how- 
ever, is very much more porous still (see 
Brood), no doubt for the sake of allowing 
proper air for the brood. The brood-cell 
cappings seem to be made up of shreds of 
cocoons, pollen, and almost anything that 



comes handy, with only enough wax to weld 
the whole together. 

The beautiful white color of honeycomb 
becomes dark with age, so as to become 
nearly black. 

Drone comb measures just about four 
cells to the inch, but the bees seem less par- 
ticular about the size of it than with the 
worker. They very often seem to make the 
cells of such size as to fill out best a given 
space; and, accordingly, we find them dif- 
fering from worker size all the way up to 
considerably more than ^4 of an inch in 
width. Drones are raised in these extra- 
large ceUs without trouble, and honey is 
also stored in them; but where they are 
very large, the bees are compelled to turn 
them up, or the honey would flow out. 
Xow, as honey is kept in place by capillary 
attraction, when cells exceed a certain size 
the adhesion of the liquid to the wax walls 
is insufficient, of itself, to hold the honey 
in place. Where drones are to be reared in 
these very large cells the bees contract the 
mouth by a thick rim. As an experiment, 
some plates were made for producing 
small sheets of foundation, having only 3^^ 
cells to the inch. The bees worked on a 
few of these, with these same thick rims, 
but they evidently did not like the idea very 
weU, for they tried to make worker-cells 
of some of it, and it proved so much of a 
complication for their little heads that they 
finally abandoned the whole piece of comb, 
apparently in disgust. Bees sometimes rear 
worker brood in drone comb, where com- 
pelled to from want of room, and they 
always do it in the way already mentioned, 
by contracting the mouth of the cells and 
leaving the young bee a rather large berth 
in which to grow and develop. Drones are 
sometimes reared in worker-cells also, but 
they are so much cramped in growth that 
they seldom look like fully developed in- 
sects. See Laying Workers; also Brood. 

Several times it has been suggested that 
we enlarge the race of honeybees by giving 
them larger cells; and some circumstances 
seem to indicate that something may be 
done in this direction, altho there is little 
hope of any permanent enlargement in size 
unless is combined with it the idea of select- 
ing the largest bees from which to propa- 
gate. By making the cells smaller than 
ordinarily, small bees are obtained with 
very little trouble ; and the author has seen 



434 



HONEYCOMB 



a whole nucleus of bees so small as to be 
really laughable, just because the comb they 
were hatched from was set at an angle so 
that one side was concave and the other 
convex. The small bees came from the con- 
cave side. Their light, active movements, 
as they sported in front of the hive, made 
them a pretty and amusing sight for those 
fond of curiosities. Worker bees reared in 
drone-cells are sometimes extra large in 
size; but as to whether they can be made 
permanently larger by such a course is very 
doubtful. The difficulty, at present, seems 
to be the tendency to rear a great quantity 
of useless drones. By having a hive fur- 
nished entirely with worker-comb, it is pos- 
sible so nearly to prevent the production 
of drones that it is safe enough to call it a 
complete remedy. (See Comb Founda- 
tion.) 

hov^ bees build comb. 

In this day and age of bees and honey it 
would seem that one should be able to de- 
scribe how bees build comb, with almost as 
much ease as one would tell how cows and 
horses eat grass; but for all that, records 
are lacking of careful and close experi- 
ments, such as Darwin made many years 
ago. In the author's house-apiary there 
were dozens of hives where the bees were 
building right 'up close to the glass ; and 
all one had to do, in order to see how it was 
done, was to take a chair and sit down be- 
fore them. But the little fellows have such 
a queer sleight-of-hand way of doing the 
work that one hardly knows how they do 
accomplish it. 

If one will examine his bees closely dur- 
ing the season of comb-building and honey- 
gathering, he will find a good many of 
them with wax scales protruding between 
the rings that form the body, and these 
scales are removed from their bodies as 
described at the beginning of this article. 
If a bee is obliged to carry one of these 
wax scales but a short distance, it takes it 
in its mandibles, and looks as business-like 
with it thus as a carpenter with a board on 
his shoulder. If it has to carry it from the 
bottom of the honey-box, it takes it in a 
way that it is difficult to explain any better 
than to say it slips it under its chin. When 
thus equipped, one would never know it 
was encumbered with anything, unless it 



chanced to slip out, when it will very dex- 
trously tuck it back with one of its fore 
feet. The little plate of wax is so warm 
from being kept under its chin as to be 
quite soft when it gets back; and as it 
takes it out, and gives it a pinch against 
the comb where the building is going on, 
one would think it might stop a while, and 
put it into place ; but not that bee ; for off 
it scampers and twists around so many dif- 
ferent ways one might think it was not one 
of the working kind at all. Another fol- 
lows after it sooner or later, and gives the 
wax a pinch, or a little scraping and bur- 
nishing with its polished mandibles, then 
another, and so on; and the sum total of 
all these maneuvers is, that the comb seems 
almost to grow out of nothing; yet no one 
bee ever makes a cell. 

The finished comb is the result of the 
united efforts of the moving, restless mass ; 
and the great mystery is, that anything so 
wonderful can ever result at all from such 
a mixed-up, skipping-about way of work- 
ing as they seem to have. When the cells 
are built out only part way they are filled 
with honey or eggs, and the length is in- 
creased when they feel disposed, or " get 
around to it," perhaps. It may be that 
they find it easier working with shallow 
walls about the cells, for they can take care 
of the brood much easier, and put in the 
honey easier too, in all probability; and, 
as a thick rim or coping is always left 
around the upper edge of the cell, no mat- 
ter what its depth, they have the material 
at hand to lengthen it at any time. This 
thick rim is also very necessary to give the 
bees a secure foothold, for the sides of the 
cells are so thin they would be very apt to 
break down with even the light weight of a 
bee. When honey is coming in rapidly, and 
the bees are crowded for room to store it, 
their eagerness is so plainly apparent, as 
they push the work along, that they fairly 
seem to quiver with excitement ; but for all 
that, they skip about from one cell to an- 
other in the same way, no one bee working 
in the same spot to exceed a minute or two, 
at the very outside. Very frequently, after 
one has bent a piece of wax a certain way, 
the next tips it in the opposite direction, 
and so on until Completion; but after all 
have given it a twist and a pull, it is found 
in pretty nearly the right spot. As nearly 
as the author can discover, they moisten the 



HONEYCOMB 



435 




Top view of honeycomb greatly enlarged, showing the thick circular rim or coping at the top of the cell. 



thin ribbons of wax with some sort of fluid 
or saliva. As the bee always preserves the 
thick rib or rim of the comb at the top of 
the cell it is working, the looker-on would 
suppose it was making the walls of consid- 
erable thickness as shown ; but if we drive 
it away, and break this rim, we shall find 
that its mandibles have come so nearly to- 
gether that the wax between them, beyond 
the rim, is almost as thin as tissue paper. 
In building natural comb, of course the 
bottoms of the cells are thinned in the same 
way, as the work goes along, before anj^ 
side walls are made at all. 

When no foundation is furnished, little 
patches of comb are started at different 
points, as shown on page 430. Then 
as these patches enlarge, their edges are 
united so perfectly that it is sometimes dif- 
ficult, when the frame is filled solid, to de- 
termine where the pieces were united, so 
perfect is the work. At other times there 
is, perhaps, a row of irregular or drone 
cells along the line of the union. 

The midrib of natural comb becomes 
thicker as it approaches the line of sup- 



port and tapers toward the bottom. Why 
this is so is evident. That there should be 
a gradual gradation in thickness from top 
to bottom seems wonderful when we re- 
member the haphazard, skip-about work on 
the part of so many different bees. 

For the consideration of the thickness of 
combs and how far to space them apart 
see Frames^ Self-spacing; also Spacing 
Frames; also Comb Foundation. 

NO artificial comb honey. 

Some persons who are foolish enough be- 
lieve there is a honeycomb made from wood 
pulp, punk, putty, paraffin, or perhaps 
material other than wax. We say foolish 
enough advisedly, because a wise man 
changes his mind (when it becomes neces- 
sary) ; but a fool, never. It would not be 
surprising in these days of sensational 
journalism and of false nature-stories if 
one should get the notion that artificial 
comb honey really exists; but the foolish 
part comes in when a person, totally inex- 
perienced wil;h bees, stoutly and smilingly 



436 



HONEYCOMB 







Natural-comb building in a hive made entirely glass. 




Bees living on combs built in the open air. 



HONEYDEW 



437 



maintains that there is such a thing as 
manufactured honey in the comb. We feel 
sure that the inimitably foolish expression 
of such a person is the origin of the col- 
loquialism, " The smile that won't come 
off." No use. Do not argue. It won't 
come. " Why, I've seen it at the stores. 
Grocer told me all about it — was several 
cents cheaper. I tried it; we didn't like it 
as well as the genuine." And then the 
beekeeper goes away, not a wiser but a 
madder man, and wonders why the fool- 
killer doesn't do his duty, and why every 
one except the beekeeper knows all about 
bees and their products. See CoiiB Honey_, 
also HoxEY Exhibits. 

HONEYDEW.— A saccharine liquid pro- 
duced chiefly by three families of insects; 
plant lice {Aphididae) , bark lice or scale 
bugs {Coccidae), and leaf hoppers {Jas- 
sidae), very common insects with piercing 
and sucking mouth-parts belonging to the 
suborder Homoptera of the order Hemip- 
iera or bugs. At times it is so abundant 
on the leaves of trees and bushes that it 
drips upon the grass or sidewalk, covering 
them with a shining coating as tho they 
were varnished. The ancient Roman nat- 
uralist Pliny supposed that honeydew fell 
from the stars, and this belief was gener- 
ally accepted for many centuries. 

Scale insects and leaf hoppers excrete 
honeydew thru the anal opening; and this 
is largely, if not wholly true, of plant lice. 
But many plant lice have on the back of 
the sixth segment of the abdomen a pair of 
tubes, called cornicles, which are commonly 
believed also to excrete honeydew, but this 
is denied by some entomologists, including 
Forel, who assert that they yield only a 
muscilaginous liquid. These tubes do not 
connect with the digestive tract, and the 
liquid is produced by glandular cells at 
their base ; in a part of the aphids they are 
wanting or greatly reduced in size. The in- 
sects belonging to these three families live 
wholly on plant sap, a part of which, after 
digestion, is used for gro^vth and the pro- 
duction of young, while the residue is ex- 
creted as the waste substance known as 
honeydew. While honeydew is undoubtedly 
an excretion the objection to it on this 
ground is wholly imaginary, as when pure, 
it is sweet and wholesome. An excretion 
may be free from all undesirable qualities. 



as in the case of the pure water men- 
tioned in the latter part of this article. 

HOW^ WHERE AND WHEN HOXEYDEW IS 
PRODUCED. 

In the Eastern United States honeydew 
is chiefly the product of plant lice, which 
occur on nearly all kinds of vegetation. 
There are both winged and wingless forms ; 
the winged insects, flying from tree to tree, 
are likely to infest first the tender upper 
growing shoots; and, as they usually feed 
on the under side of the leaves, the sweet 
liquid naturally di'ops on the foliage be- 
neath. Later, the plant lice themselves 
may spread to the lower part of the tree. 
The dew is forcibly ejected or flipped from 
the end of the abdomen and falls in a spray 
of minute globules. As it is gumlike it 
may dry and remain on the leaves for a 
long time, so that the absence of insects is 
no proof that it is of vegetable origin. A 
great quantity of honeydew is also pro- 
duced by the scale bugs or bark lice (Coc- 
cidae), which are found on plants every- 
where. Species of Lecanium attack the 
basswood, tulip tree, maples, and many 
other trees, covering the leaves with a 
sweet liquid similar to that yielded by plant 
lice. In early autumn a great quantity of 
honeydew is occasionally gathered from 
oak trees, the limbs of which are reported 
to be covered with small galls, about a 
quarter of an inch in length, from the 
ends of which there flows continuously a 
clear sweet liquid. So profusely is the 
honeydew exuded that the trees appear as 
tho thej^ had been spraj^ed with hundreds 
of gallons of it, and solidifying it may 
hang in small stalactites. This honeydew 
is produced not by galls, but by the adult 
females of a species of Kermes, which are 
remarkable for their gall-like form. " So 
striking is the resemblance that they have 
been mistaken for galls by many entomolo- 
gists." Two-thirds, or over 400 tons, of 
the honey shipped from the Hawaiian Is- 
lands is honeydew honey, produced by the 
sugar-cane leaf hopper, which fii'st ap- 
peared in the cane fields in 1903 and for 
several years caused a loss of $3,000,000 
annually, until they were brought under 
control. It is dark amber in color and has 
the flavor of molasses; it does not granu- 
late and after several years is as clear as 



438 



HONEYDEW 



when first extracted. It is labeled " honey- 
dew honey " and sold to the baking trade. 

Among the deciduous-leaved trees on 
which honeydew is most frequently found 
are oak, maple, beech, ash, tulip tree, elm, 
hickory, chestnut, basswood, fruit trees, 
grapevine, currant, blackberry, and hazel. 
In California a scale insect {Lecanium 
oleae) coats the foliage of the citrus fruits 
with a shining dew. Honeydew is also very 
abundant on evergreen or cone trees, and 
is always of insect origin. In British Co- 
lumbia the Douglas fir may furnish two or 
three supers of pale yellow honeydew 
honey of fair quality with rather dark 
cappings. In this province a large area of 
the heavy timber has been seen coated with 
honeydew, but bees do not appear to pene- 
trate far into the forest. At Amherst, 
Mass., and at Guelph, Canada, thousands 
of bees have been observed gathering from 
spruce trees the sweet excretion of scale 
insects [Physokermes piceae). They are 
found at the base of the new growth and 
have the appearance of little buds. Pine 
trees are likewise prolific sources of honey- 
dew gathered from scale insects living at 
the base of the leaves. In Europe great 
quantities of honeydew are collected by 
bees from conifers in the Jura Mountains 
and in Switzerland. As much as 385 
pounds of honeydew from fir have been 
stored by a single colony. 

Occasionally there comes a year when 



leaves of hickory and oak. While gather- 
ing it bees were exceptionally cross, since 
as it became alternately partially liquid in 
the forenoon and gum-like in the after- 
noon, they were able to work on it only 
during the morning hours ; the moisture in 
the air softened it at night, but by noon 
the sun again dried it to a viscous state. 

Pure honeydew honey from plant lice 
and scale insects is clear, sweet, and agree- 
able to the taste, or at least not unpalat- 
able. The better grades fijid a ready sale 
with bakers, and in some instances it is 
preferred to floral honey. But as it is un- 
protected on the foliage of trees it is liable 
in time to collect many impurities. A black 
smut sometimes covers the leaves so that the 
extracted honeydew honey is inky black re- 
sembling coal tar. This type might per- 
haps be used by manufacturers of blacking 
or of lubricants. It is not a safe food for 
winter. If the bees are left on the summer 
stands and can obtain frequent flights, they 
may winter in fair condition; but if they 
are placed in a cellar they will all probably 
perish from dysentery. For brood-rearing 
in the spring it is unobjectionable, and it 
is, therefore, advised that it be removed 
from the hives in the fall and sugar syrup 
fed in its stead. 

The composition of honeydew honeys as 
compared with floral honeys is shown in the 
chemical analyses given in the following 
table : 





1 


P c« bo 




< 


11 


1 

S 

c 


•3.2 
In 

Is 


Floral honeys 
Sweet clover 


17.49 
17.64 
16.56 

16.05 
13.56 
15.46 


76.20 
74.92 
76.90 

65.89 
55.87 
64.84 


2.24 
1.77 
4.42 

2.76 
4.31 

5.27 


0.12 
0.07 
0.07 

0.78 
0.79 
1.29 


0.45 
0.82 
0.34 

12.95 
10.49 
10.01 


3.50 
4.78 
1.71 

1.57 
4.98 
3.13 


19 


White clover _ _ 


06 


Alfalfa __ _ _ . _ 


08 


Honeydew honeys 
Hickory 


12 


White oak 


08 


Hawaiian sugar cane 


0.15 



plant lice and scale insects appear in hosts 
and there is consequently a great abundance 
of honeydew, as in 1884 and 1909 in this 
country and in 1898 and 1907 in Great 
Britain. In 1909 there was in Eastern 
North America an unprecedented amount 
of honeydew, while the crop of white clover 
and basswood was almost a complete fail- 
ure. Most of the honeydew came from the 



From the above table it is apparent that 
honeydew honey contains less invert sugar ; 
but more sucrose or cane sugar, dextrine 
or gums, and ash. It is because of the 
larger percentage of gums and ash that it 
is unsuitable for winter feeding. Honey- 
dew honey may also be distinguished from 
floral honey by means of the polariscope. 
A ray of light passed thru a solution of 



HONEY EXHiBiTg 



439 



floral honey is turned or rotated to the 
left, but passed thru a solution of honey- 
dew honey it is turned to the right. If 
floral honey turns the ray to the right, it 
has been adulterated with glucose. No 
floral honey is obtained from the wind- 
pollinated flowers of hickory and white 
oak. 

Besides bees honeydew is attractive to 
wasps, ants, flies, and other insects. Bees 
pay no attention to plant lice, but ants care 
for them and stroke them gently with their 
antennae in order to induce them to yield 
honeydew more freely. This behavior led 
the botanist Linnceus to call Aphis the cow 
of the ants {Aphis formicarum vacca). 
Ants defend plant lice from their enemies, 
move them to new pastures, care for their 
eggs, and build over them covers of earth 
or cow-sheds to keep them warm. Ants 
also extend their protection to scale insects. 

Many plants have extra-floral nectaries 
on the flower stalks, leafstalks, and 
stipules, as cotton, vetch, passion flower, 
almond, peach, cherry, jewelweed, cowpea, 
field bean, and partridge pea, which secrete 
nectar in large or small quantities. This 
nectar does not differ from floral nectar as 
is attested by the honey of cotton and 
partridge pea. 

According to many apiarists there is 
another kind of honeydew, besides that 
excreted by homopterous insects, found on 
the foliage of both cone trees and decidu- 
ous-leaved trees, which is wholly of vegeta- 
ble origin. This conclusion seems to be 
based on insufficient and inaccurate obser- 
vation. All of the cone trees are wind- 
pollinated and neither the cones nor the 
foliage ever secrete nectar. The sweet 
liquid gathered from these trees, as has 
already been shown, is produced by scale 
bugs, which are easily mistaken for small 
buds. From the pores or stomata of de- 
ciduous-leaved trees there exhales nothing 
but water vapor. But there are certain 
plants, as Fuchsia, Indian corn, jewelweed, 
cabbage, nasturtium, primrose, grapevine, 
the potato, elm, plane tree, aroids and oth- 
ers, which exude drops of water from the 
tips and marginal teeth of the leaves. 
These drops may be observed on lawn 
grass, the ends of corn leaves and the mar- 
gins of jewelweed leaves in the morning 
when they are likely to be mistaken for 
dew. The exudation of drops of water 



may easily be shown experimentally by 
placing a young cabbage plant grown in a 
flowerpot under a bell jar. In a few 
hours di'ops of water will appear on the 
apices or margins of the leaves, gradually 
increase in size, finally fall off and new 
drops form. A surplus of water in the 
plant thus escapes when the air is too 
damp to permit of it passing off as water 
vapor thru the leaf pores. A great amount 
of water may thus be exuded, and in a 
single night a leaf may excrete half its 
weight in water. A vigorous leaf of Calo- 
casia has been observed to eject water at 
the rate of 195 minute drops per minute, 
so that there seemed to be an almost con- 
tinuous jet of water. The liquid is pure 
water except for a trace of salts (one-tenth 
of one per cent) ; it is probably the excre- 
tion of water that has misled many ob- 
servers to believe that leaves may produce 
honeydew. 

HONEY EXHIBITS, and how they may 
be used in the development of the bee and 
honey industry. — Of late, very much in- 
deed has been accomplished by the exhibits 
of bees, honey, and apiarian implements at 
state and county fairs. Several of the 
larger fair associations have had very pretty 
buildings erected on the fairgrounds for 
these displays. 

Such exhibits have a decidedly educa- 
tional influence on the public. They show 
hoiv honey is produced ; and not only that, 
but that it can be produced by the ton and 
carload. On account of newspaper yarns, 
there seems to be a general impression 
among people that comb honey is manufac- 
tured, and that the extracted article is 
adulterated with glucose. It is absolutely 
impossible to manufacture comb, fill it with 
honey, and " cap it over with appropriate 
machinery " — just as impossible as it is to 
manufacture eggs. The publishers have 
had for many years a standing offer of 
$1000 to any one who would show where 
comb honey was manufactured, or even 
procure a single manufactured sample 
which could not be told from the genuine. 
Altho this offer has been published broad- 
cast in the daily papers, no one takes it up. 
The conditions of this offer have been 
printed on a neat little card, and the same 
distributed by beekeepers at fairs and 
other honey-exhibits, so that, if such a 



440 



HONEY EXHIBITS 




Suggestion for a beeswax exhibit at state fairs. 




The apiarian exhibit at the Columbus State Fair, in September, 1906. 



HONEY EXHIBITS 



441 




Exhibit of J. M. Buchanan, Franklin, Tenn., at Tennessee State Fair, Nashville, October 9, 1909. 



thing were possible, there would be a 
bonanza for somebody. As to extracted 
honey, there was a time when it was adul- 
terated somewhat, but owing to the action 
of state and national laws there is very lit- 




Observation hive and combhoney super. 

tie of it now. See Adulteration of 
HoNEY_, also the last paragraph on Honey- 
comb. 



Beekeepers, besides educating the gen- 
eral public as to the genuiyieness of their 
product, can create a larger demand for 
honey. As a usual thing, exhibitors are 
allowed to sell their honey, distribute cir- 
culars, and do a great deal of profitable 
advertising. This not only helps the indi- 
vidual, but helps the pursuit in general. 

The accompanying engravings will give an 
idea of how model exliibits should be ar- 
ranged. 

There should be shelving arranged in the 
form of pyramids, octagons, and semicir- 
cles. The honey should be put up in tin 
and glass, in large and small packages, 
and the whole should be neatly " set off " 
with appropriate labels. As a general 
thing, glass packages should have a very 
small label, so that as much of the liquid 
honey as possible will show. Tin recepta- 
cles should have labels to go clear around 
the can. Comb honey should be put up in 
cartons and shipping cases; and yellow 
cakes of wax should be shown in a variety 
of shapes. 

In one of the illustrations will be seen a 
large pyramid of beeswax, supporting on 



442 



HONEY EXHIBITS 




Demonstration work at the Ohio State Fair, Columbus. 




The A. 1. ■Root Compan.v's demonstrating-cage at the Medina County Fair. 



HONEY EXHIBITS 



443 



its several shelves packages of honey, the 
whole surmounted by the bust of a goddess. 
A series of square shallow boxes are made 
of such varied sizes that, when piled one on 
top of another, they form a perfect pyra- 
mid. These are completely covered with 
sheet wax having the edges that come in 
contact nicely cemented together with a hot 
iron. The letters are cut out of inch 
boards with a jigsaw, after which they are 
dipped in hot wax, and secured with nails 
to the pyramid. The next thing to make is 
the goddess of liberty, or the bust of a 
prominent man. These in plaster can usu- 
ally be purchased at any of the stores for 
a small sum of money, and, after being 
dipped in hot wax, give a very fine wax 
figure. 

Besides the exhibit of honey in various 
styles of packages, there should be a mod- 




Charles Mondeng and his son Norman demonstrating 
bees at the Minnesota State fair. Mr. Mondeng and 
his son were awarded the first prize for bee demonstra- 
tion ; first prize on golden Italian bees ; first prize on 
leather-colored Italian bees. 



erate collection of bee-supplies, so that 
when the interested persons come along 
with their string of questions, they can be 
shown step by step the process of produc- 
ing honey and its final putting-up for mar- 
ket. A good many questions will be asked 
in regard to the extractor. It will be called 
a churn, a washing-machine, and every- 
thing else except what it really is. There 



should bo one or more observatory hives to 
show how bees behave when at home. A 
good many will ask to see the " king-bee." 

Very much can be done by having a 
glass hive and live bees, with an entrance 
communicating outdoors thru the sides of 
the building where the exhibit is made. 
"v\''hat is equally good, or perhaps better, is 
a one-frame nucleus having glass sides, 
making, as it is called, an observatory hive. 
This should contain one frame of nice 
healthy brood, regular and perfect comb, 
finely marked bees, and a bright-yellow 
queen. Hundreds of people will stop and 
examme, and ask a variety of questions 
about the bees and the queen. 

Bees in an observatory hive will stand 
confinement for two or three days or even 
a week. Ordinarily at fairs and other 
places, where the show lasts only two or 
three days, the confined bees will do very 
well. But at expositions, where they are 
shown week after week, it is necessary to 
give them a flight every two or three days. 
Some arrangement should be made with the 
management by which these glass hives 
may be placed next to the wall of the 
building, the entrance communicating with 
a hole thru the building. Where this can 
not be done, one can have two or three ob- 
servatory hives, and keep one or two on 
exhibition all the time while the other is 
being freshened up by a flight outdoors. 
After these latter have had two or three 
days in which to cleanse themselves the 
entrance is closed at night, when the hive 
is set back on its stand, and another ob- 
ser^'atorj^ hive takes its place. Thus in 
alternation each one of the two or three 
lots of bees can be freshened up. 

Where it is impossible to place the obser- 
vatory hive next to the outside wall of the 
building, a long tube from the hive commu- 
nicating with the outside wall of the build- 
ing can sometimes be used. But the distance 
must not be over eight or ten feet.* The 
bees, strange as it may seem, will pass out 
thru the tube to the outside and return to 
their hive. This avoids a replacement of 
bees, and permits the normal work of the 
colony to go on uninterruptedly. Bees 
coming in with loads of pollen can be seen ; 
and their rejoicings, with a quick nervous 



* The exit from the building should be above the 
heads of pedestrians. To make this possible the tube 
will have to slant upward from the hive. 



444 



HONEY EXHIBITS 



wagging of their bodies, attract the atten- 
tion of the visitors. 

THE ADVERTISING VALUE OF OBSERVATORY 
HIVES IN SHOW-WINDOWS OF GRO- 
CERIES AND DRUGSTORES. 

In the fall, when the active selling season 
for honey naturally starts, a beekeeper can 
very often to advantage place a single- 
comb observatory hive in the show-windows 
of groceries and drugstores where his honey 
is on sale. (See Observatory-Hive.) The 
presence of the live bees, the honeycomb, 
the sections just above, in addition to their 
educational value to the general public, call 
attention to the honey on sale in the win- 
dow as nothing else can. The sidewalk will 




Norman Mondeng was only eleven years old, yet he 
handled bees without fear. His entire clothing was a 
bathing suit. 

very often be blocked by crowds to see the 
" king bee " as they call it, and the bees 
making honej\ When both comb and ex- 
tracted are displayed in packages of various 
sizes in show-windows along with the ex- 



hibit of live bees the bystander will nat- 
urally step inside and buy a package of 
honey. The &st package will taste so good 
that it will caU for another and another. 

The advertising value of live bees can 
scarcely be overestimated, especially in lo- 
calities where such exhibits have never been 
made before. When sales of honev are 




William H. Crowson demonstrating bees at the 
Tri-state Fair, Memphis, Tenn. 

once started they will keep on and on. 
(See Marketing Honey; also Bottling 
Honey.) 

live-bee demonstration work to adver- 
tise HONEY AT THE FAIRS. 

In connection with an exhibit inside of 
the building, there should be a placard 
directing the visitor to a bee-show outside, 
as near the building as possible. This should 
be a demonstration of the method of handling 
live bees inside a wire cage, the operator 
taking them up by handfuls and forming 
artificial swarms. Where the two exhibits, 
one of honej' and bee-supplies, and the 
bee-show itself, can be located outdoors, it 
will be better. The former should then be 
in a temporary booth or tent, since it would 
not be advisable to have the exhibits of was 
and comb honey exposed to the direct 



HONEY EXHIBITS 



445 




The A. I. Root Company's exhibit at the Ohio State Fair. 



action of the sun. The bee-demonstrating 
cage should be located close by, within ten 
or twenty feet. It consists of a wirecloth 
structure large enough to take in a man, a 
hive of bees, and room enough to prac- 
tice ordinary bee-manipulation. This cage 
should be elevated on a stand four or five 
feet above the ground — the higher the bet- 
ter, because there will be a great jam of 
people around to see the man inside pick 
up live bees by the handful. 

Announcement should be made from out- 
side of the cage that, during certain hours, 
an operator, bareheaded and barearmed, 
v/ill perform some wonderful stunts in 
handling bees. When the performance be- 
gins, the people will surge around the 
stands, and that is just what is desired in 
order to sell honey at the other stand a few 
feet away. 

The operator begins his performance by 
stepping inside the cage of live bees, and 
closing the door. He then tells the crowd 
that he is going to handle live bees, every 
one of which is armed with a sting ; and if 
any one doubts it to come forward and he 
will furnish the " proof." He proceeds to 
take off his coat and vest and roll up his 
sleeves, take off his collar, and tuck down 
his shirt-band. It will then be necessary 
for him to put on bicycle pants-guards, or 
slip his trousers into his stockings. The 



crowd will quickly appreciate this part of 
the performance, because the operator tells 
them the bees will sting if they get inside 
of his clothing. With a lighted smoker he 
opens up the hive. After pulling out the 
frames he shows the bees and queen on the 
comb; then he calls out for everj^body to 
wait and see the next stunt, for he is going 
to make a swarm. With a large dishpan, 
which he has previously provided, he 
shakes the bees from two or three combs 
into this pan. Then he takes it up and 
turns to the crowd, saying, " The bees are 
not real mad yet, so I'll begin to shake 
them up to make them so." The people 
w^onder what he is going to do, seeing him 
barearmed and bareheaded. He keeps on 
shaking until he has the bees all in one big 
ball, and to the uninitiated it looks as if 
they would sting him to death. But, no! 
the continual shaking is the very thing that 
makes them gentle instead of cross. He 
now runs his hand under the ball of bees, 
pushing it under gently, being careful not 
to pinch any. The movement must be very 
deliberate — so slow indeed that the hand 
scarcely seems to move. He picks up a 
handful and holds them up for the crowd 
to examine. If he has good nerves he can 
put three or four bees in his mouth ; shake 
a handful of bees on top of his head, and 
in the mean time pick up another handful. 



446 



HONEY PEDDLING 



At the next performance there will be 
big crowds around to see the work. While 
the man is doing his stunts with the bees 
he tells what honey is, saying that it is a 
wholesome sweet, and that there is no such 
thing as manufactured comb honey, and 
that he will pay $100 for a single sample 
of it. At that psychological moment he 
draws attention to the fact that he has 
some good honey at the stand opposite or 
in the building yonder. The crowd will 
then go round to the stand and buy the 
honey. 

The preceding illustrations show the ex- 
hibits of bees and honey, the exhibit of the 
live-bee cage, and the crowd that assembled 
around it, both at the Ohio State Fair held 
at Columbus, and the Minnesota State 
Fair. 

After the exhibitor gets his questioner 
interested, he can hand out one of his 
advertising cards, and at the same time 
give him a little sample of honey to taste. 
This can be done very readily by handing 
out some strips of strong manila paper, 
which are to be dipped in the honey and 
then transferred to the mouth. 



HONEY-HOUSES. 

HOUSES. 



See EXTRACTING- 



HONEY, METHODS OF ANALYSES. 

— See Honey, Analysis of. 

HONEY ON COMMISSION.— See Mar- 
keting Honey. 

HONEY-PEDDLINa.— Under Extract- 
ed Honey, to which the reader is referred, 
there is told something about selling direct 
to consumers. But there are many who say 
they " haven't the nerve to ask folks to 
buy," and prefer to be excused from any 
such disagreeable experience. But there 
are ways in which one does not need to lose 
either his dignity or self-respect. A ped- 
dler may, it is true, call at unseasonable 
hours, or steal valuable time from a pros- 
pective customer in trying to force a sale. 
In such ways one may make himself a 
nuisance, making a second visit utterly 
useless. The late Dan White of New Lon- 
don, Ohio, a progressive and practical bee- 
keeper, struck upon a novel plan that en- 
tirely eliminates all objectionable features. 
He thus describes it. 



PEDDLING MADE EASY. 

I packed my grip and took two 12-pound 
cans of honey and started out. About all I 
had in my grip was a good supply of those 
leaflets published by the A. I. Koot Co.; also 
50 postals addressed to myself. 

I got into the town just before dinner 
time; and after eating a good meal at a 
boarding-house I filled my pockets with leaf- 
lets and took one honey-can and commenced 
business. I started down a street and did 
not miss calling at every house. After ring- 
ing the bell, or rapping, a lady would open 
the door and look at me with more or less 
suspicion. I would say, ''I made the call to 
ask you if your family were fond of honey." 

They generally answered yes, but believed 
they would not buy any. 

''Well," I would answer, "but I am not 
selling honey today. I am giving it away, 
and should be glad to give you some in a 
sauce-dish. ' ' 

Some would look astonished, others would 
smile, and say, ' ' That 's funny, ' ' but in every 
instance I was invited in. I would pour 
out the honey, then hand out a leaflet, tell- 
ing them to read every word of it. ''You 
wiU find it very interesting; it will tell you 
all about honey — how and why we extract it, 
etc. Then here is a postal card addressed 
to me; and should you decide to want a 12- 
pound can, put your name, street, and num- 
ber, on the card; drop it in the of&ce; and 
when I deliver in about ten days you will get 
a can of honey." 

WeU, there were enough cards put in the 
mail within five days to take thirty cans of 
honey. I promptly made the delivery on 
time, taking along twenty extra cans that 
sold about as fast as I could hand them out; 
and since then I have received orders for 50 
more cans from the same town. I tell you, 
it has got all over town that a honey-man 
had been there selling real honey, 12 pounds 
for one dollar. I am certain that this one 
place will take over 2000 pounds, all in one- 
gallon cans. Now, then, 18 pounds of honey 
given away from house to house, 50 postal 
cards, 200 leaflets left at houses and handed 
to people on the street, and one day walking 
over a very small portion of the town, has 
found a place for at least 2000 pounds of 
honey. Then think what I can do next season 
should I secure a good crop. All I shall have 
to do is to take a big load and go up there 
and hand it out. 

By the way, the honey sold there was 
thrown out of clean white combs, over every 
inch of whose surface the uncapping-knife 
had to go. It weighed strong 12 pounds to 
the gallon — just as good as the best comb 
honey, only it was out of the combs. Of 
course, I can go back just as often as I 
choose; yes, and the people will be glad to 



New London, Ohio. 



Dan White. 



HONEY PEDDLING 



447 



It would appear that one of the prime 
requisites is a first-class article of well- 
ripened extracted honey. Very many make 
a mistake right here, and, of course, if the 
honey is poor, one is not likely to make a 
second sale. Mr. White's scheme is to have 
the honey taste so good that, when it is 
gone, the good people will drop that postal 
for more. 

In a similar way Herman F. Moore of 
Chicago retailed large amounts of honey. 
His plan, like that of Mr. White, was to go 
around and solicit orders. In the cities of 
Cleveland and Toledo, or even those of 
smaller size, he would start out on foot, 
exhibiting a sample of his honey in a quart 
Mason fruit- jar. His reason for using this 
package was that almost any family would 
be willing to take a household article of 
this kind, for the simple reason that it 
would not have to be thrown away when it 
had served the purpose of holding the 
honey. 

With this package Mr. Moore would call 
at private houses, one after another, and 
ask for a dish and spoon, saying that he 
had some very nice honey, and that he 
would like to give the women-folks a sam- 
ple to taste. He then held up the beautiful 
transparent goods to the light, told them he 
was a beekeeper, and dealt only in pure 
honey; explained how it was produced, 
and finally named the price. If the lady of 
the house cared to take any he would take 
her order and deliver the next day. As a 
rule he took an order. 

In this way he made the rounds of a 
certain section of the city. When he first 
began he took the orders one day and de- 
livered the next; but his business grew so 
rapidly that he was finally obliged to take 
on a helper, his brother, and, a little later 
on, two more men and a man and his wife. 
The two last named washed the jars and 
filled them. Two of the men delivered while 
he and his brother took orders. In this 
way they sold enormous quantities of 
honey; and as it was always the finest 
quality, and guaranteed to be pure, they 
built up a large trade. 

There is another plan, providing one can 
trade honey for other useful articles too 
numerous to mention. Even if one did not 
sell much he would get a day of royal 
sport. 



TRADING HONEY FOR DUCKS, PIGS, PUPS, ETC. 

In all the literature on bees and honey, we 
are urged to develop the home market. Act- 
ing on the advice, after I had traveled over 
my regular route this fall I went into an 
entirely new locality. After enjoying the 
scenery and the sunlight for about a five- 
mile drive I called at a farmhouse and in- 
quired of the good lady if she would like some 
honey. 

''Well, yes, I should like some, but I have 
no money. ' ' 

Seeing some ducks, I offered to trade honey 
for ducks; and for a pair I gave four pint 
jars of honey. 

Calling at another house, I sold $2.00 worth 
for cash; and while I was talking with the 
man one of the ducks gave a quack, which led 
to an inquiry as to what I had. I told them 
I had traded honey for ducks. 

''Well, now, look here; can't I trade you 
some hens for honey ? ' ' 

I traded for half a dozen, and made the 
children, I hope, happy (I was). In this way 
I passed the day, and on my drive home I 
was trying to figure out my profits. I had 
disposed of two gross of pint jars, and 120 
pounds of comb honey. For the pint jars I 
received 25 cents; also 25 cents each for the 
sections of comb. I had had a royal day's 
sport; and as I listened to the quack of the 
ducks and geese, the cackle of the hens, and 
squeal of the pigs, and looked at the large 
box of eggs that I had in the wagon, I 
thought I would have to send for some of 
Dr. Mason's egg-preservative. After getting 
home I took account of stock. I had $54.40 
cash, 108 dozen eggs, 8 ducks, 1 goose, 2 pigs, 
24 hens, and 1 bullpup. (The pup is for sale.) 

Charlton City, Mass. Geo. L. Vinal. 

Another experience is thus given by G. 
C. Greiner of La Salle, N. Y. : 

Peddling honey has, like everything else, 
its ups and downs. We don't always strike 
it rich. Some days it may seem like terribly 
steep uphill business, while other days the 
money may roll in by the handfuls. As an 
illustration, and a proof that the latter sen- 
tence is almost literally true, let me give 
you one day 's experience. 

Late last fall I chanced to take a trip to 
Niagara Falls with the intention of making 
a display of my goods at the city market. 
At first things looked a little gloomy. Pur- 
chasers did not flock in as I had hoped, until 
after some minutes of patient waiting. One 
passing lady, in looking at my honey, asked, 
"Is your honey pure?" The reply I made 
must be imagined, for it would fill more 
space than the editor would be willing to 
allow. But let me emphasize — here is where 
the blabbing came in. In answering her 
question I delivered a good half-hour lecture 
in less than two minutes, trying to convince 
her of the purity, and all the good points 
of my honey. In the mean time, passing 



HONEY PLANTS 



people had stopped to listen; and by the 
time my lady friend was ready to buy one 
of my quart cans I had quite a crowd around 
me. To cut the story short, for quite a few 
minutes I handed out cans, mostly quarts, 
as fast as I could make change (many of 
the purchasers promising to buy more the next 
time I attended the market, if the honey 
proved to be what I had recommended it 
to be). 

When the market closed, at 11 a. m., I had 
a few cans left. With these I drove to 
Main Street and tied my horse in front of 
one of the stores, where I had a little busi- 
ness to transact. A few minutes later, while 
I was conversing with the storekeeper in- 
side, some one opened the door and inquired: 

' * Hello ! where is this honey-man ? ' ' 

After introducing myself he requested me 
to show him what I had to sell. It did not 
take very long to convince him that I car- 
ried the genuine article; and what pleased 
me still more was the fact that he ordered 
two cans to be left at the corner drugstore 
across the street. 

When I delivered the cans they were closely 
scrutinized by the clerks and some other par- 
ties who happened to be present, and one of 
the clerks asked: 

''What guarantee have we that this is pure 
honey?" 

Here another lecture-like conversation, too 
long to be repeated, took place, the substance 
of which may be concentrated in my reply: 

''First, pure honey and my name and ad- 
dress are on every package; and, second, 
back of this is the New York State law that 
prohibits all honey adulteration. ' ' 

Before I left the place I sold two more cans 
to those other parties. 

A great help in selling honev on the road 
is a proper traveling-outfit, which enables us 
to present our products in clean, neat, and 
inviting appearance. I know from experience 
that at least one-fourth of my sales of honey 
can be traced back to this feature. 



PEDDLING HOXEY AT GROCERIES AND OTHER 
RETAIL STORES. 

W. A. Selser of 10 Vine St., Philadel- 
phia, is not only a practical beekeeper, but 
he was also a large buj'er of honey. In 
addition to the amount he produced in his 
own apiaries, he bought up every year the 
product of several large yards. All of 
this, mostly extracted, he peddled out from 
a honey-wagon to the retail trade. 

The secret of his success in selling and 
in getting good prices was in putting up 
always a first-class article in a neat and 
attractive form. He advertised liberally, 
and every one knew him about Philadel- 
phia as " the honey-man." 
15 



After several gross were put up, Mr. Sel- 
ser loaded all he could carry in a special 
wagon, shown at the left of the illustration 
on the preceding page. He then visited 
the city stores and replenished their 
stock. After he had supplied all the city 
retail places he then went into the coun- 
try, visited the suburban towns, and even 
drove as far as the city of New York, sup- 
plying some stores. 

In these days of light automobile deliv- 
ery cars the territory can be greatly ex- 
tended; in fact, a bottler can make several 
outlying towns, and follow up the trade, 
taking care of a large line of fancy grocery 
stores. Light automobile trucks with top 
of the familiar Ford type are now being 
used for this very purpose — to sell and dis- 
tribute honey. 

HONEY PLANTS.— The importance to 
American beekeepers of a thoro knowledge 
of the honey-producing flora of this coun- 
try cannot be overestimated. A beginning 
in this work has already been made by sev- 
eral States. An excellent preiminary list 
of Texan honey plants by Louis H. Scholl 
was published in 1908, and in 1911 there 
appeared a carefully prepared bulletin on 
the honey plants of California by M. C. 
Richter. In both these lists much attention 
is given to the geographical distribution 
within the state limits of the species enu- 
merated. More or less complete lists of the 
chief mellifluous plants of Massachusetts, 
North Carolina, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Ari- 
zona have also been prepared. So helpful 
have these publications been to beekeepers 
that there can be little doubt that similar 
bulletins will soon be issued by other 
States. Such investigations promise to 
bring to light many interesting and valu- 
able facts. No one should enter extensively 
upon the production of honey without first 
investigating the flora on which he must 
depend for a marketable surplus. Success 
ov failure may often depend upon such in- 
formation. 

The geographical distribution of honey 
plants in the United States presents many 
striking peculiarities. While some occur 
over the entire country, others are re- 
stricted to a small area. The sumacs extend 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific; so do the 
carrot and carpetweed, tho the latter is 
commercially most valuable in central Cali- 



450 



HONEY PLANTS 



fornia. Sweet clover is spreading every- 
where; and the goldenrods and asters 
know no north nor south. While hearts- 
ease grows thruout nearly all North Amer- 
ica, the wild sunflower is confined chiefly to 
the West, cotton to the South, white clover 
to the East, and willowherb to the North. 
Much narrower are the limits of many 
other species. The white-tupelo region is 
a tract of land along the Apalachicola 
River; manchineel occurs in the extreme 
south of Florida; the black mangrove in 
tide-water marshes in the southern half of 
the same State; our native acacias belong 
to Texas, the sages to southern California, 
and scores of other honey plants are equal- 
ly restricted in their distribution. But it 
is not only in individual states that they 
are very variable in their range, but in al- 
most every township; for example, within 
less than a mile of each other, yet without 
invading each other's territory, there may 
be found the salt-marsh goldenrod, the field 
goldenrod, and the wood goldenrod. 

Honey plants are likewise very variable 
in the preference they exhibit for different 
soils. The tupelo and willows grow in wet 
swamps, the tickseed in marsh lands, the 
smooth sumac prefers a rocky soil, the mes- 
quite and cacti are dwellers in the desert; 
the gallberries in Georgia avoid a limestone 
region, while sweet clover will grow no- 
where else. The spikeweed and the alkali- 
weed thrive in alkaline soil; the Rocky 
Mountain honey plant in a dry saline soil; 
the salt-marsh goldenrod in a soil and at- 
mosphere impregnated with salt, while the 
fireweed springs up in profusion on burnt 
lands, and the production of nectar in wild 
alfalfa is greatly stimulated by a moun- 
tain fire. 

Undoubtedly the secretion of nectar is 
often if not always correlated with the 
character of the soil, the temperature, and 
water supply. Alfalfa, which, in irrigated 
sections of California, is a large and most 
reliable yield er, is of little value along the 
coast or in the East. A heavy thunder- 
shower followed by a sudden fall in the 
temperature may bring a successful honey 
flow from buckwheat or basswood to a pre- 
mature end. Wild alfalfa may produce 
nectar abundantly on one side of the Coast 
Ranges, and very little on the other side. 
Heavy rains are likely to lessen greatly and 
light rains may either stimulate or retard 



the quantity of nectar secreted by a honey 
plant. The last honey obtained from lima 
beans and alfalfa is darker than the first. 
On a sandy soil the honey obtained froui 
alfalfa is lighter in color than on a heavy 
soil, and lime in a soil is also reported to 
render a honey lighter. A prolonged drouth 
is apt to bring loss and disappointment, 
tho it shortens the tubes of the red clover 
so that part of the nectar is available. 
Black sage requires a clear warm season 
preceded by abundant rain. Blue gum and 
red clover are very reliable yielders, and 
are largely independent of the weather. 

Nor must the periodicity of honey plants 
be overlooked. The orange tree and the 
cabbage palmetto in Florida can be de- 
pended upon only about one year in three; 
but orange is a fairly reliable source in 
California. Sage does its best one year in 
five, and is a partial failure every other 
year. The rules which govern the bloom- 
ing of white clover have not yet been 
formulated. Manchineel does not afford a 
heavy flow every year. The different spe- 
cies ahso vary greatly in the length of time 
they are in bloom. In many cases they 
are in flower for only a few weeks; but 
carpet gi^ass yields from May until frost; 
pepper bush from July to September; pin 
clover in California begins in February 
and continues thru the summer, and alfalfa 
from April to October. The different kinds 
of honey vary also in the rapidity with 
which they granulate. After 10 years white 
tupelo is still liquid, while the honey from 
blue curls granulates in the cells before 
they are sealed. Usually a honey granu- 
lates within six months after it is extracted. 

A honey containing a large percentage 
of grape sugar (dextrose) crystallizes 
much more readily than one containing a 
small percentage. For example, alfalfa 
honey, which granulates in a few months, 
contains 36.85 per cent of grape sugar 
(dextrose) and 40.24 per cent of fruit 
sugar (levulose) ; while tupelo honey, 
which never granulates, contains only 24.73 
per cent of grape sugar and 48.61 per cent 
of fruit sugar. The reason for this is that 
grape sugar granulates easily, while fruit 
sugar usually remains a liquid. Frequent 
changes of temperature also hasten granu- 
lation. 

Even where there is a good honey flora 
fair weather is essential, or the bees can 



HONEY PLANTS 



451 



not bring the nectar into the hive. The 
willows and the gallberries, which bloom in 
the spring when there are much rain and 
foggy weather, are, therefore, not so desir- 
able as species which flower later. The suc- 
cession of honey plants should also be 
considered. In California, after the orange 
trees have ceased to bloom for the rest of 
the season in that locality, the bees bring 
in only a " dribble " of dark honey from 
pepper and horehound. Fortunate is the 
beekeeper to whom the autumn months 
bring a heavy flow of nectar from fall 
flowers. 

More information about the honey plants 
of foreign countries should be obtained. 
Who can say what happy surprises Africa, 
Asia, and the Pacific islands may yet af- 
ford the beekeeper? It should not be for- 
gotten that sweet clover, alfalfa, pin clover, 
borage, eucalj^tus, horehound, carrot, cat- 
nip, wild marjoram, thyme, and red alsike, 
and crimson clovers are all introduced 
plants. Our agricultural and horticultural 
explorers are successfully seeking new 
fruits, grains, and flowers; but do they 
ever look for new honey plants ? 

The possibilities of artificial pasturage 
are only partially recognized. In many 
localities the apiarist might greatly in- 
crease the number of nectariferous flowers 
by sowing each season a few pounds of 
sweet clover in waste places and along the 
roadside. There are many plants which 
produce paying crops, and are at the same 
time valuable to the apiarist, such as cot- 
ton, alfalfa, mustard, buckwheat, clovers, 
the orange, and a great variety of fodder 
plants and fruit trees. When it is remem- 
bered that more than one-half of the prin- 
cipal honey plants of Florida are arboreal, 
and that many shade and timber trees yield 
nectar freely, there would seem to be good 
reason to expect that in the future forestry 
and bee culture may be united. 

By hybridization and selection many new 
varieties of fruits and flowers have been 
originated; and the laws of heredity and 
breeding are studied more zealously today 
than ever before in the history of biology. 
AVhy should not plants, especially those 
valuable for fruits and seeds, be developed 
with a greater capability for secreting nec- 
tar? Insects have shown us what is possi- 
ble in this direction. It is probable that 
there would have been very few nectar- 



producing flowers but for their agency. 
There may yet be an apple tree that, in 
addition to excellent fruit, will yield nectar 
as freely as does the orange or basswood. 
The orchardist of the next century may 
obtain a crop of honey from fruit bloom 
which will rival in value the later harvest 
of fruit. No effort has yet been made in 
this direction, and many of the achieve- 
ments of the horticultural experimenter ap- 
pear to have offered greater diflSculties. 
There may yet be plants of which it may 
literally be said that they flow with nectar. 

POLLEN PLANTS. 

An ample supply of pollen is of even 
greater importance to honey bees than 
large stores of honey. In limited areas 
nectar famines not infrequently occur, 
when in some localities, at least, the bees 
are able to obtain partial supplies from 
honeydew, the sweet juices of broken or 
decayed fruits, and the sap of various 
plants. But there is nothing in nature 
which can be used as a satisfactory substi- 
tute for pollen, tho bees sometimes collect 
the spores of fungi and mosses to a small 
extent. Pollen famines do occur in some 
of our Southern States, and in Australia, 
according to R. Beuhne, when the brood 
dies in the hive, and no artificial substitute 
gives satisfactory results. The same scarc- 
ity of pollen occurs in the tupelo section of 
Florida and in many places in southern 
Alabama. 

Of the true flowering plants called an- 
giosperms, because they have their seeds 
enclosed in a seed case, and receive the pol- 
len on a prepared surface known as the 
stigma, there have been described in North 
America north of Mexico about 14,600 spe- 
cies. Of this number, at least 3000 are 
nectarless, but of necessity produce pollen. 
Very many of them have small green or 
dull-colored flowers, and are pollinated by 
the wind, as the alders, birches, poplars, 
elms, beeches, oaks, and hickories; the 
grasses, sedges, and rushes; many homely 
weeds like pigweeds, ragweeds, nettles, 
pondweeds, sorrels, hemp, and meadow rue. 
Usually the stamens and pistils are in sep- 
arate flowers, which are borne on the same 
plant (monoecious), or on different plants 
(ditiecious). They are commonly without 
nectar, since they depend on the wind for 



452 



HONEY PLANTS 



pollination; but they produce great quan- 
tities of pollen, and are consequently often 
valuable to the apiarist. See Pollen. 

Other pollen plants bear large handsome 
flowers like the roses and poppies, which 
are pollinated by insects, and are called 
pollen flowers ; they contain no nectar, and 
insects visit them for pollen alone. Mis- 
takes are often made in regard to these 
flowers, and bees are reported as bringing 
in nectar when such is not the case. Possi- 
bly some of these errors have arisen from 
the presence of houeydew on the leaves. A 
list of the more important pollen plants is, 
therefore, given separately. No attempt 
has been made to include all nectarless 
flowers, but only those of importance to 
beekeepers. A great number of flowers 
yield both nectar and pollen ; but these are 
placed under Honey Plants. The species 
in the following list are nectarless unless 
otherwise stated. 

plants that yield pollen only. 

Alder (Alnus). — Wind-pollinated; the small brown- 
ish flowers apppear in early spring. The aments 
(staminate) of the common or hoary alder (A. in- 
cana) are visited by honeybees for pollen. 

Anemone {Anemone quinquefolia). — Large white pol- 
len flowers ; pollen gathered by bees in spring. 

Ash (Fraxinus). — Some species are pollinated by 
insects, others by the wind ; small greenish flowers. 

Bayberry {Myrica). — Shrubs blooming in spring; 
flowers small, greenish, wind-pollinated. 

Beech {Fagus)i — Large trees, with small wind-pol- 
linated flowers. Honeydew is foimd on the leaves. 

Birch (Betula). — Small greenish or golden-yellow 
flowers, appearing with or before the leaves in spring ; 
wind-pollinated ; mostly trees. 

Bloodroot {Sanguinaria canadensis). — Large hand- 
some white pollen flowers in April or May. Visited 
by honeybees in large numbers, which remove nearly 
all the pollen. 

California Poppy (Eschscholtzia calif ornica). — Large 
orange-yellow pollen flowers ; great numbers of bees 
visit them for pollen. 

Castor-oil Bean (Ricinus communis). — The small 
flowers are wind-pollinated ; stamens very numerous ; 
an abundance of pollen ; extra-floral nectaries at the 
base of the leaves. 

Chestnut {Castanea). — The chestnut tree (C den- 
tata) has small, pleasantly scented, pale-yellow pollen 
flowers; but chinquapin (C. pumila), a spread-shrub 
is reported to be a valuable honey plant in the South. 

Clematis. — A part of the wild species and the large 
handsome flowers of the cultivated varieties of C. 
Jacl:manni are nectarless, but are visited by bees for 
pollen. Other species yield nectar including the com- 
mon wild Clematis (C virginiana). 

Cockle-burr {Xanthium canadense). — Small flowers 
from which bees obtain pollen in the fall. They con- 
tain a little nectar. 

Corn (Zea Mays). — Wind- pollinated ; bees gather 
pollen from the spindles ; are reported to obtain sap 
from the stalks, but this should be confirmed. 

Cone-trees {Coniferae). — Fir, spruce, pine, cedar, 
juniper, and many other cone trees. While they pro- 
duce enormous quantities of pollen, it is not much used 



by bees — probably too resinous. From the foliage of 
pine trees and spruces bees obtain much honeydew. 
See Honeydew. Gymnosperms. 

Date Palm {Phoenix dactylifera). — La.rge areas of 
California and Arizona are adapted to date culture. 
There are extensive plantations of great age in Lower 
California and Mexico. In southern Asia and northern 
Africa this tree is of inestimable value. Tlie staminate 
and pistillate flowers are produced on different trees, 
or the trees are partly " male " and partly " female." 
In nature pollination is effected by the wind, but un- 
der cultivation by binding a sprig of staminate flowers 
among the pistillate. Flowers small, in large clus- 
ters ; in California bees visit the staminate flowers 
freely for pollen. Bloom in early spring. 

Elder (Sambucus). — Small white pollen flowers in 
large clusters ; bees sometimes gather the pollen. 

Elm (Ulmus americana) . — Small purple flowers which 
appear in the spring, and are wind-pollinated. They 
are visited by great numbers of bees for pollen. 

Furze {Ulex europaeus). — Gorse. Introduced from 
Europe. A pollen flower, yields considerable pollen, 
which honeybees and wild bees gather and also search 
the flowers for nectar. In Australia the large area 
over which it has spread presents a golden landscape 
in spring. 

Grape (Vitis). — Valuable for pollen; yield some 
nectar. Honeydew occurs on the foliage. 

Grasses {Gramineae). — Small greenish flowers, with 
a great abundance of pollen ; wind-pollinated ; spar- 
ingly visited by inaects. About 429 species in North 
America. 

Hackberry {Celtis occidentalis) . — Valuable for pol- 
len in early spring. TTiere are seven species of Celtis 
in the South. 

Hazelnut {Corylus americana). — Small yellowish 
flowers, valuable for pollen in early spring ; wind- 
pollinated. 

Hepatica (Ilepatica triloba). — Handsome blue or 
white pollen flowers ; attractive to bees in early 
spring. 

Hemp (Cannabis sativa). — Small flowers pollinated 
by the wind. 

Hickory (C ary a). —Fecnn, mocker nut; large trees 
with small wind-pollinated flowers ; valuable for pol- 
len ; much honeydew on the leaves. 

Hop (Humulus Lupulus). — Small greenish flowers, 
wind-pollinated ; common. 

Hornbeam {Carpinus caroliniana) . — Large tree with 
small wind-pollinated flowers. 

Loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris). — Medium-sized yel- 
low pollen flowers. 

Lupine {Lupinus). — The flowers are nectarless, but 
are frequently ^asited by honeybees and other bees for 
pollen. Honeybees sometimes vainly attempt ,to suck 
nectar from the flowers. Blue lupine (L. subcarnosus) 
is very abundant in Texas, and is often visited by bees 
for pollen. 

Meadow-rue (Thalictrum) . — Common ; white or green- 
ish pollen flowers visited by honeybees for pollen. Rue 
anemone (Anemonella thalictroides) produces a great 
abundance of white flowers in low land ; wind-pol- 
linated. 

Mullein (Verbascum). — Common; bright-yellow pol- 
len flowers. A part of the species are nectarless. Oth- 
ers contain some nectar. 

Mulberry (Morus rubra). — A tree with small wind- 
pollinated flowers. 

Nettle (Urtica). — Greenish flowers in summer; wind- 
pollinated. 

Oak (Quercus). — Small greenish or reddish flowers; 
wind-pollinated. Honeydew is found on the foliage of 
many species. In California enough honeydew is gath- 
ered from blue or rock oak (Quercus Douglasii) to 
winter bees. 

Pigweed (Chenopodium). — Goosefoot. White meab- 
garden weeds, with small greenish sessile flowers in 
large clusters, wind-pollinated. Also amaranth ; also 
called pigweed {Amaranthus retroflexus) ; coarse wind- 



HONEY PLANTS 



453 



pollinated weeds in cultivated ground ; flowers in large 
clusters, of some value for pollen. 

Poppy (Papaver). — The poppies are Very large showy 
pollen flowers visited by honeybees. The scarlet color 
does not repel bees, as has been reported. 

Plantain (Plantago). — Partly pollinated by the wind 
and partly by insects ; flowers contain a little nectar, 
and have a pleasant odor ; very common weeds, visited 
by honeybees. 

Poplar (Populus). — Aspens. Small purplish flowers, 
wind-pollinated ; pollen abundant, forcibly expelled 
from the anthers ; said to be valuable ; nectar-glands 
at base of leaf-stalks. Honeydew sometimes occurs on 
the foliage. It should be distinguished from the white 
poplar. {Liriodendron Tulipifera). 

Prickly Poppy (^Argemone). — Large yellow or white 
pollen flowers. A. platyceras in Texas blooms in June, 
and honeybees gather large quantities of its pollen. 

Ragweed (Ambrosia). — Small green flowers pollinated 
by the wind ; valuable in the fall for their abundant 
supply of pollen. Two common species are Roman 
wormwood (A. artemisiifolia) and gp'eat ragweed (4. 
trifida) . 

Rockrose (Helianthemum canadense). — Large, soli- 
tary, yellow pollen flowers ; common in the Eastern 
States. 

Roses (Rosa). — These handsome well-known flowers 
are nectarless, but yield much pollen which is gathered 
by honeybees and many wild bees. 

Rushes iJnncaceae). — Small green lily-like flowers; 
wind-pollinated. 

Sage-brush ^Artemisia). — Wind-pollinated herbs and 
shrubs, which produce a large amount of pollen. Thou- 
sands of acres are covered with sagebrush in Utah and 
Nevada. 

St. John's-wort (Hypericum). — Small yellow pollen 
flowers ; common ; attractive to bees after pollen. 

Sedges (Cyperaceae) . — A large family of grasslike 
plants ; flowers small, green, wind-pollinated. The 
so-called " tule honey " has been reported to be gath- 
ered from species of Scirpus growing along the Sacra- 
mento River, California ; but this is undoubtedly a 
mistake. 

Sorghum (Sorghum, vulgare). — Pollen very abundant; 
a grass. 

Tick-trefoil (Desmodium). — Flowers resemble those 
of the field-pea, or vetch ; many species are nectarless, 
and do not appear to be visited by honeybees, tho the 
pollen is gathered by bumblebees. Sometimes listed as 
honey plants. 

Walnut (Juglans). — Large trees with small wind- 
pollinated flowers. Valuable for stimulating early 
brood-rearing in the spring. 

Many handsome garden exotics, as pelargonium and 
hybrid petunias, are nectarless. 



PLANTS THAT YIELD NECTAR. 

A honey plant may be defined as a plant 
which secretes nectar, accessible to honey- 
bees, in quantities sufficiently large to be 
of practical importance to beekeepers. This, 
of course, implies that in some locality it is 
a common plant. If a list of all plants 
secreting nectar were desired, it would be 
easy to enumerate thousands of species; 
but very few of them are of practical 
importance in bee culture. Many are rare, 
others grow in the deep recesses of forests 
and swamps, while still others yield so little 
nectar that the larger bees pass them by 
unheeded. The bunchberry {Cornus cana- 



densis) is very common in open woodlands; 
but the small flowers contain so little nec- 
tar that bumblebees ignore them entirely, 
and honeybees visit them only occasionally. 
They are left to flies, beetles, and the 
smaller bees. Then there are many flowers 
adapted to moths, butterflies, bumblebees, 
and humming birds, which have the nectar 
so deeply concealed that it cannot be 
reached by honeybees. Many a beginner 
in beekeeping has fondly imagined that his 
flower garden would supply his bees with a 
rich harvest, wholly unconscious that the 
gaudy exotics of cultivation are often near- 
ly or quite nectarless. In the following list 
the more important honey plants in North 
America, so far as known at present, either 
wild or cultivated, have been briefly de- 
scribed. 

Acacia. — A large genus of shrubs and trees, contain- 
ing 500 or more species, which are abundant and wide- 
ly distributed in Australia ; honey white, of fine qual- 
ity. The vernacular name is wattle. The wattles are 
completely covered with bloom, and produce great 
quantities of pollen very rich in protein, and are very 
valuable in Australia for brood-rearing. The most im- 
portant species in this country are A. Greggii, south- 
eastern Texas, New Mexico and Arizona — see Catclaw ; 
A. Berlandieri, along the Rio Grande — see Huajilla ; 
A. Farnesiana (huisache), along the lower Rio Grande 
and Gulf Coast; A. Roemeriana, southern Texas; A. 
dealbata (silver wattle), and A. decurrens mollis 
(black wattle) in California. 

Agave. — A large genus of North American plants 
found chiefly in Mexico, with fleshy, spiny-toothed 
leaves, blooming after many years of growth, flowers 
open in the evening, nectariferous. — See Century 
Plant. 

Alfilerilla (Erodium cicutarium). — Maine to Texas 
and California but most common in the West ; honey 
of good quality and flavor. Blooms early, valuable for 
pollen. E. moschatum is also an important honey 
plant ; honey similar to that of the preceding species. 

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa). — One of the most valuable 
honey plants in irrigated sections of the Western 
states. Honey water-white to light amber, thick, with 
a pleasant slightly minty flavor. Granulates in a few 
months. — See Alfalfa. 

Almond (Prunus Amygdalus). — Extensively culti- 
vated in the warm temperate regions of Europe and 
Asia. Succeeds well in California. The large pink 
flowers appear before the leaves, and yield both nectar 
and pollen. Apiaries are sometimes placed in almond 
groves. 

Alsike. — See Clover, 

Andromeda. — Shrubs, in northern Florida, j'ielding a 
reddish-yellow pungent honey. 

Apple (Pyrus Malus). — Often yields a small sur- 
plus ; honey light in color and of good quality, rather 
rank-flavored when newly gathered but becoming milder 
and aromatic. Crab apple (P. coronaria) is also of 
value. 

Apricot (Prunus armeniaca). — Blooms very early in 
the spring, helpful for brood-rearing. Flowers have 
the odor of honey ; nectar concealed in a little cup. 
Temperate regions. 

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis). — Widely culti- 
vated. Yields an amber-colored honey, which loses its 
peculiar flavor when ripened. Wild, it is very abun- 
dant on the waste steppes of Russia, where it is eaten 
by cattle. 



454 



HONEY PLANTS 



Aster (Aster). — Common fall flowers; honey white, 
when first gathered it is strong-flavored, but later it 
acquires a pleasant aromatic taste. Granulates with a 
finer grain than goldenrod. Most common in Middle 
States. See Aster. 

Artichoke, Globe (Cynara Scolymus). — Freely vis- 
ited by bees, but honey unknown. Cardoon (C. Car- 
dunculus) is very common in Argentina. 

Artichoke, Jerusalem (Ilelianthus tuberosa). — A good 
honey plant, cultivated for its tubers. 

Banana (Musa Sapientnm and ^fllf!a Ensete). — The 
flowers produce large quantities of pollen and nectar. 
Cultivated in Florida. 

Barberry (Berberis vvlgaris, Eastern States ; B. pin- 
iiata, Cal. ; B. trifolinta, Texas). — Shrubs yielding 
both pollen and nectar ; honey amber-colored, some- 
times a surplus. 

Basil {Pycnanthemum vir<nnianum). — Moimtain 
mint ; Minnesota to Georgia and Alabama. Bees visit 
it freely. 

Basswood (Tilia americana and T. heterophylla) . — 
Among the most valuable honey plants of North Amer- 
ica ; a white honey with an aromatic flavor. Central- 
Northern States, and as far south as Texas. The 
European basswood, or linden, is equally valuable, and 
is widely planted as an avenue tree. See Basswood. 

Beans, Lima (Phaseolus lunatus). — From lima beans 
in California there is obtained a thick water-white 
honey of delicious flavor. Horse beans (P. nanus) in 
British Isles and Holland are also valuable. 

Bearberry. — See Manzanita. 

Bee-balm (Melissa officinalis). — In gardens, sparingly 
wild. 

Bitterweed. — See Sneezeweed. 

Blackberry (Rubiis). — Numerous closely allied spe- 
cies, Rubus allegheniensis being the most common in 
the Noi'thern States. In northeastern North America 
the blackberry, either wild or cultivated, .vields very 
little nectar, and is more frequently visited by wild 
bees than honeybees. In north Gsorgia wild blackber- 
ries yield in April about 25 pounds per colony of thick 
amber-colored honey, which does not granulate readily. 
In California from Rubus baileyanus and R. viti- 
folius surplus crops of light-amber honey of fine 
flavor are obtained. 

Black Gum. — See Tupelo. 

Blue Curls (Trichostema lanceolatum). — -Yields a 
milk-white honey that granulates very quickly with a 
very fine grain, often before it is sealed. Tons of 
honey are stored from this plant in Fresno County, 
Calif. Blooms in August and September when it gives 
the dry fields and hills a soft purple tinge. Vinegar 
Weed. Camphor Weed. Turpentine Weed. 

Black Mangrove (.ivicennia nitida). — Tide-water 
marshes on the east and west coasts of southern Flor- 
ida and on the Keys ; honey very white and mild with 
a mere suggestion of a salty flavor that is in no way 
objectionable, equal to that of orange or palmetto. A 
remarkable yielder of honey. 

Blackheart. — So called from a dark triangular spot 
on the center of each leaf. See Heartsease. 

Black Haw (Viburnum prunifolium). — Of value for 
early brood-rearing. 

Boston Ivy (.impelopsis Veitchii). — Climbing vine 
introduced from Japan ; covering acres of wall in 
Northern cities. Blooms in July, very attractive to 
bees ; honey strong or unpleasantly scented. 

Blueweed (EcJdum vulgare). — Viper's Bugloss. Showy, 
bright blue flowers, very frequently visited by honey- 
bees and a great many other insects for nectar. A 
weed from Europe, common in places. 

Bokhara. — See Sweet Clover. 

Boneset, Thoroughwort (Eupatorium). — Very com- 
mon in Tennessee and Kentucky, where it is reported 
to yield a surplus. A large surplus was obtained at 
Mt. Pleasant, Ala., in 1917. Honey a dark amber, 
thick and heavy, with an unpleasant herby flavor and 
odor. It improves with age. There are many species, 
E. perfoliatum being one of the most common. 



Borage (Borago officinalis). — Cultivated from Europe, 
an excellent honey plant. It has spread to some extent 
in southern .Australia. 

Box elder (Acer negundo). — Manitoba to Texas. 
The small greenish flowers yield nectar. 

Buckeye (Aesculus glabra). — Ohio to Kansas and 
southward. Considerable honey is obtained from the 
California buckeye (Aesculus calif ornica). 

Broomweed (Gutierrezia texana). — Plains of Texas 
and Arkansas. Honey dark amber and strong flavored, 
but good for winter. September to October. 

Buckthorn (Rhamnvs catharfAca). — Tliis species is 
found in the Middle States. Cascara sagrada (R. pur- 
shiana) is the main honey plant at Sonora, Calif. 
Comb honey from this plant is so dark that it sells 
pcorly where it is known, but is highly valued for its 
medicinal properties ; does not granulate ; a profu- 
sion of flowers on which the bees work for about 2.5 
days. The coffee berry (R. californica) yields a heavy 
amber honey. 

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum). — A dark-pur- 
plish honey, of heavy body, with a more or less sickish 
raste to those unaccustomed to it. Extensively culti- 
vated thruout the temperate regions of Europe, Asia, 
and North America ; thousands of acres are grown in 
New York and Pennsylvania. Yields nectar only dur- 
ing the forenoon. See Buckwheat. 

Buckwheat, Wild (Eriogonum fasciculatum). — In parts 
of southern California the most important honey plant ; 
honey light amber, of good flavor, granulates. 

Burr Clover (Medicago denticulata) . — Closely related 
to alfalfa. Common in California ; occasionally yields 
a surplus. 

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) . — Important 
on the overflowed lands of the Mississippi, and in 
swamps in many States. A mild light-colored honey. 

Button weed (Senecio glabellus). — Several species of 
Senecio, or groundsel, appear to be of value as honey 
plants. 

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea). — Cabbage, rape, tur- 
nip, radish, cress, horseradish, mustard and many other 
species of the mustard family (Cruciferae) are of 
value. See Mustard. 

C.-'.ctus, or Prickly Pear (Opuntia Engelmannii). — 
Southwestern Texas, southward and westward. Some- 
times a surplus of honey of light-amber color ; body 
heavy and stringy, of rank flavor. Flowers yellow in- 
side, red outside. The prickly pear introduced from 
Rio de Janeiro into Australia in 1789 as food for the 
cochineal insect now badly infests an area of 30,000 
acres, to which about 1,000,000 acres are being added 
annual!}' by natural increase. 

Campanula (Ipomoea sidaefolia and /. triloba). — 
Christmas bells, Christmas pop. Honey pearly white, 
equal to alfalfa in flavor. Mexico, Cuba, and Jamaica. 
See Campakilla. 

Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense). — A common weed 
from Europe ; honey light-colored, of fine flavor and 
quality. Common in Canada, the Central States and 
westward. 

Carpet-grass (Lippia nodiflora). — One of the princi- 
pal honey plants of central California, also valuable in 
the West Indies ; honey light-colored, of mild flavor. 
L. lanceolata and L. repens are likewise visited by bees, 
but are less important. See Carpet Grass. 

Carrot (Daucus Carota). — From Maine to California, 
naturalized from Europe. A white honey, candies in a 
few months. 

Cascara sagrada. — See Buckthorn, 

Cassia. — The species of Cassia bear pollen flowers. 
The partridge pea (C. Chamaechrista), however, has 
extra-floral nectaries on the leaf stems, which yield 
large quantities of nectar for more than 100 days. 
This species is common in the Southern States, and in 
northern Florida ; the woods for miles are yellow 
with the blossoms ; honey light amber, very clear and 
thin, but with a strong flavor. Wild senna (C. mary 
landica) also has extra-floral nectaries. 



HONEY PLANTS 



455 



Catclaw.-^See Acacia and Catclaw. 

Catnip (Nepeta Cataria). — Secretes nectar freely un- 
der cultivation, but quality of honey unknown. See 
Catnip. 

Century Plant (Agave americana). — Extensively cul- 
tivated in Mexico under the name of maguey. The im- 
mense flower-clusters yield nectar copiously and are 
visited by hundreds of bees. It thrives on semiarid 
land, and blooms after 10 or more years. 

Cherry (Pninus). — The cherries, of which there are 
many species, are nectariferous. In Florida the black 
cherry (Prunus serotind) is the source of a dark-red, 
bitter honey with the flavor of the cherry pit ; a very 
little of it spoils the first orange honey. In Sacra- 
mento County, Calif., one of the most valuable honey- 
producers among cultivated fruit trees is P. cerasus. 

Christmas Berry (Heteromeles arbutifolia). — Com- 
mon on the Coast Range of California ; honey amber- 
colored, thick, candying in a few months ; often a 
surplus. 

Clover. — The genus Trifolium contains about 250 
species, of which some 65 occur in North America. 
AVhite clover (T. repens) is the most important honey 
plant in the Eastern and Central States ; honey white, 
of the finest quality. A part of the nectar of red clover 
(T. pratense) is available in dry seasons; the honey is 
similar to that of white clover, but is a little nearer 
water-white. The honey of alsike clover (T. hybridum) 
and of crimson clover (T. incarnatum) differs little,, 
if at all, from that of white clover. The yellow clovers 
are of no importance. Sour clover (T. furcatum) is 
the source of considerable honey in the alkaline regions 
of central California. See Clover. 

Clover. — See Sweet Clover^ Sainfoin Clover, Pin 
Clover and Burr Clover. 

Coral-berry (Symphoricarpos orhiculatus) . — Indian 
currant. Found on rocky soil from New York to 
Texas, secretes nectar freely. The snowberry (5. 
racemosus) is the source of a large amount of honey 
in Iowa. The wolfberry (<S. occidentalis) is common 
in the Missouri River basin, and in Washington and 
Idaho. — See Buckbush. 

Cotton (Gossypium herbaceum). — The cotton plant 
possesses both floral and extra-floral nectaries ; most 
of the nectar is gathered from the nectaries on the 
under side of the leaves. In Texas and some other 
parts of the South it yields well, but in some localities 
no honey is obtained from it. Nectar secretion is 
greatly influenced by the weather. The honey is thin 
and of poor quality, but is light colored. See Cotton. 

Cowpea (Vigna sinensis). — From China, widely cul- 
tivated in the Southern States for forage. In Georgia 
it is grown in all parts of the State, blooming from 
June to September. The nectar is secreted not by the 
flowers, but by extra-floral nectaries situated near the 
ends of the long flower stems, which bear 2 or 3 flow- 
ers ; the honey is light-colored, but of inferior quality. 

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus). — In the vicinity of 
pickle factories there are hundreds of acres of cucum- 
bers, which yield a small harvest of honey after clover 
is over. The honey is pale yellow and at first has a 
rather strong flavor suggestive of the fruit. 

Currant (Ribes). — The many species of currants and 
gooseberries, both wild and cultivated, are widely dis- 
tributed and are of value in the spring. 

Coral berry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus) . — Indian 
currant. Found in rocky soil from New York to 
Texas, secretes nectar freely. The snowberry (S. 
racemosus) is the source of a large amount of honey 
in Iowa. The wolfberry (S. occidentalis) is common 
in the Missouri River basin and in Washington and 
Idaho. See Buckbush. 

Cowitch (Cissus incisa). — A vine growing on sandy 
shores from Florida to Texas. Sometimes there is a 
small surplus of honey. 

Crownbeard (Verbesina virginica). — Pennsylvania to 
Texas. The white flowers appear in the fall, and are 
the source of much honey of fine quality. The yellow- 
flowered F. occidentali." is valuable in Tennessee. 



Dandelion (Taraxicum officinale). — Eurasia, North 
America, and many other parts of the world. Valuable 
in spring for both pollen and nectar. Honey golden 
yellow, thick, strong flavored, crystallizing in a few 
weeks. 

Eryngo {Eryngium articulatum) . — A dark honey of 
good flavor. California. 

Eucalyptus. — Abundant in Australia, and more rare- 
ly found in New Guinea, Timor, and the Moluccas. 
There are about 150 species, of which not far from 100 
have been introduced into California. The flow of nec- 
tar is surpassed in quantity by no other plant. The 
honey varies in color from dark brown to amber, yellow 
and nearly white ; and in flavor from a most agreeable 
to a peculiar acid taste in blue gum (E. globulus). 
which renders it unsalable at retail. The blooming 
time varies so g^reatly that there are species in flower 
during every month of the year. The future of 
Eucah-ptus in California promises to be of vast im- 
Dortance to bee culture in that State. See Eucalyptus. 

T'igwort (Scrophularia) . — The figworts woul(3 be ex- 
cellent honey plants if they were more common. In 
S. marilandica (Simpson honey plant) the nectar is 
secreted in two large drops by the base of the ovary. 
Honeybees are constant visitors. Massachusetts to 
Kansas and Louisiana. In southern California S. cali- 
fornica is a valuable honey plant. 

Gaura (Gaura filiformis). — In sandy soil in Texas, 
occasionally yields a surplus. Pink-purple flowers, in 
summer. 

Gallberry (Ilex glabra). — Georgia and other South- 
ern States. A reliable yielder ; honey white, of 
superior quality. An objection to many gallberry sec- 
tions is the absence of later sources of honey. Also 
several other species. See Holly and Gallberry. 

Germander (Teucrium canadense). — Central States. 
Honeybees common on the flowers sucking nectar. 

Giant Hyssop (Agastache nepetoides) . — Vermont to 
Nebraska and southward. In bloom about six weeks, 
many hone^'bees. 

Goldenrod (Solidago). — Numerous species. Surplus 
in New England ; honey golden or dark amber ; thick, 
of fine flavor. See Goldenrod. 

Gooseberry. — See Currant. 

Grease<vood (Adenostoma fasriculatum) . — In dry sa- 
line localities in the West ; frequently visited by bees. 

Gum plant (Grindelia squarrosa). — Many acres of 
the dry plains of Manitoba and Minnesota are covered 
with the yellow flowers which are very attractive to 
bees. 

Hawthorn (Crataegus). — A great number of closely 
allied species, blooming in May ; valuable for both 
nectar and pollen. 

Heather (Calluna vulgaris). — Locally on the eastern 
coast ; a prolific source of honey in Europe and the 
British Isles ; honey rich amber, of pronounced flavor 
and penetrating aroma. 

Hedge nettle (Stachys). — Many species secrete nectar 
freely, and attract a large number of bees. 

Horsemint (Monarda punctala). — New York to Flor- 
ida and Texas. One of the main yielders in Texas ; 
honey of good quality, but rather strong-flavored. M. 
clinopodioides is likewise very valuable ; honey has 
been compared to that of basswood. See Horsemint, 

Heartsease (Polygonum Persicaria). — Naturalized 
from Europe thruout a large part of North America ; 
honey varies from light to dark amber ; flavor very 
good. Water smartweed (P. punctatum) occurs in wet 
lands thruout North America ; hcney dark, and of poor 
quality. Many other smartweeds are of more or less 
value ; about 70 species in North America. See 
Heartsease. 

Hop tree (Ptelea trifoliata). — Florida to Texas and 
northward ; nectar abundant ; honeybees common. 

Horehound (Marrubium vulgare). — Good yields of 
dark honey, but it is so bitter as to be almost worthless 
except for medicine. See Horehound. 

Holly (Ilex). — Common or American holly (/. opaca) 
and white holly (/. myrtifolia) are eagerely visited b.^ 



456 



HONEY PLANTS 



bees in Georgia ; and the honey, tho not obtained un- 
mixed, is regarded as excellent. The gallberries belong 
to the same genus. See Gallberry. 

Honeysuckle (Lonicera). — Honeybees suck the nectar 
in the flowers of several species of bush honeysuckle, 
as Sullivant's honeysuckle (L. Sullivantii). The nectar 
of the climbing garden honeysuckle (L. periclymenum) , 
adapted to moths, and of the trumpet honeysuckle (L. 
sempervirens), adapted to humming birds, is beyond 
the reach of hive-bees. 

Horse chestnut (Aesculus Hippocastanum) . — Adapted 
to bumblebees; but honeybees obtain both pollen and 
nectar. 

Huajilla. — See Acacia and Guajilla. 

Jackass Clover. — See Stinkweed. 

Judas tree (Cercis canadensis). — Redbud. From the 
red-purple flowers honej'bees gather both nectar and 
pollen. 

Knotweed. See Heartsease. 

Lemon (Citrus Limonium). — Valuable for honey in 
San Diego Co., Calif, Honey light-colored, of excel- 
lent flavor, with none of the tartness of the lemon. 

Linden. — See Basswood. 

Locust, Black (Robinia Psuedo- Acacia) . — Common in 
the mountains of the Central and Southern States. 
Widely cultivated. The cream-white flowers bloom in 
April and May. Honey water-white, mild-flavored, 
heavy and slow to granulate. A colony has been known 
to store 15 pounds in one day. See Locust. 

Logwood (Haematoxylon campechianum) . — Common 
in the States bordering on the Bay of Campeche ; in- 
troduced into Florida, Jamaica, and in the West In- 
dies ; honey nearly water-white, of good body, and 
unexcelled in flavor and aroma. See Logwood. 

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica). — Sometimes wrong- 
ly named Japan plum ; South and in California ; val- 
uable because it flowers late. 

Lucerne.— See Alfalfa. 

Madrona (Arbutus Menziesii). — Evergreen trees com- 
m.on in the Coast Ranges of California ; yield nectar 
and pollen. 

Magnolia. — Trees with very large white flowers ; not 
very important. 

Mallow (Malva). — The flowers of several species are 
very frequently visited by honeybees for nectar and 
pollen, but not inlportant except perhaps locally. 

Manchineel (Hippomane Mancinella). — Southeast 
Florida and on the Keys. Nectar very abundant. 
Small trees with apetalous, greenish flowers. 

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos manzanita). — Valuable in 
California for both nectar and pollen. Honey white to 
amber-colored, with a fine flavor suggestive of the berry. 
A surplus of more than 20 pounds may be obtained. 
Blooms in December, and honey is used by bees for 
spring breeding. A branching bush, about 12 feet tall, 
covering large areas of the Coast Range slopes. White 
to pink urn-shaped flowers. Manzanita is Spanish for 
" little apples," so called from the form of the berries, 
Bearberry. 

Maples (Acer). — The different species are of much 
value, yielding both nectar and pollen for early brood- 
rearing. The sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh) 
produces a profusion of flowers. 

Marigold (Gaillardia pulchella). — One of the main 
honey-producing plants of Texas. Honey rich golden, 
and of good quality. See Marigold. 

Marjoram (Origanum vulgare). — Introduced from 
Europe; in gardens, and sparingly escaped. A favorite 
of honeybees, but not common enough to be of much 
value. 

Melilot. — See Sweet Clover. 

Melons (Cucumis Melo). — Melons of all kinds are 
valuable to apiarists. 

Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa). — Southwest in semi- 
arid regions. Main source of honey in Texas. In the 
Hawaiian Islands the mesquite is not only the chief, 
but almost the only source of floral honey. The honey 
is water-white, about as thick as that of white clover 



and has an agreeable altho peculiar flavor. See 
Mesquite. 

Milkweed (Asclepias). — In northern Michigan S. syr- 
iaca is very common, and may yield a surplus of 50 
pounds per colony. Honey nearly water-white, thick, 
fruity in flavor with a slight tang. Milkweed is also 
valuable in California. The pollen-masses become at- 
tached by dry membranous clips to the claws and 
tongues of honeybees ; if they are unable to extract 
them, they finally perish — dead bees are sometimes 
found on the flowers. See Milkweed. 

Mayweed (Anthemis Cotula). — Honey light yellow 
and very bitter. 

Milk-vetch (Astragalus). — The various species are 
visited by honeybees, and the more common are val- 
uable in favorable seasons. 

Mint (Mentha spicata). — In Sacramento County 
Calif., yields in the fall a large amount of amber 
colored honey. Peppermint, 

Mistletoe (Phorodendron flavescens). — Yields nee 
tar and pollen; valuable in Texas for early brood 
rearing; blooms in January and February, 

Mustard (Brassica). — Honey light, of mild flavor 
not as heavy as alfalfa ; candies quickly ; a large 
surplus in Lompoc Valley, Calif. See Mustard. 

New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax). — Sometimes 
grown in the South ; covers thousands of acres in New 
Zealand ; a valuable honey plant. 

Onion (Allium Cepa). — Surplus yields of honey are 
obtained from fields of onions cultivated for seed ; the 
peculiar onion odor and flavor disapppear as the honey 
ripens. 

Orange (Citrus Aurantium). — Yields a surplus in 
Florida and California, Honey nearly transparent, of 
delicious flavor, with the aroma of the blossom ; can- 
dies after a few months. See Orange. 

Palmetto (Sabal Palmetto). — Southern half of Flor- 
ida ; honey light-colored, very mild, but not as fine as 
that from saw-palmetto ; grows in the hummock lands 
thruout Florida ; honey lemon-yellow, thick, of the 
finest flavor. See Palmetto. 

Scrub Palmetto (Sabal magacarpa). — Low shrubs, 
very abundant in the hummock lands of Florida, A 
very reliable yi elder ; honey nearly lemon-yellow, 
thick, with an exquisite flavor and aroma. Candies a 
little later than orange honey. 

Partridge pea. — See Cassia, 

Peach (Prunus persica). — Sometimes a small surplus. 

Pepperidge. — See Tupelo. 

Pear (Pyrus communis). — In some localities yields 
nectar so freely that it drips upon the ground, in oth- 
ers of little value. Less important than the apple. In 
California a surplus is usually obtained if the weather 
is warm during the bloom. 

Pepper tree (Schinus molle). — California and Flor- 
ida ; honey amber-colored, and of pronounced flavor. 
See Pepper Tree. 

Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia). — White alder. On 
the coastal plain of Georgia and in northern Florida it 
yields a surplus ; honey white and of superior quality ; 
blooms from June to October. Maine to Florida near 
the coast. 

Pepper vine. — See Snowvine. 

Pennyroyal (Satureja rigida). — A small surplus in 
the southern half of Florida, where it blooms in Jan- 
uary ; honey is clear, and of good flavor and body. 

Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana). — Connecticut to 
Florida and Texas. A large tree; blooms in spring; 
valuable. 

Phacelia. — At Ventura, Calif., a water-white honey 
is obtained from Phacelia hispida; it has a fine flavor, 
but candies soon after extracting. In central Califor- 
nia P. tanacetifolia yields a mild light-amber honey. 
See Phacelia, 

Pigeon cherry (Prunus pennsylvanica) . — Considerable 
nectar is obtained from the flowers. 

Plums and Prunes (Prunus). —All kinds of plums 
yield nectar. 



HONEY PLANTS 



457 



Prairie Clover (^Petalostemum candidum). — Belongs 
to the pea or pulse family ; reported as valuable. 

Pumpkin {Cucurbita Pepo). ^-Cultivated ; honey am- 
ber-colored ; candies quickly. 

Raspberry {Rubus idaeus, variety aculeatissimus) . — 
Very common in northern Michigan ; a white honey of 
the finest flavor. See Raspberry. 

Rattan {Berchemia scandens). — In Texas, in favor- 
able seasons, yields a surplus of dark-amber honey used 
for manufacturing purposes. 

Redbay (Persea Borbonia). — A southern tree with 
small yellowish flowers growing near the coast. 
Rodbud. — See Jcdas Tree. 

Red gum {Eucalyptus rostrata). — Nectar abundant; 
a promising species. See Eucalyptus. 

Rhododendron and Kalmia. — The flame-colored azalea 
{Rhododendron calendulaceum) and the mountain laurel 
{Kalmia latifolia) when in bloom in the mountains of 
North Carolina give a distinctive color to the landscape. 
The honoy has been reported to cause nausea and diz- 
ziness. See Poisonous Hoxey, 

Rockbrush {Eysenhardtia amorphoides) . — A branch- 
ing shrub growing on the dry plains of southern Texas 
and northern Mexico. Blooms in spring and yields a 
good crop of fine honey. 

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant {Cleome serrulata). 
Very attractive to bees ; handsome rose-colored flow- 
ers. See Rocky Mountain Bee Plant ; also Spider 
Plant. 

Sage {Salvia). — Black or button sage (S. mellifera) 
is one of the chief honey plants of California ; honey 
thick, white, of delicious flavor, not inclined to candy. 
Purple or white-leaved sage {Salvia leucophylla) yields 
a similar honey, but is less abundant. White sage (<S. 
apiana), tho one of the commonest, does not yield nec- 
tar as freely as the two above-named species, but the 
honey is equally good. Creeping sage {S. sonomensis) 
is common in the mountains and Sierra foothills. The 
honey is of about the same quality as black sage. 
Annual sage (S. columbariae) yields a surplus of ex- 
cellent honey in Monterey County, Calif. The lance- 
leaved sage (<S. lanceolata) is listed as a honey plant 
in Nebraska, and the blue sage (S. azurea) in Texas. 
Man}' species of sage are adapted to bumblebees, or in 
South America to honey-sucking birds, but the nectar 
cannot be obtained by honeybees. See Sage. 

Sainfoin {Onobrychis saliva). — Cultivated for hay or 
fodder. Honey similar to that of white clover. See 
Sainfoin. 

Sensitive Pea. — See Cassia. 
. Smartweed. — See Heartsease. 

Sneezeweed {Helenium autumnale). — Swamp sun- 
flower ; in wet land and thruout the Eastern States. 
Honeybees gather both nectar and pollen. In Texas, 
bitterweed {H. tenuifolium) yields a golden-yellow 
honey of heavy body, but very bitter, " as if 50 per 
cent quinine and some pepper were added." 

Soapberry {Sapindus marginatus). — Yields a surplus 
in favorable seasons in Texas. Common along small 
rivers. 

Sourwood {Oxydendron arboreum). — A splendid 
honey-producer. The nectar is so abundant that it can 
be shaken from the blossoms ; a white honey, with an 
aromatic flavor, that does not candy readily. See 
Sourwood. 

Spanish Needles {Bidens aristosa). — Marshy lands of 
Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Honey golden-yellow, 
of fine flavor and good body. See Spanish Needles. 

Spider-plant {Cleome spinosa, formerly called C. 
pungens). — Introduced from tropical America; culti- 
vated; escaped in waste places from Illinois to Louisi- 
ana. Thirteen flowers have yielded a spoonful of nec- 
tar. " Under favorable conditions one of the most re- 
markable honey plants in the world." The Rocky 
Mountain bee plant (C. serrulata, formerly called C. 
integrifolia) grows in dry saline soil from Minnesota 
to Kansas, and westward among the mountains. 

Spikeweed {Centromadia pungens). — " On the alka- 
line plains of the upper San Joaquin (Calif.) this 



species covers tens of thousands of acres ; honey am- 
ber, of good quality, but granulates quickly." 

Squash {Cucurbita maxima). — Nectar abundant in a 
little reservoir at the bottom of the flower. 

Stinkweed {]Vislizenia refracta). — A rank-scented an- 
nual, abundant in the San Joaquin Valley, Calif. A 
mild water-white honey, becoming paste-like after gran- 
ulation. Blooms heavily every other year, from August 
to October. A large surplus is sometimes obtained. A 
most promising honey plant, called by local beekeepers 
" Jackass Clover." 

Sumac {Rhus glabra). — New England and southwest- 
ward. A surplus in Connecticut ; honey bright amber : 
very heavy, but at first has a bitter odor and flavor 
which disappear as it ripens ; waxes instead of gran- 
ulating. Mountain sumac {R. Copallina) yields a sur- 
plus in Georgia and Texas. R. diversiloba is common 
thruout California. See Sumac. 

Sunflower {Helianthus annuus). — Common, wild in 
the West ; yields a surplus of amber-colored honey 
with a characteristic flavor. 

Sweet Clover {Melilotus alba and M. officinalis). — 
Introduced from Europe ; white and 3'ellow sweet clover 
are spreading thruout the entire country. Honey white 
with a slight greenish cast, hardly equal to white 
clover. See Sweet Clover. 

Snowvine {Cissus arborea), Pepper Vine. — In wet 
land, Virginia and southward. In southern Georgia 
it blooms from June to September ; honeybees grive it 
the preference to cotton. Honey not as light-colored 
as that of cotton, but of fair quality. 

Sweet Fennel {Foeniculum vu'lgare). — Cultivated 
from Europe, and escaped in waste land. Honey light 
amber. 

Tarweed {Hemizonia fasciculata). — Along the coast 
of southern California. Honey dark amber, with a 
strong tarweed odor; granulates in a few months; 
said to be used in the manufacture of chewing tobacco. 
Yellow tarweed (//. virgata) yields in central Cali- 
fornia a heavy light-yellow honey of good flavor. 

Thistle. — See Canada Thistle. 

Tliyme {Thymus vulgaris). — The classical honey 
from Mount Hj-mettus w^as from this species. Nectar 
very abundant, with an aromatic flavor. 

Titi, Black {Cliftonia monophylla). — An evergreen 
shrub found in pine swamps from Georgia to Louisiana. 
In Georgia very common along streams in the Altamaha 
River region. Blooms in March and April ; an am- 
ber honey, whiter in color and milder in flavor than 
white titi honey. 

Titi, White {Cyrilla racemiflora) . — Ivory bush. An 
evergreen shrub or small tree, growing in pine swamps 
from Virginia to Florida and Texas. In northwest 
Florida it j'ields a small surplus in mid-February. In 
Georgia white titi extends up to the middle of the 
State. The honey is dark amber, with a peculiar fra- 
grance probably that of the bloom and at first has a 
decided flavor ; but becomes mild when well-ripened. 
Its dark color is the only objection to its use as a table 
honey. See Titi. 

Tulip tree {Liriodendron Tulipifera). — White poplar, 
whitewood. Common in the Southern States, blooms in 
April and May ; honey bright amber when new, but 
becomes darker with age and very thick, of fair quality. 
See Tulip Tree. 

Tupelo, Black {Nyssa Ogeechee). — Northwestern Flor- 
ida and southern Georgia. Honey white to amber in 
color; of good flavor, but rather thin. White tupelo 
{N. aquatica) is most abundant along the Apalachicola 
River. Honey is white, or with a slight yellowish tinge 
in the sunlight ; thick, unsurpassed in flavor by any 
other honey in the State. It does not candy, even after 
vears. See Tupelo. 

Simpson Honey plant {Scrophularia marilandica) . — 
S. nodosa is a European species. See Figwort. 

Tobacco {Xicotiana Tabacum) — In Connecticut the 
plants are permitted to flower and seed. From the 
first of August to frost there are hundreds of acres 
of tobacco flowers covered with bees. The honey is 



458 



HONEY PLANTS 



reported to be of fair quality. 

Varnish tree {Ailanthua glandulosa) . — Tree of 
heaven, Chinese sumac. Small greenish flowers ; the 
staminate are ill scented, and the honey has a bad 
flavor. 

Verbena or Vervain {Verbena). — Once or twice in 
30 years at Center Point, Iowa, purple vervain {Ver- 
bena hastatn) has been so abundant as to give the 
landscape a bluish tinge. The honey is white, mild- 
flavored, resembling white-clover honey ; it does not 
trianulate quickly. The purple pollen gives the comb 
i. bluish tinge. In California V. prostrata is of value 
along the coast. 

Vetch (Vicia). — Nectariferous bee-flowers, several 
species are widely cultivated. Many species have extra- 
floral nectaries on the under side of the leaf stems, 
which secrete nectar in sunny weather . 

Viper's Bugloss. — See Blueweed. 

Wild Cherry. — See Cherry. 

Wild Senna. — See Cassia. 

Willow (Salix). — Valuable in early spring for both 
nectar and pollen. In New York the honey resembles 
that of apple bloom, and has a pleasant aromatic 
taste ; but in California it is described as bitter- 
flavored and amber-colored. See Willow. 

Willow-herb (Epilobium angustifolium). — Canada, 
the Northern States, especially Michigan ; confined 
chiefly to regions ^^here there have been forest fires. 
Flowers red-purple ; honey clear, limpid, literally wa- 
ter-white ; very sweet ; aromatic. 

Wild Alfalfa (Lotus glaber). — An important honev 
plant in the Coast Ranges of California ; honey white 
to amber ; the yield is very variable in different years, 
and in different localities. 

Yucca, Spanish Bayonet (Yucca). — Common in arid 
Southwestern States and in Mexico ; in New Mexico 
immense tracts of land are covered with Y. filamentosa. 
In California a surplus is reported from Y. Whipplei. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF NORTH 
AMERICAN HONEY PLANTS. 

The geographical distribution of North 
American honey plants can be investigated 
to much better advantage by the recogni- 
tion of their relations to a few natural 
regions than by their arrangement by 
States. The point of view in the latter 
case is often too narrow, and fails to offer 
an explanation of the occurrence of a spe- 
cies, when, if the region is considered, its 
distribution is not difficult to understand. 
iNIerely as a matter of convenience for ref- 
erence, it is much easier to consider a few 
nntnra] divisions than a great number of 
artificial State areas. 

The following division of North America 
into 12 nectar regions is based on the value 
of the honey plants as sources of honey in 
certain areas ; the topography, climate, and 
soil of different sections of the continent, 
and the geographical distribution of the 
native flora. Many questions can be an- 
swered by the comparison of the soils, cli- 
mates, and floras of these respective re- 
gions. Manifestly temperature and rain- 
fall are most influential factors in limiting 



the distribution of many honey plants — 
the flora of the arid Southwest must neces- 
sarily differ widely from that of the Ap- 
palachian Region where there are frequent 
and abundant rains. But it is also in past 
geological history and in topographical 
features, as well as in climate, that an ex- 
planation must be sought of the abundance 
of white clover in the Prairie Region, of 
the prevalence of nectariferous trees in the 
Appalachian Region, and of the exceeding 
richness of the Californian flora. Nor must 
the conditions of the soil be overlooked, as 
the relation of black mangrove to tide- 
water marshes, of wdllow-herb to forest 
land recentl3=' burned over, of sweet clover 
to a limestone soil, of alkali-weed to an 
alkaline soil, and the Rocky Mountain 
honey plant to a drj^ saline soil. The rela- 
tion of honey plants to their environment 
is still further emphasized by the fact that 
of the many honey plants found in North 
America not one is commercially valuable 
to the beekeeper thruout the entire conti- 
nent, or even thruout the United States. 
White clover is very widely distributed; 
but its value as a honey plant is confined 
chiefly to the Eastern and prairie States. 
Heartease is very extensively naturalized 
f]'om Europe, and in Nebraska and the 
adjacent States yields an immense surplus; 
but in the East it is negligible. Buckwheat 
is most important in the East, but of little 
value in the West. Alfalfa is cultivated in 
every State in the Union, but it is chiefly in 
the Rocky Mountain Highlands that it is 
the main reliance of the apiarist. While 
every beekeeper will wish to know thoroly 
the honey flora of his own State, the study 
of honey plants by States alone will bring 
out none, or only a few, of these most in- 
structive relations. 

From time to time the geographical dis- 
tribution of our flora has been the subject 
of investigation, and a few years ago an 
imposing volume on the photogeography 
of North America was published by Harsh- 
berger. The continent has also been divided 
into life and crop zones by the biologists 
of the Department of Agriculture, by 
whom the relation of crops to climate has 
been carefully considered. None of these 
divisions are suited to the needs of bee 
culture, since the value of a honey plant 
depends not on the extent of its distribu- 
tion but upon its abundance and yield of 



HONEY PLANTS 



459 




Fig. 1. The Honey-Plant Regions of North America. 

1. Arctic Region. 2. Coniferous Forest Region. 3. 
St. Lawrence Basin Region. 4. Appalachian or Decidu- 
ous-leaved Forest Region. 5. Prairie Region or White 



Clover Belt. 
Florida Region. 
Cactus Region. 
Alfalfa Region. 
Tropical Region. 



Southern Region or Cotton Belt. 7. 

8. Great Plains Region. 9. Arid or 

10. Rocky Mountain Highlands or 

11. California or Coast Region. 12. 



nectar. It is proposed, therefore, to divide 
North America into the following 12 honey- 
plant regions: 

1. Arctic Region, 

2. Coniferous Forest Region. 

3. St. Lawrence Basin Region. 

4. Appalachian or Deciduous-leaved Forest 
Region. 

5. Prairie Region or White Clover Belt. 

6. Southern Region or Cotton Belt. 

7. Florida Region. 

8. Great Plains Region. 

9. Arid or Cactus Region. 

10. Rocky Mountain Highlands or Alfalfa 
Region. 

11. California or Coast Region. 

12. Tropii^al Region. 

(See maps. Figs. 1 and 2.) 

Extensive areas in North America are 
valueless, or nearly so, for bee culture. 
This is true of the Arctic and most of the 
Coniferous Region, while much of the east- 
ern half of the St. Lawrence Basin Region 
gives poor results. A large area in the 
Appalachian Region is unavailable, while 
much of the Great Plains, the Arid and the 
Rocky Mountain Highland Regions have a 
very scanty endemic flora. As might be 
expected the honey products of California 




Fig. 2. The Honey-Plant Regions of the United States'. 

3. St. Lawrence Basin Region. 4 . .\ppalachinr. or Deciduous-leaved Forest Region, f). Pr:nrie Region or 
White Clover Belt. 6. Southern Region or Cotton Belt. 7. Florida Region. 8. Great Plains Region 9. Arid 
or Cactus Region. 10. Rocky Mountain Highlands or Alfalfa Region. 11. California or Coast Region. 



460 



HONEY PLANTS 



exceed those of any other State. Among 
the larger regions the Prairie Region or 
White Clover Belt easily stands first; but 
the Cotton and Appalachian Regions also 
make an excellent showing. 

A preliminary survey of the physio- 
graphic and floral features of these regions 
will be found helpful and stimulating in 
the further study of the North American 
hone}' flora. In many instances it is aston- 
ishing how little information is available 
in regard to the honey plants of extensive 
areas. 

1. ARCTIC REGION. 

Reference to the map of North America 
will show that the parallel of latitude 60° 
passes south of Cape Farewell, the most south- 
ern point of land in Greenland, thru the mid- 
dle of Hudson Bay, and the extreme southern 
part of Alaska. The polar land north of this 
line is treeless and of no value to beekeepers. 
The ground is densely carpeted with mosses 
and lichens, and the subsoil is permanently 
frozen. In localities there are dwarf alders, 
birches and willows, a few heath-like shrubs, 
such as blueberries, Labrador tea, and An- 
dromeda, while herbaceous plants are repre- 
sented by saxifrages, the showy Iceland poppy, 
grasses and a few pinks, gentians, crucifers, 
and hardy Compositae. The flora of Green- 
land is closely allied to that of Europe, but 
the species of Arctic North America are near- 
ly the same as those of northwestern Asia, 
as out of 364 species found in Alaska 320 oc- 
cur in Asia. These '* barren grounds, '^ or 
tundras, are a melancholy wilderness over 
which icy winds sweep unchecked. 

2. CONIFEROUS rOREST REGION. 

Between the parallels of latitude of 60° 
and 50°, or on the west extending southward 
to the northern boundary of the United 
States, or a little below, there is a vast uni- 
form coniferous forest extending from Labra- 
dor across the continent to the shores of the 
Pacific Ocean. This forest is composed chief- 
ly of white and black spruce, fir, juniper, and 
pine, with which are associated alders, 
birches, and poplars, while willows grow thick- 
ly on the banks of the streams. Thruout the 
southern portion of this region there is a 
great variety of shrubs, as blueberries, huckle- 
berries, cranberries, currants, blackberries, 
and raspberries, which yield nectar. Herba- 
ceous plants are also numerous. Swamps and 
peat bogs abound. This region is of Little im- 
portance to beekeepers, altho a beginning has 
been made in bee culture in the southern part 
Small apiaries are maintained by the govern 
ment experiment stations in Manitoba, Sas 
katchewan. Alberta, and British Columbia, 
The chief sources of honey are wiUows, ma 
pies, dandelion, white and alsike clover. Fire 
weed, alfalfa, dogbane, goldenrod and wolf 
berry are likewise reported helpful. 



3. ST. LAWRENCE BASIN REGION. 

This region includes New Brunswick, New 
England, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, 
and the southern portions of the provinces of 
Ontario and Quebec, States and provinces sur- 
rounding the Great Lakes and the St. Law- 
rence River. The land was formerly largely 
covered with pine, or in certain sections by a 
hardwood forest; the honey flora is variable 
and not as sharply defined as in the case of 
most honey-plant regions. Southern Michigan 
depends on clover and basswood, and in the 
northern part of the State on fireweed and 
raspberry, and in Emmet, Antrim, and Grand 
Traverse Counties largely upon milkweed. The 
chief honey plants of the Canadian provinces 
are white and alsike clover and, to a less ex- 
tent, sweet clover and goldenrod. Thousands 
of acres of buckwheat are under cultivation in 
New York, and there are besides very exten- 
sive orcljards. Sumac and tobacco are of 
great local importance in Connecticut. In 
much of this section goldenrod is the main 
source of fall honey, and seldom fails to yield 
ample winter stores. 

4. APPALACHIAN OR DECIDUOUS-LEAVED 
FOREST REGION. 

As a result of the uniform and abundant 
rainfall, which the eastern United States en- 
joys, the Appalachian Region supports a mag- 
nificent deciduous-leaved forest, which is un- 
rivaled elsewhere in North America. This 
forest reaches its highest development in west- 
ern North Carolina. In the number of species 
and the size of the trees it is surpassed only 
by the forests of the tropics. Within an area 
of a square mile 75 species have been counted. 
Common species are birches, beeches, oaks, 
elms, hickories, chestnuts, maples, walnuts, 
magnolias, sycamores, tulip trees, locusts, red- 
bud, and persimmmon; while a wealth of 
beautiful shrubs abound, such as Rhododen- 
dron, Kalmia, and Azalea. 

In this region are included Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, the Virginias, western Carolina, 
northern Georgia and Alabama, Tennessee 
and eastern Kentucky, as well as small por- 
tions of other States. As would be expected 
the principal honey plants are trees, as three 
species of basswood, sourwood, tulip tree, su- 
mac, locust, Judas tree, magnolia, maples, per- 
simmon, honey locust, holly, horsechestnut, 
and willows, besides a great variety of wild 
and domesticated trees and shrubs. The three 
most important honey plants are sourwood, 
tulip tree, and clover. Sourwood is by many 
assigned the first position, being widely dis- 
tributed and yielding nectar in great quanti- 
ty, which produces a water-white honey with 
an aromatic flavor. 

5. THE PRAIRIE REGION OR WHITE CLOVER BELT. 

To the Prairie Region belong eastern Dako- 
ta, Minnesota, southern Wisconsin, Iowa, Illi- 
nois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri (not strictly a 
prairie State), and northern Kentucky. This 



HONEY PLANTS 



461 



is a treeless region except along the water 
courses, and where it merges into the Appala- 
chian Eegion. The surface of the prairies is 
partly level and partly rolling or wavy. A 
large portion of the land was formerly cov- 
ered by lakes and a great inland sea. The 
soil is deep and rich, fine and compact, and 
supports a luxuriant growth of grasses. 

Thruout this region white clover is the most 
important honey plant, and in favorable sea- 
sons the source of an enormous surplus. Its 
abundance in the prairie States finds its ex- 
planation in the conditions of the soil and cli- 
mate and the absence of extensive forests. A 
surplus is very dependent on timely and ample 
rains. A long-continued drouth in the fall or 
in the following spring will prove fatal to the 
honey flow; but during the blooming period 
hot clear days with showers during the night 
are desirable. In the arid region of the 
Southwest and the highlands of the Eocky 
Mountains white clover is of comparatively 
little significance as a honey plant. In the 
Prairie Eegion sweet clover and heartsease 
are also very valuable; and in the river val- 
leys the flowers of many hardy Compositae 
display great sheets of brilliant color, as 
Spanish needles, sunflowers, asters, golden- 
rods, crownbeard, Eudbeckia, and Grindelia. 

6. SOUTHERN REGION OR COTTON BELT. 

This region comprises southeastern Texas, 
Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, 
southern Georgia, and eastern North and 
South Carolina. Florida might very properly 
be included in the Cotton Belt; but, as the 
honey flora of the southern half of the State 
is tropical or semi-tropical and is peculiar in 
other ways, it seems better to regard it as a 
distinct region. In the cotton States there 
are annually millions of acres of cotton under 
cultivation offering a bee pasture of great ex- 
tent but not of uniform richness. The secre- 
tion of nectar is variable, and the surplus de- 
pends largely upon locality, soil, temperature, 
rainfall, and atmospheric conditions. The 
honey flow lasts from July until long after 
the first frosts. The cotton plant possesses 
both floral and extra-floral nectaries, but it is 
chiefly from the involucral and leaf-nectaries 
that the nectar is obtained. Cotton is most 
valuable as a honey plant in the rich alluvial 
valleys and river bottoms, where often a hun- 
dred pounds per colony is obtained in favora- 
ble seasons. 

In addition to cotton many other honey 
plants are either locally or widely distributed 
thruout the cotton belt. Southeastern Texas 
is not especially attractive to the apiarist, but 
there are thousands of acres of fruit trees and 
cotton supplemented by horsemint, sumac, 
broomweed, and basswood. On tlie lower coast 
rattan vine yields a surplus of honey of fair 
quality. In Louisiana there are tupelo, horse- 
mint, goldenrod and smartweed ; in Missis- 
sippi, sweet clover, white clover, locust, tupe- 
lo, black gum, persimmon, and in the fall bit- 
terweed^ aster, and goldenrod; and in Ala- 



bama, sweet clover, titi, gallberry, black gum, 
and field peas. In Georgia the tulip tree, 
tupelo, titi, saw-palmetto, aster, and golden- 
rod are important honey plants; while hun- 
dreds of acres of the coastal plain are covered 
with dense thickets of gallberry bushes, which 
bloom in May and yield freely"^ under very un- 
favorable conditions. Partridge pea is also 
valuable in this State. Horsemint occurs 
thruout the whole Southern Eegion, but the 
largest yields are obtained in Texas, where it 
is one of the best honey plants. In eastern 
North and South Carolina beekeepers depend 
chiefly on the clovers, especially crimson clo- 
ver, black gum, tupelo gum and thousands of 
acres of gallberry. 

7. FLORIDA REGION. 

The honey flora of this State is largely de- 
termined by the great southern extension of 
the land which carries the southern end into 
the Tropical Eegion, and also by its many 
miles of seacoast. The more important sources 
of honey are trees, tupelo, orange, palmetto, 
and mangrove yielding the best products. Tu- 
pelo is confined to northwestern Florida in the 
vicinity of the Apalachicola Eiver. The cit- 
rus district extends southward beginning with 
the central portion of the State, and nearly 
the same area is occupied by cabbage pal- 
metto. Black mangrove grows on both sides 
of the southern end of the peninsula on tide- 
water land which is daily overflowed. An- 
other tropical tree is manchineel, found on the 
southeast coast, which in favorable seasons 
yields heavily. Wild pennyroyal, titi, part- 
ridge pea, and Andromeda are valuable in 
localities. Thousands of acres of marshy or 
meadow land in Florida are covered with a 
dense growth of herbaceous plants, mostly 
Compositae, as Gaillardia, burr marigold. Core- 
opsis, thoroughwort, goldenrod, sunflower, 
smartweed, and many other flowers. It is a 
wilderness of weeds, a jungle of grasses and 
flowers, sulficient to keep many an apiary 
busy. In the extreme South flourish subtropi- 
cal fruits like the pineapple, banana, soursop, 
and cocoanut. 

8. THE GREAT PLAINS REGION. 

To this region belong eastern Montana, 
most of North and South Dakota, Nebraska. 
Kansas, and Oklahoma. From the Mississippi 
Valley to the base of the Eocky Mountains 
the Great Plains gradually rise in elevation 
until an altitude of 5,000 to 6,000 feet is at- 
tained. A large part of the land is highly 
productive and valuable for agricultural pur- 
poses, the Dakotas being an almost continuous 
wheat field. The precipitation, however, is 
much less than in the Prairie Eegion, and 
large sections are semiarid and covered with 
sagebrush. Much of this region is destitute 
of trees except along the rivers and in fertile 
valleys. There are great extremes of neat 
and cold, and the land is swept by fierce 
winds. 



462 



HONEY PLANTS 



It is a matter of surprise that so little in- 
formation is available in regard to the honey 
plants of this region. The northern portion 
seems not well adapted to bee culture, and, 
according to the census of 1910, in North 
Dakota only 79 farms reported bees, and in 
South Dakota only 1,300. But the recent in- 
troduction of sweet clover into South Dakota 
and its rapid extension westward are provid- 
ing a bee pasturage capable of supporting a 
much larger number of colonies. Except in 
localities alfalfa is of little value in this 
region; for instance, in Kansas, around To- 
peka a bee is hardly ever seen on the flowers, 
while along the rivers in the eastern part of 
the State it yields nectar nearly the entire 
season. Oklahoma reports bees on 4,800 
farms. The principal honey plants are sweet 
clover, sumac, heartsease, fruit bloom, rasp- 
berry, locust, and white clover. In Kansas 
and Nebraska 29,000 farms reported bees in 
1910. In Nebraska 157 honey plants have 
been listed ; but, unfortunately, little attempt 
has been made to distinguish between those 
which are the chief sources of nectar and 
those which are of minor importance. Enor- 
mous quantities of honey are obtained from 
heartsease, and an entire apiary has been re- 
ported to store on the average 250 pounds per 
colony of heartsease honey. Basswood, sev- 
eral species of clover, and a number of Com- 
positae are also important. In parts of this 
region the Eocky Mountain bee plant is highly 
prized. The flora of the Great Plains is 
scanty. 

9. ARID OR CACTUS REGION. 



This region includes northern and western 
Texas, northern Mexico, New Mexico, Arizo- 
na, south Nevada, and lower California. It is 
largely a desert or arid area with a very light 
rainfall. Northern Texas is a sandy plain, 
often called the Staked Plains, and is desti- 
tute of trees and streams. Much of western 
Texas is broken country supporting a sparse 
vegetation. This section is not suitable for 
bee culture. New Mexico is traversed by nu- 
merous short m.ountain ranges covered with 
conifers; but much of the land requires irri- 
gation for its cultivation. With an annual 
rainfall of from three to five inches, extreme 
aridity prevails over much of Arizona, and 
the desert lands comprise some 35,000 square 
miles. The province of Chihuahua in north- 
ern Mexico contain 120,000 square miles and 
at least one-half of this desolate country, 
consisting of sand and alkali plains, is unfit 
for cultivation, if not for human habitation. 
Portions of the temperate lands are, however, 
fertile. 

The Cactus Eegion offers few inducements 
to the apiarist; and according to the census 
of 1910, in New Mexico and Arizona together 
there were only 800 farms reporting bees. A 
great variety of cacti, an exclusively Ameri- 
can genus, in every form and shape, ranging 
from the size of the finger to candelabra 30 
feet tall, grow over or completely cover these 
sand deserts. Prickly pear (Opuntii Engel- 



manii) is a good honey plant, and yields a 
surplus of light-yellow honey. Other plants 
characteristic of this region are Yucca, Agave, 
mesquite, and creosote bush. In Arizona the 
chief honey plants are mesquite, catclaw. 
Acacia, and alfalfa. The mesquite, often the 
only tree found in these arid regions, extends 
from Trinity Eiver, Texas, to the San Bernar- 
dino Mountains and northward to southern 
Colorado. In Texas it is the main source of 
honey. In New Mexico immense tracts of 
land are covered with Yucca filamentosa, 
while in Mexico there are many species of 
Agave, including the well-known century 
plant. Much of this barren country is cov- 
ered with sagebrush and other useless shrubs. 

10. THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGHLANDS OR 
ALFALFA REGION. 

In this region are included western Mon- 
tana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Ida- 
ho, and southeastern Oregon. The larger part 
of these highlands is arid or semiarid; and, 
in consequence of the insufficient rainfall, ag- 
riculture is universally dependent on irriga- 
tion. In the Great Basin of Nevada and 
Utah, which was formerly the bottom of a 
great inland sea, extreme aridity prevails, 
and in localities the annual rainfall does not 
exceed five inches. The flora is sparse and 
vast expanses are covered with sagebrush, 
whence Nevada is called " the sagebrush 
State." Further south the country is an 
actual desert. Except where alfalfa is grown 
there is little in this State to attract bee- 
keepers, and, in 1910, only 176 farms reported 
bees. 

Thruout this region alfalfa is grown very 
extensively, and is easily the foremost honey 
plant. One may ride for miles thru fields of 
alfalfa, and probably more colonies of bees 
are supported by this honey plant than by any 
other in America. The factors controlling 
nectar secretion are not fully understood, but 
it is well established that in a semiarid re- 
gion calm hot weather following irrigation 
will ensure a good flow. Notwithstanding the 
aridity of this region there are many flowers, 
and in Colorado the display is truly lavish. 
Many of the Compositae are valuable to bee 
culture. See Alfalfa. 

11. THE CALIFORNIA OR COAST REGION. 

In Washington, Oregon, and California the 
mountains are covered with a magnificent 
coniferous forest; the climate is mild, flow- 
ers blooming every month in the year, and in 
the eastern part there is a heavy annual rain- 
fall and over large areas sufficient to meet 
the wants of agriculture. There is an im- 
mense variety of shrubs and herbaceous 
plants, which support a great number of colo- 
nies of bees — in Washington and Oregon 
there are not far from 100,000 colonies. Fruit 
bloom is also the source of much honey in 
these States. 

The flora of California is so rpniarknblo 
that it deserves special recognition. No other 



HORSEMINT 



463 



State within an equal area contains so many 
species of plants. There are many different 
kinds of soil and great extremes in tempera- 
ture and rainfall. In a day's ride one may 
pass from a valley white with fruit bloom to 
mountain summits white with snow, or from 
a solitary desert to a land blooming with 
flowers. 

On the Coast Mountains are the mighty 
redwoods, associated with oak and maple; 
berries, raspberries, blueberries. Rhododen- 
drons, and Azaleas. The great Valley of 
California is the home of hundreds of beauti- 
ful flowers, as lilies, buttercups, poppies Gilias, 
Godetias, and endless Compositae. A chaparral 
of scrub oaks, sumac, currants, and Ceanothus 
cover the dry mountain slopes. Eastward of 
this fertile valley the Sierra Nevada range 
rises to a height of 15,000 feet, bearing on its 
slopes the grandest coniferous forest in the 
world, composed of giant Sequoias, pines, firs, 
and cerads, with multitudes of handsome 
flowers and shrubs in the valleys. 

The honey flora of California is both rich 
and varied and supports more than 2-00,000 
colonies of bees. There are about 50 species 
of honey plants which yield a surplus in an 
average season, foremost among which are 
the sages and alfalfa. Over 40 of these are 
herbs and shrubs and the balance are trees. 
Some 16 additional trees are under cultiva- 
tion which would be valuable if more com- 
mon. Besides the above species there are not 
far from 50 more which are of importance to 
bee culture. Many foreign or exotic plants 
have been introduced into this State, as the 
Eucalypti, which may prove of great value. 
The endemic flora and naturally the honey 
flora of California are easily distinguished 
from that of every other State in the Union. 

12. TROPICAL REGION. 

The eastern and western coast of Mexico 
below latitude 25°, Yucatan, Central America, 
the West Indies, and the extreme southern end 
of Florida belong to the Tropical Region. 
For convenience southern Florida has been 
included in the Florida Region, but mangrove, 
manchineel, and mahogany are tropical trees, 
as are also the cultivated cocoanut palm, the 
mango, and several species of anona. Among 
the better known honey plants of Cuba are the 
campanillas, mango, citrus fruits, royal palm, 
and coffee tree. In Porto Rico there are log- 
wood, mangrove, mango, guava. and guama. 
Guama (Inga laurina) is considered the best 
honey plant ; it blooms several times a year 
and so abundant is the nectar flow that bees 
are seldom able to gather it all. The tropical 
forests of the mainland contain more than 
100 species of trees, many of which are no 
doubt nectariferous. Logwood, a famous 
honey plant, fringes the lagoons and much of 
the seaboard of Yucatan. A great number of 
fruit trees and forest trees valuable for their 
economic products are also found in Jamaica. 
The tropical flora is evidently rich in nectar- 
iferous trees. 



HONEY VINEGAR.— See Vinegar. 

HOREHOUND {Marruhium vulgare L.). 
— This is quite an important honey plant 
in Texas and California. In Texas, Scholl 
says it yields nectar freely and steadily 
from February to July. It has been claimed 
that the honey is very bitter; but he de- 
clares that this is hardly the case in his 
locality; that it has a very sweet taste 
liked by some, but nauseating to others. 
In California, according to Richter, it is 
a splendid jaelder of dark-amber honey, 
too strong for table use, but largely used in 
medicine. In Ventura and Los Angeles 
counties horehound is quite a common 
plant; but it is considered a pest on a 
sage range; for if even only a smaU quan- 
tity of its nectar is gathered, the color and 
flavor of sage honey are impaired. 

HORSEMINT {Moymrda punctata L.). 
— A perennial herb with lance-shaped 
leaves and two-lipped yellowish flowers 
spotted with purple. Like the sages it be- 
longs to the mint family or Labiatae. It 
grows in sandy fields and prairies from 
Florida to Texas and northward to Wis- 
consin and Xew York, blooming from mid- 
summer until fall. Many species belon^ng 
to this genus have very long floral tubes, 
and are adapted to insects with much 
longer tongues than the honeybee, so that 
even when common they are of little value 
to the apiarist for nectar. Wild bergamot 
{M. fistulosa), for example, is a bumble- 
bee flower, with a tube three times the 
length of the tongue of the domestic bee. 
But in the horsemint the floral tube is 
scarcely longer than the calyx; and. as 
honeybees can easily suck the nectar, they 
resort to the flowers in immense numbers. 
Along parts of the Mississippi River and 
in Texas it is a leading honey plant. 

Horsemint was first brought into notice 
a few years ago when it was highly recom- 
mended to beekeepers and the seeds sold 
quite extensively. It was subsequently 
dropped and almost forgotten until reports 
of large crops of honey, said to be from 
this source alone, began to be published. 
It first attracted attention again on the low 
alluvial lands bordering on the Mississippi 
River. Afterwards wonderful reports 
came from different parts of Texas — one 
man reporting as high as 700 pounds gath- 



464 



HUAJILLA 




Texas horsemint. 



ered by one colony in a single season. The 
bees that performed this remarkable feat 
were Cyprians, or, at least, were crossed 
with Cyprian blood. 

Horsemint is of more value to beekeeD- 
ers in Texas than in any other State. It 
begins to yield in June, and is the source 
of a large amount of light-amber hone^;. 
The extracted honey is a clear light amber, 
a little darker than the comb, and of gjod 
body. Like buckwheat honey it has a pro- 
nounced flavor, and for this reason has 
been compared with the basswood honey 
of the North. By persons who prefer a 
strongly flavored honey horsemint honey is 
liked better than that of white clover; but 
the general opinion seems to be that while 
the taste is good it is a little too strong. 

Horsemint is also reported to be a com- 
mon honey plant in western Wisconsin and 
eastern Minnesota on the sandy jackpino 



lands and oak barrens. Since this plant 
yields an essential oil from which thymol, 
a powerful antiseptic used in dressing un- 
healthy wounds, can be obtained, it has 
become economically important since the 
beginning of the war. Its cultivation may 
thus prove profitable. 

Monarda cUnopodioides Gray is also 
very common on the dry plains of Texas. 
The form of the flower, the time of bloom- 
ing, and the quality of the honey are very 
similar to those of the preceding species. 
Horsemint is thu.s the source of one of the 
main honey crops of Texas. 

HOUSE-APIARY.— See Apiaey. 

HUAJILLA {Acacia Berlandieri Benth.). 
— No portion of Texas is so well adapted 
to beekeeping as the southwestern section 
where the most important honey plants are 



HYBRIDS 



465 



the mesquite (Prosopis) , catsclaw (Acacia 
Greggii), and, most valuable of all, the 
hnajilla (pronounced wa-he-yah). This 
shrub grows in dense thickets on dry bluffs 
along the Rio Grande and also in Mexico. 
It reqiiires only a scanty amount of rain 




Huajilla. 

early in the spring, and survives in semi- 
arid regions where chiefly desert plants 
abound. The blooming period is in April 
and lasts for about two weeks and the 
flowers are the source of a large quantity 
of a beautiful water-white honey. Almost 
as clear as water, mild in flavor, delicate in 
aroma, huajilla honey is considered the 
finest produced in Texas. 

The leaves are bipinnate like those of a 
fern. The leaflets, as is shown in the flg- 
ure which is natural size, are very numer- 
ous. 

HUMBLEBEES.— See Bumblebees. 

HYBRIDS.— A hybrid may be a cross 
between species or between varieties of a 
species. Bees mentioned under this head 



belong to the class last mentioned — a cross 
between varieties, and usually between 
Italian and common black bees. Every- 
body who has had Italians very long prob- 
ably knows what hybrids (a cross between 
Italians and common black bees) are, es- 
pecially if he had kept bees when the 
honey crop was very suddenly cut short 
during a long and severe drouth in the fall. 
They are very much crosser than pure Ital- 
ians or blacks. Many of the old veterans 
in the business have concluded, even tho 
the hybrids will secure as much honey, and 
sometimes even more, that it pays to Ital- 
ianize. A good strain of leather-colored 
Italians* will be almost as gentle as flies, 
and will gather fully as much honey as 
hybrids. Generally the half-bloods can be 
handled, when weather conditions are 
right, nearly as easily as Italians; but as 
a rule they require more time in that the 
operator must proceed much more cau- 
tiously^ in order not to stir them up. 

While hybrids are by no means as hard 
to handle as pure Cyprian and Holy Land 
bees, they are bad enough. The very fact 
that hybrid queens, if sold at all, bring 
only about one-fourth the price of pure 
Italians, gives one some idea of their rela- 
tive value in the open market. 

But the most serious objection to hybrid 
and blacks is the fact that they are an easy 
prey to the ravages of European foul 
brood (see Foul Brood, sub-head " Euro- 
pean Foul Brood"). While hybrids are 
more immune than the blacks, the average 
pure Italians seem to be able to resist the 
disease much better than the average 
crosses. In some parts of the country the 
hybrids and the blacks are dying off for 
the simple reason that they cannot stand 
the ravages of European foul brood as do 
the Italians. 

Not all Italians are immune; but good 
vigorous strains will resist the disease pro- 
vided other curative measures are applied. 
All they need is a little help from their 
owner. 

In many large apiaries thruout the coun- 
try hybrids are tolerated simply because 
their owners do not take the time to Ital- 
ianize. Where one owns a series of out- 
yards, comprising from 500 to 1000 colo- 
nies, it would be rather expensive to buy 



* For test as to what constitutes a hybrid, see 
Italian Bees. 



46G 



HYBRIDS 



Italian queens ; but if he will follow direc- 
tions given under Queen-rearing in this 
work he can rear his own queens ; and this 
brings up the question whether the blacks 
and the hybrids in a locality will not make 
it impossible to rear pure stock. If one 
will use drone-traps on all colonies where 
there are black or hybrid drones, and then 
insert a drone comb in the center of the 
brood-nest of the best Italian colonies, he 
will soon have a great preponderance of 
pure Italian drones. The result will be 
that the most of the young virgins will 
meet drones of their own race. See 
Drones; also Queen-rearing. 

A beginner should never open a hive of 
hj'brids without smoke. A little should be 
blown in at the entrance, and each move- 
ment should be preceded by a light puff of 
smoke. If the beginner is a little timid it 
would be well to have an attendant operate 
the smoker while he, with a pair of gloves, 
proceeds to manipulate the colony. See 
Manipulation of Colonies; Smoke and 
Smokers; also Stings. 

HYBRIDS op CARNIOLANS AND CYPRIANS 
WITH ITALIANS. 

In this country, at least, we have as yet 
done very little to determine with accuracy 
the value of different crosses which can be 
made very easily. A cross between Italians 
and Caucasians has been spoken of very 



favorably by J. J. Wilder of Cordele, Ga., 
one of the most extensive beekeepers of 
the country. Mr. Wilder says this cross 
will rear brood under conditions and at 
seasons of the year when pure Italians will 
do practically nothing. In some parts of 
the South it is very desirable to have a 
strain that will rear brood in and out of 
season, because of certain honey-flows that 
may follow shortly after. A pure Italian 
stock has a tendency to stop brood-rearing 
almost entirely after the main honey-flow. 
If there be another flow two or three weeks 
later, without brood-rearing in the mean- 
time, the force will be greatly reduced, and 
the bees that are left will be of little value 
in a honey-flow. 

In the same way a cross between Carnio- 
lans and Italians has been found to be 
equally profitable. 

Other hybrids may be considered by the 
beekeeper who has in mind to produce a 
superior strain of bees for some particular 
purpose. It is well known that crossing, 
as a rule, increases the size, courage, and 
stamina of our domestic animals; and it is 
probabl}'' so in bees, yet beekeepers have 
made but little progress along this line, 
because it is so difficult to distinguish be- 
tween the crosses and pure breeds in manj' 
cases. 

See Drones; Parthenogenesis; Dzier- 
ZON Theory, subhead "Recent Evidence in 
Support of Dzierzon Theory." 



INCREASE.— Under the head of Nu- 
cleus several methods of forming nuclei 
are explained; but under this head we 
shall deal with the subject more from the 
standpoint of the honej'-producer who 
actuall}" desires to increase and at the same 
time to produce a crop of honey. One can 
divide up a strong colony into three or 
four nuclei; but in so doing he would 
probably destroy all his chances of secur- 
ing a crop of honey, and also would be 
almost sure to cause some brood to die. It 
should always be borne in mind that the 
field bees will go back*to the old stand. 
The nucleus left will necessarily receive 
more than its proper proportion of return- 
ing bees, while those moved to the other 
locations may or may not (depending upon 
cii'cumstances) have too few bees to take 
care of young brood. The loss of brood 
may be minimized to a great extent, if not 
entirely, by making only one division — 
that is, splitting the old colony into two 
parts. Most of the sealed brood and two- 
thirds of the bees are put into a hive on a 
new stand. The old hive is left with most 
of the imsealed brood, and one-third of the 
bees on the old stand. If the division is 
made in the morning on a warm day, all 
the old bees will go back to the old stand 
before night. This will leave the division 
of bees nearly equal. Both parts should 
be left with a queen or queen-cell. When 
both of the divisions are up to full colonies 
the operation can be repeated if the season 
is not too far advanced. Other plans are 
described under Nucleus. 

The following is also a good plan that 
enables one to make a moderate increase 
as well as secure a honey crop. It was 
practiced and recommended by one of the 
most extensive beekeepers in the United 
States, the late E. W. Alexander, who was 
recognized as an authority on general prac- 
tical apiculture, for indeed his crops of 
honey went up into the carloads. He first 
made the plan public in 1905, after having 
tested it many vears. So manv favorable 



comments were received from beekeepers 
who had tried it and found it to be a suc- 
cess that we republished it with some 
slight modifications in 1906. We here pre- 
sent the plan as it was given in Gleanings, 
page 423, 1906 : 

When a colony is nearly full enough to 
swarm naturally, and you wish to make two 
from it, lift it from its stand and put in its 
place a hive containing frames of comb or 
foundation the same as you would prepare 
a hive for a swarm. Remove the center comb 
from this new hive, and put in its place a 
frame of brood from the old hive, and be sure 
to find the queen and put her on this frame 
of brood in the new hive; also look it over 
very carefully to see that it contains no eggs 
nor larvae in any queen-cells. If it does, de- 
stroy them. Put a queen-excluding honey- 
board on top of this new hive that contains 
the queen and frame of brood with their 
empty combs, then set the full queenless col- 
ony over the excluder; next put in the empty 
comb or frame of foundation taken from the 
new hive, and close the upper hive except the 
entrance they have thru the excluder into the 
hive below. Leave them in this way about 
five days, then look over the combs carefully, 
and destroy any larvs you may find in the 
queen-cells unless they are of a good strain 
of bees that you care to breed from, for they 
frequently start the rearing of queens above 
the excluder very soon after their queen was 
placed below the excluder. If so, you had 
better separate them at once; but if they 
have not started any queen-cells above, then 
leave them together 10 or 11 days, during 
which time the queen will get a fine lot of 
brood started in the lower hive, and every egg 
and particle of larva that was in the old hive 
on top will have matured, so it will be capped 
over and saved; then separate them, putting 
the old hive on a new stand. It will then be 
full of young bees mostly, and capped brood, 
and in about 24 hours they will accept a ripe 
cell, a virgin, or laying queen, as they will 
then realize that they are hopelessly queen- 
less. I would advise you to give them a lay- 
ing queen, as I never like to keep my full 
colonies without a laying queen for even a 
day longer than I can help. 

In this way you secure two strong colonies 
from one, without losing a particle of brood 
or checking the laying of this queen; and 
Tvith me it almost wholly prevents swarming. 
This is the way we have made our increase 
for several vears. and we like it much better 



468 



INCREASE 



than any other method we ever tried. In 
doing so we keep all our colonies strong dur- 
ing the whole summer, ^nd it is the strong 
colonies that count in giving us our surplus. 

The mere fact of having a large number of 
colonies does not amount to much unless they 
are strong in bees and are well cared for at 
all times. This is a fact that many have sad- 
ly overlooked ; and when the season comes to 
a close, giving them a small surplus, they feel 
disappointed and lay the fault on many things 
that have had but little to do with their 
failure. 

In making increase in the above way the 
new swarm on the old stand is in fine shape 
for a super of sections, as it has a large 
working force backed up by having its hive 
nearly full of brood, and but little honey, as 
the bees have been in the habit of storing 
their honey in the old hive that was on top, 
so they will soon go to work in the sections 
with no notion of swarming. Then the old 
hive that has been set away can usually spare 
15 or 20 lbs. of honey, which can be taken 
with the extractor, giving its new queen 
plenty of room to lay, and in a short time 
will be one of your best colonies, and also 
have no desire to swarm. 

If you have followed directions as I have 
recommended in the above, keeping them snug 
and warm, and feeding them a little thin 
warm syrup nearly every day for the first 30 
days after they have commenced to fly, you 
can have two good strong colonies in the place 
of one ready to commence work on the clover 
harvest, which here com.meiTCes about June 15. 

From an extensive experience along this 
line I find T can get nearl}- twice the amount 
of surplus by dividing as above stated over 
what 1 was able to acquire either by letting 
them go undivided or dividing in a way that 
caused the loss of a greater part of their 
brood. This losing of brood we must guard 
against at all times if we expect to secure a 
fine surplus. It costs both time and honey 
to produce it, and it is the principal factor 
in obtaining those strong colonies that give 
us tons of honey. 

I find that nearly all who have made a 
failure of the method have taken colonies 
that had already made some preparation for 
swarming by having eggs or larvae in their 
queen-cells. 

During the summer I received a few let- 
ters from parties who had made a failure of 
this method in about the same way. Some 
had taken colonies that had capped queen- 
cells in their hives at the time they put the 
queen in the under hive, and, of course, they 
swarmed in a day or two. I cannot see that 
these failures are any proof of fault in the 
method. When wg work with our bees we 
must always use some discretion in such mat- 
ters. If a colony is very strong in bees it cer- 
tainly requires different management from 
one rather weak. 

Several years ago one of my sons bought 
nine colonies of bees in common box hives, 
about the first of June. He brought them 



home anf! transferred them at once to mov- 
able-frame hives, and in about three weeks 
divided them, making 20 colonies of the 9 he 
bought, using some queen-cells I had on hand 
for his surplus colonies. He then attended 
to those 20 colonies so they were all strong 
at the commencement of our buckwheat har- 
vest. I then lent him 20 hives of empty 
combs to put on top of his colonies to ex- 
tract from. He took 2849 lbs. of extracted 
honey from those 9 colonies and their in- 
crease, and left them in good condition so 
every one came out the next spring in fine 
order. 

Another son, the same season, took one 
colony, divided into three, and received 347 
lbs, of extracted honey. They also came 
thru the following winter in good condition. 
I speak of these cases simply to show that it 
is not necessary to keep hundreds of colo- 
nies in order to get a little honey. If you 
will keep only strong colonies and give them 
the best of care you will soon find both pleas- 
ure and profit in beekeeping. 

Perhaps no one article that w^as ever 
published in Gleanings in Bee Culture 
called forth more discussion than this. A 
few did not succeed with it to their entire 
satisfaction; but the great majority made 
a success of it. It is a fact today that 
large numbers of some of the best bee- 
keepers in the country practice the method, 
believing that there is no other equal to it. 
It is evident, however, that the article must 
be read with some poetic license. That is 
to say, it should be modified to suit pecul- 
iar conditions. Mr. Alexander had a re- 
markable locality. He had a fair clover 
flow in June, and this was followed in 
August by a heavy flow from buckwheat, 
goldenrod, and aster. The locality was so 
exceptional that for years he maintained 
500 colonies in one location. Usually it is 
not practicable to have more than 100 in 
one place. 

The basic principle of placing the brood 
into an upper story for a few days over an 
excluder before making the division is ac- 
knowledged by all to be good. The saving 
of all the brood and conserving the heat 
are factors that make this superior to any 
other method of dividing. 

Dr. C. C. Miller, to whom reference is 
made in various portions of this book, how- 
ever, says that if he were to divide his 
colonies before the clover flow as recom- 
mended at the close of Alexander's sixth 
paragraph it w^ould be only at a loss of the 
honey crop. It can generally be set down 
as an axiom in beekeeping that it is not 



INSPECTORS 



practicable, ordinarily, to secure increase 
and a full honey crop at the same time; 
and therefore Mr. Alexander's statement 
that he can secure by this plan " two good 
strong colonies in the place of one, ready 
to commence work on the clover harvest," 
seems impossible of accomplishment if we 
take with it the other statement in the next 
sentence that he secured nearly twice as 
much of clover as he would have secured 
without dividing. 

The trouble seems to hinge on the point 
of having two good colonies in place of one 
at the opening of the clover harvest by 
June 15. If the reader will turn to the 
article, sixth paragraph, he will see that 
Mr. Alexander recommends that the direc- 
tions be followed exactly — that bees must 
be kept snug and warm, and that they 
must be fed a little thin syrup nearly every 
day. The two colonies must be given every 
help possible. 

Note that he did not say that he secured 
by this method " nearly twice the amount 
of surplus " from clover as might be in- 
ferred from the last sentence of the pre- 
ceding paragraph. To one who knows his 
locality it is clearly evident that he meant 
of all honey — buckwheat, goldenrod, and 
aster as well as clover. He could have 
meant nothing else. 

It will be noticed that Mr. Alexander 
began his work of increase about April 15 
with queens not over ten months old. He 
does not claim that both colonies will be 
equal in strength, nor that one colony will 
gather as much as the other. 

Many beekeepers will have to substitute 
the word "alfalfa" for "clover," or "buck- 
wheat" for "clover." 

This method of making increase, if the 
testimony of some of the best beekeepers in 
the country is to be believed, gives the 
largest returns, because all the brood is 
saved. The expert beekeeper will be able 
to make his own modifications; but the 
beginner will do well to follow Mr. Alex- 
ander, not forgetting the importance of 
young queens, daily feeding, and keeping 
bees in a warm hive, preferably double- 
walled, or single-walled hives in packing- 
cases. 

INSPECTORS. — Under the head of 
" Laws Relating to Foul Brood " will be 
found references to bee inspectors, whose 



duties are to discover and eradicate bee 
diseases. Under this head an attempt will 
be made to give the qualifications of a bee 
inspector. First of all, he should be an 
experienced beekeeper; second, he should 
have a theoretical and practical knowledge 
of all bee diseases, particularly those re- 
lating to brood; third, he should be intel- 
ligent, broadminded, and tactful. 

Taking up the first requirement, a bee 
inspector will be very seriously handi- 
capped if he does not have both a theoreti- 
cal and a practical knowledge of bees. One 
of the most important factors in the elim- 
ination of disease is the instruction given 
the beekeeper in the first place on how to 
keep bees, on the principle that preven- 
tion is better than cure. The inspector 
should explain the normal conditions in a 
hive so that the owner of the bees will be 
able to recognize at once those that are 
irregular and abnormal. A large number 
of those who keep bees have but little 
knowledge of the business. In many cases 
swarms alighted on the premises and were 
hived. In other cases the bees were bought 
at auction because they were cheap; in 
still others, some of the family may have 
gotten the bee-fever, and, after building up 
the apiary to four or five colonies, left 
home. The rest of the family have but 
little or no interest in the bees, but are 
glad to get the honey if there is any. These 
little yards of bees, no matter how acquired, 
are left to shift for themselves, and the re- 
sult is they afford favorable places for the 
attack of bee disease. Their owners are not 
apt to read bee-books, but will receive per- 
sonally any amount of instruction on how 
to take care of them. A good bee inspector, 
one who thoroly understands his job, can 
be the indirect means of putting in nice 
condition all these little j^ards that would 
otherwise be neglected. The owners will 
be getting a revenue; and if bee disease 
does make a start they will be able to 
arrest it in time. 

The second requirement implies a theo- 
retical and practical knowledge of bee dis- 
eases. If the owner of the bees discovers 
that a man sent out by the State does not 
thoroly know disease when he sees it, the 
inspector is under a big handicap. If the 
beekeeper is himself a practical man, and 
discovers that Mr. Inspector is not famil- 
iar with his job, he will probably do just 



470 



INSPECTORS 




Too frequently inspectors meet conditiuns like thi 

as he pleases, thinking he knows more than 
the representative of the State. As a gen- 
eral rule the bee inspectors are thoroly in- 
formed in regard to bee diseases before 
they are sent out. 

The third requirement is sometimes hard 
to meet. It is not difficult to get a man 
who understands bees and bee diseases; 
but it is not so easy to add to those quali- 
fications the third one— intelligence and 
tactfulness. An inspector who goes out on 
tours of inspection meets all kinds of peo- 
ple. He should be able to size up his man 
at a glance. If he should approach the 
beekeeper and say, " I am the State inspec- 
tor, and I require to see your bees," he 
might meet with some 
opposition; but if, on 
the other hand, he ap- 
proaches his man with 
smiles and a hand- 
shake, and asks him if 
he has any bees, and 
how they are doing, he 
will usually meet with 
a pleasant response. 
The inspector can then 
say that he is sent by 
the State to give in- 
structions on how to 
keep bees, and that if 
he tan be of any help 
he is free to command, 
etc. Then the beekeeper 
will be interested. Mr. 



Inspector can very 
gracefully volunteer the 
statement that there is 
considerable bee disease 
in the country, and if 
any is present in the 
hive?, he will be glad to 
tell how to eradicate it. 
If he is tactful, he will 
not put forth any show 
of " authority," nor in- 
vade the premises with- 
out finding some mem- 
ber of the family. If 
the owner is not pres- 
ent he can ask permis- 
sion from some one in 
the house to see the 
bees, explaining the 
matter in a tactful way. 
Usually the good house- 
wife is perfectly willing to tell him where 
the bees are. 

PAY OF INSPECTORS. 

At this day and age a good inspector can 
hardly be secured for less than $4.00 a day 
and expenses. In some cases it may some- 
times be necessary to pay as high as $6.00, 
because a competent beeman can hardly 
leave his own bees and work for three 
months for the State at $4.00 a day and 
then find his own bed and board for the 
remaining nine months of the year. But a 
good man can usually be secured for $4.00 
a day provided the State can give employ- 




But what can tlio poor inspector 



INTRODUCING 



471 



ment the year round. If he is a good bee- 
keeper and a good talker he can be used to 
give lectures and demonstrations at farm- 
ers' institutes during winter, and he can be 
used to assist in various ways in the gen- 
eral state work outside of bee culture pro- 
vided he is a man of some education and of 
ordinary ability. 

Students from apicultural schools that 
are scattered over various parts of the 
country can usually be secured for a very 
moderate sum. These men, after having 
taken an apicultural and agricultural 
course, have a theoretical and practical 
knowledge of general farm problems, such 
as soils, fertilizers, fruit-growing, and the 
like. And when it is not possible to use an 
inspector in the line of beework, his talent 
can be turned to very profitable account 
along other agricultural lines. It is, there- 
fore, desirable to have a bee inspector who 
not only understands bee culture but agri- 
culture in general. 

The nursery inspectors who are sent out 
over the country are rendering excellent 
aid by telling farmers how to handle their 
fruit trees in order to keep down blight, 
San Jose scale, and, in general, how to se- 
cure a large amount of fruit. These men 
are rendering their respective States most 
valuable service, because there is nothing 
like a practical demonstration in the or- 
chard of how to treat the trees and how to 
trim them so as to secure the maximum 
results. This kind of actual field demon- 
stration work is invaluable, not only in 
orchard work but in actual beekeeping. If 
possible, a bee inspector should be one who 
understands both orchard and bee work, as 
they naturally go hand in hand. 

Under head of laws relating to foul 
brood, it will be seen that the better plan 
is to make the bee inspector a bee advisor, 
whose chief function will be to give in- 
struction rather than to enforce law. For 
other particulars see " Laws relating to 
Foul Brood." 

INTRODUCING.— Under normal condi- 
tions only one queen will be tolerated in a 
colony at a time. Should there by accident 
be two, when they meet there is likely to be 
a royal battle, until one of them is killed. 
So it happens that queens are, as a rule, 
jealous rivals; but there are exceptions. 



Under certain conditions, as when an old 
queen is about to be superseded, the young 
daughter may be tolerated in the hive along 
with her mother — both laying side by side ; 
but in the course of a few days or weeks 
the mother will be missing. Whether she' 
dies of old age or the daughter kills her is 
not known. There are other conditions 
where two and sometimes a dozen laying 
queens will be found in the hive, but undei' 
circumstances which seem to be abnormal. 

Again, it may be stated that a normal 
colony of bees will not readily accept a 
strange queen, even tho they have no 
mother of their own, much less will they 
accept an interloper when there is already 
a queen in the hive. It may, therefore, be 
set down as a rule that has exceptions,* 
that it is not safe to liberate any queen, 
young or old, in a colony that already has 
one. Moreover, bees that are queenless 
will not, under ordinary conditions, accept 
another, no matter how much they may 
need one, until she has been " introduced." 
It follows, then, that in the process of re- 
queening we are compelled to put a new 
queen in a wire-cloth cage and confine her 
there (where the other bees cannot attack 
her) until she has acquired the same colony 
odor or individual scent as the bees them- 
selves. This usually takes two or three 
daj^s, at the end of which time the queen 
may be released and they will treat her as 
their own royal mother. We do not know 
how bees recognize each other, or how they 
can tell a strange queen from their own, 
except by the scent factor. 

It is a fact well recognized that a dog 
can pick out his master from hundreds of 
others thru the agency of scent. He can 
also track his master if he loses sight of 
him by catching the scent where he has 
walked, in spite of the fact that hundreds 
of other people may have gone over the 
same ground. This scent that is so acute 
in a dog is undoubtedly highly developed 
in the bee, otherwise it would be difficult 
to account for some of the phenomena in 
the domestic economy of the hive. • See 
pages 633 and 634. 



* If a virgin queen, on returning from a mating- 
trip, enters by mistake a hive where there is an old 
laying queen she may, and very often does, supplant 
the old queen. The virgin is young and vigorous, and 
more than a match for the old queen full of eggs. 
Even tho the colony odor be lacking, the bees in this 
case accept the supplanter. 



472 



INTRODUCING 



Hence it is natural to conclude that, by 
the sense of smell, bees recognize their own 
mother from a new or strange one. 

Again, it is learned that, if two queens 
have exactly the same colony odor after 
being caged for two or three daj^s in a 
queenless hive, either one may be liberated, 
and the bees will accept one just as readily 
as the other. If both be liberated at the 
same time, one in one comer of the hive 
and the other in the opposite corner, both 
will be tolerated by the bees; but once the 
queens come together themselves there is 
danger of a royal battle* resulting in the 
death of one. From this fact it is inferred 
that the bees, provided a queen or queens 
have the requisite colony odor, will accept 
at any time one or more such queens under 
many conditions; that, further, when two 
queens have the same colony odor, if they 
can be kept apart by means of perforated 
zinc both will continue to lay eggs in the 
same hive without interference. This con- 
dition will be allowed so long as the colony 
prospers, or until a dearth of honey comes, 
when the bees show a disposition to rob. 
They may then destroy one of the queens. 

Bees that have been thrown into a box 
or pan, and then shaken or bumped again 
and again until they are demoralized or 
frightened, are much more tractable than 
those not so disturbed. Such bees if made 
queenless just prior to the shaking, and 
confined without combs or brood in a cool 
place for a few hours, wiU usually accept 
a queen at once. The factor of colony odor 
then apparently does not operate, for the 
bees are put out of their normal condition. 

Very often the queens of two colonies 
may be made to exchange places. The two 
hives are opened, and before either colony 
can discover that it is queenless, the queens 
are exchanged; but when this exchange is 
made, the precaution must be taken to 
open the hives very quietly, using but little 
smoke. The idea seems to be to disturb the 
colony as little as possible, so that their 
normal condition may continue. Not sus- 
pecting any change in queens, the bees are 
not looking for any, and allow the new 
mothers to go right on where the previous 



* We say " danger " of a battle. Queens will not 
always fight when so put together. The relative ages 
of the queens makes a great difference. Tf one queen 
be an old one there probably will be no fight, and even 
if there is, the young queen will be more than a match 
for the old one. 



queens left off. On the other hand, if 
either colony is queenless long enough so 
that it sets up a loud buzzing or a cry of 
distress, it will be pretty sure to ball any 
queen that may be given it. 

Young bees just hatched will at any time 
accept any queen. Therefore, it comes 
about that, when one desires to introduce a 
valuable breeder on which he desires to 
take no chances whatsoever, he causes her 
to be released on a frame of very young 
or hatching bees; but consideration will be 
given to this later. 

Virgin queens, if just hatched, will usu- 
ally be accepted by a colony, if not too 
long queenless, without the process of in- 
troducing or even of caging ; but when one 
of these queens comes to be four or five 
days old she is very much more difficult to 
introduce than a normal laying queen. 

When a little honey is coming in, it is 
much easier to introduce and unite bees 
than during a dearth. 

A queen in the height of her egg-laying 
will be accepted far more readily than one 
that has been deprived of egg-laying, as in 
the case of one that has been four or five 
days in the mails. 

Some colonies are more nervous than 
others. To open a hive of such on an un- 
favorable day might arouse the inmates to 
a stinging fury. Indeed, such colonies will 
often ball and sting their own queen when 
the hive is opened if the day is unfavor- 
able. 

It is easier to introduce toward night, or 
after dark, than during the day. The rea- 
son of this is that after dark the excite- 
ment of the day has subsided. There is no 
chance for robbing and no reason for vigil. 
In short, bees are not expecting trouble 
and are not inclined to make any. 

A fasting queen, or, rather, a queen that 
is hungry, will usually ask for food, and 
hence will generally be treated more con- 
siderately than one that shows fear or fight. 

A colony queenless long enough to have 
ripe queen-cells, or long enough to have 
laying w^orkers, will not accept a queen as 
readily as one that has been without a 
mother for only a few hours. Reference 
to this will be made later. 

Having stated, therefore, the basic prin- 
ciples governing the relation of the queen 
to the bees the reader can now more intel- 



INTRODUCING 



473 



ligently proceed to the methods of intro- 
duction, most of which are based on the 
theory that the queen to be introduced 
must first have acquired the colony odor of 
her new subjects. 

The cages that are sent thru the mails 
are supplied with soft bee candy (see 
Candy), so that, in case the bees do not 
feed the queen, she will not starve. In 
some cages the bees release the queen by 
eating away the candy and letting her out. 
Other cages are so constructed that bees 
outside the cage must tunnel under the 
cage by tearing away the comb, in order to 
release her. In still other cases the apiarist 
himself liberates her after she has been 
confined the requisite length of time or 
until such time as she has acquired the 
colony odor. 

Most of the cages are sent out by queen- 
breeders with directions how to perform 
this operation; and it is usually safer for 
the beginner to follow these directions im- 
plicitly. 

MAILING AND INTEODUCING CAGE. 

The mailing and introducing cage that 
has been used over the country is called the 
Benton, and is shown in the accompanying 
illustration. It consists of an oblong block 
of wood with three holes bored nearly 
thru, one of the end holes being filled with 
soft candy (see Candy), and the other two 
are left for occupancy by the bees and 
queen. On the back of the cover are 
printed full directions for introducing, and 
at each end of the cage is a small hole 
bored thru lengthwise the grain of the 
wood. One hole (next to the bees) is cov- 
ered with a piece of perforated metal, 
secured in place with two small wire nails 
driven thru the perforations. The other 
hole (that is, at the candy end) is covered 
over with a piece of pasteboard slightly 
narrower than the hole. In this way the 
bees have an opportunity to taste the 
candy at the edges, and finally pull away 
the pasteboard entirely. 

Very often, after the cage has been thru 
the mails, and been on the journey for 
several days, the bees in the cage will have 
consumed two-thirds or three-fourths of 
the candy. If those in the hive to which 
the queen is to be introduced gain access to 



the candy direct they would eat out what 
little there is of it in five or six hours, lib- 
erate the queen, and probably kill her. In 
order to accomplish introduction safely the 
cage should be on the frames (where the 
bees can get acquainted with the queen) 
for at least 24 hours, and longer wherever 
practicable. As it takes anywhere from 12 
to 24 hours for the bees to gnaw away the 
pasteboard before they can get at the 
candy, and from 6 to 24 hours to eat out 
the candy, we are assured of at least 18 
hours before the bees can release the 
queen; and generally the time is longer — 
anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. The paste- 
board has another advantage, in that it 
makes the introduction entirely automatic. 
The one who receives the queen pries off 




Benton mailing-cage. Postage on this cage is one 
cent. A larger size for longer distances, as shown next 
page, requires two cents. 



the cover protecting the wire cloth, and 
then by the directions which he reads on 
the reverse side of this cover he learns that 
all he has to do is to lay the cage wire 
cloth down over the space between two 
brood-frames of the queenless colony, and 
the bees do the rest. It is not even neces- 
sary for him to open the hive to release the 
queen; indeed, he should let the colony 
entirely alone for three or four days, as 
opening the hive disturbs and annoys the 
bees to such an extent that very often they 
will ball the queen, seeming to lay to her 
door what must be to them a great distur- 
bance in having their home torn to pieces. 
There are several sizes of these Benton 
cages — the larger ones being used for 
longer distances. The one above is good 
for 1000 miles thru the mails, altho very 
often used for twice that distance. This 



474 



INTRODUCING 



may be called a combination mailing and 
introducing cage. Ordinarily, if we have 
much introducing to do we prefer some- 
thing especially adapted to the latter pur- 
pose alone; we have, therefore, used with 
a great deal of satisfaction the Miller in- 
troducing-cage, mentioned later. 

As many of the readers of this work 
may possibly do something at mailing 
queens, it might be well to add a word 
about making the candy for Benton cages. 
This should be prepared as directed under 
Candy. It should be made several days in 
advance of the time it is expected to be 
used; for after it has been made it will 
soften down and become quite sticky. If 
put in cages in this condition it will result 
in the death of the bees and queen before 
accomplishing half their journey. After 
the candy has stood several days it is likely 
to become soft again, when more sugar 
should be kneaded in. It would be better 
then to let it stand two or three days, and 
then, if necessary, knead in more sugar 
until it holds its consistency so that the 
dough is stiff, moist, and mealy. This is 
important. It is almost equally important 
to have the candy hole coated over with 
hot paraffin. This is for the purpose of 
preventing the absorption of the honey out 
of the candy into the wood. The candy 
should then be crowded into the candy hole, 
and then the hole in the end over which the 
pasteboard is to be tacked should be 
plugged full of candy, after which the 
pasteboard is nailed on. 

The manner of filling a cage with bees 
and queen for mailing is to pick it up with 
the left hand in such a way that the thumb 
covers the hole over which the perforated 
metal has been nailed, but which, before the 
time of filling, should be revolved around 
on one side or taken off entirely. The 
queen is first to be picked up by the wings, 
and her head is pushed into the hole as far 
as possible. After she runs in, the thumb 
is placed over the hole. Worker bees are 
next picked up in a similar manner, and 
poked in, selecting those that are filling 
with honey from open cells until there are 
a dozen bees. If the cage is larger, two 
dozen may be used; and if it is extra 
large, four or five dozen. When cages are 
mailed during cold weather there should be 
more bees put in, to help keep up the ani- 
mal heat. During hot weather a dozen 



bees are quite sufficient in the smallest 
Benton cage. 

It is very convenient to have in the 
apiary small special cages for introducing 
and holding queens that come out with 
swarms until thev can be introduced or 




How bees and <ii 



mailing-cage. 



disposed of. The one illustrated here is 
an excellent one. It is especially handy 
for introducing young virgins. The cage is 
so flat it can slide in at the entrance with- 




C. C. Miller's introducing-cage. 

out even removing the cover of the hive, 
and the bees will release the queen by the 
candy method. Yet for introducing fertile 



INTRODUCING 



475 



or valuable queens it should be inserted 
between two combs which are then drawn 
together until they hold the cage. The 
queen thus acquires the scent of the combs, 
brood, and the cluster, and hence when re- 
leased will be more likely to be accepted. 

This cage, like the Benton, wiU give very 
much better results if a piece of paste- 
board is nailed over the end. This the bees 
will gnaw awaj^, gaining access to the 
candy, which they eat out. Subsequent to 
the use of the pasteboard as stated, with 
either the Benton or the Miller cage a 
larger per cent of all queens are intro- 
duced, provided, of course, the colony has 
not been queenless more than four or five 
days. One that has been without a mother 
longer may get to depending on cells ; and 
when the work has so far progressed they 
are liable to destroy the introduced queen 
and await the hatching of one of the vir- 
gins. 

Another feature of this cage, of great 
importance to beginners, is as a queen- 
catcher. It can be put down over the 
queen after the wooden slide is removed, 
and when she crawls upward the plug may 
be replaced. 

PUSH-IXTO-COMB-CAGE PLAN OF 
INTEODUCING. 

During 1911 and '12, and again in 1919, 
there was considerable discussion in the 
bee journals concerning the method of in- 
troducing known as the push-into-comb- 
cage plan — that is to say, a plan which 
permits a queen being caged over a few 
cells of honey and brood. This is accom- 
plished by taking a square of wire cloth of 
suitable size and cutting a small square out 
of each of the four corners. The project- 
ing ends are then folded down so as to 
make a wii^e-cloth box without bottom. 
This is pushed into a brood-comb with the 
queen under it. If it is not pushed in too 
deep, the bees will usually release her in 
24 to 48 hours by gnawing under or tun- 
neling under the wire cloth. Reports of 
this method of introducing have been uni- 
formly favorable, and one reason for this 
is due to the fact that the queen has imme- 
diate access to ceUs of honey; and if she 
should lay a few eggs in the comb before 
she is released she will have the odor of a 
laying queen, and this odor is one of the 



elements that go to make up successful 
introduction. 

Some years ago one of our prominent 
queen-breeders offered to replace all queens 
that he sent thru the mails, providing this 
plan of introduction were followed. He 
reported that it was so successful that he 
scarcely ever had to replace a queen; and 
he believed that these replacements were 
due mainly to the fact that the recipient 
failed to carry out his instructions. 

But one difficulty with a plan like this 
is that not every one will have on hand the 
proper material nor have the necessary 
skill for making up a cage of this sort. 
Another and more serious difficulty is the 
problem of getting the queen transferred 
from the mailing-cage to the introducing- 
cage pushed in the comb, without injuring 
her or allowing her to get away during the 
process. Another difficulty is that some 
push the cage into the comb so far that the 
bees fail to release her, altho in such cases 
no harm results, because the apiarist can 
remove the cage and release her. 

The difficulty of making a combination 
mailing and introducing cage that can be 
sent in the mails, without increasing the 
postage, is solved by making the introduc- 
ing-cage of just the right size to telescope 




The mailing and introducing-cage with carton. 

over the mailing-cage. Both can then be 
slipped into a neat carton to stand the 
rough usage of the mails. The accompany- 
ing illustrations will show how this scheme 
can be carried into execution. 



476 



INTRODUCING 



The following are the directions that are 
used in cages of this kind : 

On receipt of the queen go to the hive 
where she is to be introduced, and remove 
the old queen, and, before the bees discover 
that the old mother is gone, cage the new 
queen among them. To do this, select a comb 
containing hatching brood, eggs, and cells of 
honey. Find a spot on the comb where there 
are hatching brood, eggs, and cells of honey, 
about the size of the cage. If there is no 
hatching brood, cells of pollen and honey will 
do very well. Shake the bees off the como 
and carry comb and queen received from the 
mails into the house before a window. 

Gently raise the wire-cloth top that tele- 
scopes over the wood part until it is almost 
off. Wait a few moments until the queen 
works her way upward on to the wire cloth; 
then quickly lift the wire-cloth cover, with 
queen on it, off the wood part and shove it 
on to the selected spot on the comb. If, dur- 
ing the operation, she flies, don't get excited. 
She will quickly go to the window, where it 
will be easy to cage her by gently slipping 
the wire-cloth introducing part over her. The 
next operation is to slide a postal card be- 
tween the wire-cloth cage and the window, 
being careful not to pinch the queen in the 
operation. Lift cage and all with the postal 
card away from^ the window, and lay both 
on the comb. Gently draw out the postal 
card until the queen crawls on the comb, 
then shove the wire-cloth cage down into the 
comb almost a quarter of an inch. In doing 
this, care should be exercised so there may 
be no gaps at the corners where the wire- 
cloth sides and ends are folded down. 

In from 24 to 48 hours the bees may tun- 
nel under and release the queen. If at the 
end of 48 hours the queen is not out, she 
may be released by pushing a pencil thru the 
comb from the side opposite where the queen 
is caged. In an hour or so the queen will 
find her way out easily. It is important that 
she should have her liberty when conditions 
in the colony are entirely normal. A dis- 
turbed colony, or one that is opened up and 
pulled to pieces, is much more apt to ball a 
queen than one that is going on with its regu- 
lar routine. 

One very great advantage with this form 
of introducing is that it avoids the possi- 
bility of transmitting bee diseases thru 
queen-cage candy. See Foul Brood. If 
the candy is made of honey that has come 
from a hive infected with foul brood, it 
would be the means of carrying the disease 
thru the queen-cage to the hive, provided 
the candy method previously described 
were used. To offset this difficulty the 
Postoffice Department, during the early 
part of 1912, issued a ruling (which ruling 
is still in effect) that no queen should be 



sent thru the mails unless accompanied bj" 
a copy of a certificate from a bee inspector 
or a copy of a sworn statement to the 



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The manner of folding the cage. 




Wire-cloth corners cut out before folding to mkke the 

introduction cage that telescopes over the 

wooden part. 




Cage pushed into the comb, showing the manner of 
introducing the confined queen. 

effect that the queen-breeder boiled his 
honej^ that he used in his queen-cage candy 
for thirty minutes in a closed vessel; but 
not every one would do this work properly, 
and perhaps not every queen-breeder would 
be conscientious in carrying out this regu- 



INTRODUCING 



4V7 



lation. If the push-into-comb-cage plan is 
used, it eliminates all possible carrying of 
disease in this way unless the recipient of 
the cage is careless enough to throw it out- 
doors where his bees can get at it; and he 
would hardly do that. See Candy. 

THE MILLER SMOKE OR DISTRESS METHOD OF 
INTRODUCING. 

In 1913 Arthur C. Miller of Providence, 
R. I. (who wrote the article on Bee Be- 
havior and Nucleus in this work), intro- 
duced to the beekeeping world a new method 
of introducing queens. "While one feature 
of it was old, the general procedure was 
original with Mr. Miller. Many years ago 
Henry Alley introduced queens by smudg- 
ing the colony and queen with tobacco 
smoke. While the plan was successful in 
many instances, it was too often a failure 
and for that reason it seems to have been 
dropped. A. C. Miller's method, while sim- 
ilar only in the use of smoke, is enough 
different to make it practically new, and 
fairly reliable when directions are followed. 
There are conditions under which it is su- 
perior to any other plan of introducing 
queens; and some of our best beekeepers 
and queen-breeders use it at times to the 
exclusion of all other methods. It has an 
advantage in that virgin queens of any age 
can be introduced to colonies that would 
kill them nine times out of ten by the old 
methods as soon as released. Moreover, the 
Miller plan is found to be superior in in- 
troducing even laying queens to a colony 
that has been long queenless, and when the 
chances of successful introduction would 
be somewhat doubtful. It works so well in 
some cases that safe introduction can be 
accomplished even when there is a laying 
queen already in the hive. If the alien 
queen is younger or more prolific than the 
old queen, the latter may be superseded 
automatically. 

The plan has been used for requeening 
box hives with a considerable degree of 
success, and that, too, without finding or 
removing the old queen. But the success 
of this method of requeening without de- 
queening will depend on the superiority of 
the alien over the old queen; for by the 
smoke method both queens will be equally 
acceptable to the colony; and so far as the 
colony is concerned it appears to be a 



choice between the two, resulting in favor 
of the better queen. 

HOW to introduce by the miller smoke 
method. 

The colony to receive a queen has its 
entrance reduced to about one square inch. 
Strips of wood, entrance cleats, or even 
grass or weeds, may be used for the pur- 
pose. The smoker bellows is worked until 
a white smoke is blown out — not a hot 
transparent smoke, as that would be de- 
structive. Three or four long puffs are 
then blown in at the entrance. The amount 
may Yany according to the size of the 
colony, the condition of the fuel, and the 
fuel itself. At all events, enough smoke is 
blown in at the entrance until the colony 
sets up a roar, which will take place in 10 
or 20 seconds. If the roar does not take 
place it shows not enough smoke has been 
used. The queen to be introduced is now 
run in, either from the fingers or from a 
queen-cage, and followed by a gentle puff 
of smoke, when the entrance is entirely 
closed, and left so for 10 or 15 minutes. 
At the expiration of that time it is re- 
opened and the bees allowed to ventilate 
and quiet down, but the opening should not 
be wider than the original contraction of 
one inch, as the idea is to let the colony 
quiet down slowly from its distress. A full 
entrance is not given for an hour or more, 
and better not till the next day. Where 
grass or leaves are used they may be left 
to wilt and be pushed out by the bees. 
They are handy at outyards. 

In order to make the plan work success- 
fully there are several important require- 
ments. 

(1) The colony should not be larger than 
one story and the frames and bees should 
occupy the whole of the story. It has been 
found impracticable to use this plan of 
introduction when only a third or a half of 
the hive is occupied with bees and combs, 
for the simple reason that the bees and 
queen may get out of the smoke and thus 
be remote from the smoke that induces the 
necessary condition — distress. 

(2) The hive must be smoke-tight. If it 
has gaps at the corners, or if the covers do 
not fit tightly, the bees will recover from 
their distress too quickly, and may kill the 
queen. All possible chance of ventilation 



478 



INTRODUCING 



must be prevented except at the entrance, 
and that should be opened by using only 
the narrow opening thru which the smoke 
is introduced. 

(3) The smoke must be such as to create 
the greatest distress, and at the same time 
avoid the least danger of overdoing it. 
There is no need of torturing the colony by 
causing the individual bees to curl up and 
lie on their backs. Just enough smoke 
should be given to cause a general roar. 

(4) Enough smoke should be used to fill 
every portion of the brood-chamber. This 
is important. 

(5) The bees should be confined for 10 
or 15 minutes. 

(6) The whole entrance should not be 
opened up at the end of the 15 minutes. 

While a portion of these directions may 
seem like a repetition, yet the number of 
misunderstandings and failures that have 
occurred show that the essential features of 
the method cannot be stated too strongly. 

The theory of this method is based on 
the principle that bees in distress know no 
enemj^ or alien. Each is looking to the 
other for help or food. The colony spirit 
is entirely broken up, and every bee that 
comes under the infiuence of the uproar is 
seized with the same emotion, to be relieved 
of her distress. It is important, also, that 
the queen be under the same spell or in- 
fluence; hence the directions to follow her 
up, after she goes into the hive, with a 
puff of smoke. 

This method can be used for introducing 
virgin queens five or six days old. Such 
queens are usually rejected by a colony, 
or even by a nucleus. These six-day-old 
queens after introduction by this plan have 
been known to take a flight the very next 
day, and to be laying shortly after. 

The question might be raised here, why 
the smoke or distress method is not used in 
the directions for introducing sent out by 
queen-breeders in the mailing-cages con- 
taining queens. The reason of it is, there 
are some very nice points in introducing by 
the distress method, and the average begin- 
ner will succeed better by the cage plan. 
As a general thing, queen-breeders use the 
cage plan for introducing virgins, which 
are usually quite young, because it takes 
less time to go thru the procedure of in- 
troduction. An introducing-cage is in- 
serted between the frames and left there. 



That is all there is to it. The smoke 
method of introducing requires considera- 
ble time and a great exactness of proced- 
ure, or the plan will fail. 

But the general scheme is so useful that 
experienced beekeepers can use it to very 
great advantage. The beginner or veteran 
should understand that, when he tries it 
for the first time, he must follow exactly 
the method outlined. 

A SURE WAY OF INTRODUCING. 

There is one perfectly sure way of intro- 
ducing a very valuable queen, such as an 
imported one, if the conditions are ob- 
served carefully. Two or three frames of 
hatching brood are removed from several 
hives; every bee is shaken off, and the 
brood put into an empty hive contracted 
to a small space; and unless the weather 
is very warm., the whole is placed in a 
warm room, or over the hive of a strong 
colony with screen wire cloth between the 
two. The queen and her attendants are let 
loose in this hive, and the young bees, as 
they hatch out, will soon make a colony. 
As several who have tried this plan have 
been so careless as to leave the entrance 
open and let the queen get out, the begin- 
ner is warned especially to have the hive 
closed, so that no bee can by any possibil- 
ity get out.* If the frames selected con- 
tain no unsealed brood, there will be very 
little loss; but otherwise the larvas, having 
no bees to feed them, will mostly starve. 
As soon as a few hundred bees are hatched, 
the queen wdll be found with them, and 
they will soon make a cluster. When the 
combs have been taken from strong colo- 
nies, where the queen is laying hundreds of 
eggs in a day, the colony will become 
strong in a week or two. Three frames 
will do very well at first, and one or two 
more may be added in the course of a week 
or two. No live bee is to be given to the 
queen, and the hive must be kept in a 
warm place — the nearer 90 degrees F. the 
better. 

INTRODUCING TO YOUNG BEES. 

There is another way that has proved to 
be good. In order to describe it we can 
do no better than to make an extract from 

* The entrance can be opened in four or five days. 



INTRODUCING 



479 



an editorial in Gleanings in Bee Culture, 
page 539, Vol. XXI. : 

We have just received a consignment of 
30 imported Italian queens, direct from Italy, 
by express. Every queen came thru in good 
order, and they are now introduced into the 
apiary without the loss of one. Our method 
of introducing with this lot was something we 
had not tried before on so large a number of 
queens. We took four or five strong colonies, 
and divided them up into 30 one-frame nuclei. 
This was done in the forenoon. In the after- 
noon we transferred the imported queens, 
without any attendants, to Miller introducing- 
cages, placing one in every nucleus above 
mentioned. Most of the queens were out at 
the expiration of two days, in good order, and 
they are now all out. 

You see, the point is here: These newly 
divided nuclei will have old and young bees, 
and more or less hatching brood. Before the 
imported queen is released, the old bees will 
have returned to the old stand, and it is 
these old bees that always make trouble in in- 
troducing. By the time the queen is released, 
there are none but young bees, including 
those that were brought to the nucleus- 
stand and those that are hatched out in the 
interim. These, of course, all being young, 
will accept their new mother, without any 
trouble. The plan has proved to be so satis- 
factory that we shall employ it hereafter 
for all valuable queens.* 

DIRECT METHOD OF IXTRODUCTION. 

Where it is desired to introduce a queen 
from a nucleus to a queenless colony, both 
in the same yard, the operation can usually 
be performed with safety and with very 
little labor, as follows : The colony to re- 
ceive the queen should be made broodless a 
few hours in advance. Go to the nucleus 
and lift out two frames, bees and all, with 
the queen in between. Put these down in 
the center of the queenless colony ; close up 
the hive and don't go near it for several 
days. The bees that have been queenless 
and broodless are crying for a mother. 
When she is given them with a large force 
of her own subjects, she seems to be pro- 
tected, even if she does not have the odor 
of the new colony which, by the way, has 
been modified by the bees and brood given 
them from the other hive. 

This is a modification of the Simmins 
direct method of introducing. It could not 
be used in the case of a queen sent thru 
the mails. 

* I've used the same plan with a full colony. Set 
the colony on a new stand, lea^•ing the old stand a 
hive with a frame of brood to catch the fielders. After 
introduction the hive may be returned. — C. C. Miller. 



THE SIMMINS FASTING METHOD. 

W^hile this has been discussed to a greater 
or less extent in the bee journals, the plan, 
while very simple, is not one that we would 
recommend in the case of a valuable queen, 
or in any event to a beginner. It is as fol- 
lows: The queen to be introduced should 
be put in a cage at night without attend- 
ants and without food.. She should thus be 
confined for 30 minutes when she must be 
released at dusk over the frames of the 
queenless colony. The hive is not to be 
opened again for 48 hours. 

DUAL PLAN OF INTRODUCING. 

Another plan is to introduce two virgins 
or laying queens at one operation to save 
the necessary time it takes for the bees to 
get acquainted with the queen. This is 
described in detail under the head of 
Queen -REARING^ to which the reader is 
directed. 

HOW SOON WILL AN INTRODUCED QUEEN 
BEGIN TO LAY? 

As a general thing, she may be expected 
to begin laying in two days; but some- 
times, if the queen has been a long time 
prevented from lapng, as in the case of an 
imported queen, she may not lay for three 
or four days, or even a week. If intro- 
duced in the faU, she may not commence 
laying at all until spring, unless the colony 
is fed regularly every day for a week or 
more. This will always start a queen that 
is good for anj-thing if the weather is 
warm enough. 

HOW TO TELL WHETHER A COLONY IS 
QUEENLESS OR NOT. 

Having discussed mailing and introduc- 
ing cages, it may be pertinent at this point 
to give one of the prime essentials in suc- 
cessful introducing. The very first thing 
to be determined before an attempt to in- 
troduce is made, is to determine that the 
colony is certainly queenless. The fact that 
there may be no eggs nor larvae in the hive, 
and that the queen cannot be found, is not 
sufficient evidence that she is absent, altho 
such a condition points that way. But 
during the earlier part of the summer 
there should be either brood or eggs of 
some kind if a queen is present. Yes, there 



480 



INTRODUCING 



should be eggs or brood clear up until the 
latter part of summer. In the fall in the 
Northern States, or after the honey flow is 
over, old queens generally stop laying, and 
shrivel up in size so that a beginner might 
conclude that the colony is queenless, and 
therefore he must buy a queen. In at- 
tempting to introduce the new queen, of 
course he meets with failure, as she is stung 
to death, in all probability, and carried out 
at the hive-entrance. If eggs or larvae 
cannot be found at any season of the year 
when other stocks are breeding, and the 
supposedly queenless colony builds cells on 
a frame of unsealed larvae given them, it 
ma}^ be concluded as a general rule that 
the colony is probably queenless, and it 
will be safe to introduce a new queen. But 
when eggs, larvae, and sealed worker brood 
are found, the presence of queen-cells sim- 
ply indicates that the bees are either pre- 
paring to supersede their queen or making 
ready to swarm. See Swarming. 

We said old queens would stop laying in 
the fall if no honey was coming in. It 
should be noted that young queens will lay, 
flow or no flow. 

HOW LONG SHALL A COLONY BE QUEENLESS 
BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO INTRODUCE? 

Colonies that have not been queenless 
more than two days are to be preferred — 
just long enough to determine whether 
cells are started, and just long enough so 
the bees begin to recognize their loss, but 
not long enough for them to get cells under 
way. Cells nicely started or capped over 
are quite apt to make the colony act as if 
it wanted something of its own; and when 
a laying queen is introduced to them they 
take a notion sometimes that they won't 
have anything but their own raising. 

The worst colony to introduce a laying 
queen to is one that has been queenless 
long enough so that there is a possibility 
of one or more virgin queens being in the 
hive. It is hard to decide definitely in all 
cases when such colonies are queenless. 
Most virgins, after they are three or four 
days old, are very apt to be mistaken for 
workers, especially by a beginner. 

WHAT TO DO IF BEES BALL THE QUEEN. 

When queens were introduced in the old- 
fashioned way — that is, before cages were 



constructed so as to release queens auto- 
matically — much trouble was encountered 
by bees balling queens. If they were not 
ready to accept her when she was released 
by the apiarist, they were pretty sure to 
ball her. But here is a point that it is 
well to observe : When the bees let out the 
queen they very rarely ball her. But when 
it is necessary for the apiarist to perform 
the work, opening the hive, accompanied 
by general disturbance, is apt to cause 
them to ball her as soon as released. Sup- 
pose they do. The ball should be lifted out 
of the hive and smoke blown on it until the 
bees come off one by one; but hot smoke 
must not be blown on the queen. When 
the queen is found, get hold of her wings 
and pull the rest of the bees off from her by 
their wings. Put more candy in the open- 
ing, and give her another trial. The advice 
has been given to drop the queen, when she 
is balled, into a vessel of lukewarm water. 
The angry bees will immediately desert the 
queen, when she can be easily taken out of 
the water, and recaged. 

Another way of saving the queen with- 
out having to recage her is to carry a small 
oil can with a spring bottom, such as is 
used on a sewing machine, filled with thin 
syrup. When the bees are found balling 
her, saturate the ball thoroly by pressing 
hard upon the bottom of the can, causing 
the syrup to penetrate thru the ball. Close 
the hive and the bees will turn their atten- 
tion to cleaning themselves and the queen, 
when she will be accepted without further 
trouble. 

It may be well to explain in this connec- 
tion that bees are very much more apt to 
ball a queen that shows fear than one that 
behaves as if she expected kind treatment. 
If a new queen just introduced throws up 
her feet, and squeals, she is pretty sure to 
get into trouble. 

WHAT TO DO WHEN THE QUEEN FLIES 
AWAY. 

Sometimes a beginner is very nervous, 
and by a feAV bungling motions may man- 
age to let the queen escape from the hive 
where he expects to introduce her. Or this 
may happen: The queen may take wing 
right from the frame — become a little 
alarmed because there are no bees about 
her, and fly. In either case, one should 



INTENTIONS RELATING TO BEE CULTURE 



481 



step back immediately after opening the 
hive, and in 15 or 20 minutes she is quite 
likely to return to the same spot and enter 
the hive. If she is not discovered in the 
hive is about half an hour, she may be 
found in one of the other hives near by. 
If a ball of bees somewhere down among 
the frames is found, it may be surmised 
that here is the queen that flew away, and 
that she has made a mistake, and entered 
the wrong hive. 

IXTRODUCIXG VIRGIN QUEEXS. 

As previously explained, a young virgin 
just hatched, generally weak and feeble, 
can usually be let loose in a queenless col- 
ony without caging, and be favorably re- 
ceived; but one from two to six days old 
is, as a rule, muck more difficult to intro- 
duce than a laying queen ; and one ten 
days old, more than old enough to be fer- 
tilized, is most difficult. Such queens can 
be introduced to a strong vigorous colony 
by using the Miller smoke or distress 
method. Better by far give them a cell or 
a virgin just hatched, thus saving time and 
vexation; for even should the old virgin be 
accepted, she may be deprived of a leg, or 
be so deformed from rough treatment as to 
become in a large measure impaired for 
usefulness. Under head of Queen-rearixg 
are described "baby nuclei;" and, as already 
stated, it is much easier to introduce any 
queen, either virgin or lapng, to a nucleus 
or weak force of bees than to a strong vig- 
orous colony; so if one would attempt to 
introduce four or five day-old virgins, give 
them to nuclei — the smaller and weaker the 
better, or use the Miller smoke method. 

INVENTIONS RELATING TO BEE 
CULTURE.— It would be quite impossible 
in the limits of an article in this work to 
record all the inventions relating to bee 
culture; but it is perfectly feasible to in- 
clude those that have been adopted, and 
which are in use more or less by the pro- 
gressive beekeepers of the country. 

There are four inventions that revolu- 
tionized the methods of work with bees, 
and which really form the basis of all mod- 
ern methods of management today. First 
and foremost was the invention of movable 
frames by L. L. Langstroth in 1851. No 
one today, either in Europe or this country, 
16 



questions Mr. Langstroth's right to the 
honor of this great invention, for practical- 
ly all hives and frames in use today are 
Langstroth. See Frames, Hives and Hive- 

ilAKIXG. 

Next followed the invention of comb 
foundation by J. Mehring in 1857. But 
the foundation he made had no side walls, 
and so it remained for Samuel Wagner, 
A. I. Root and A. Washburn to develop 
the product that we now use with side 
walls. 

The next was the invention of the honey- 
extractor, by Major Francisco Hruschka, 
in 1865. The fourth was the invention of 
a bellows bee-smoker bj^ Moses Quinby. 

There have been a large number of im- 
proyeuients that have made the inventions 
of Langstroth, Mehring, Hruschka and 
Quinby much more w^orkable than they 
were originally. However, it is but fair to 
say that Langstroth came very near making 
his hive and fi'ame almost perfect at the 
very start; and there are possibly a 
few of our readers who would consider 
the later improvements made in the Lang- 
stroth frame and hive of doubtful value. 
It is, nevertheless, a fact that the old mov- 
able frame, as first made by Mr. Lang- 
stroth, both as regards dimensions and 
styles, is still in use all over the world. 
For extracting purposes some of our large 
honey-producers will have no other. They 
regard anything in the way of a self- 
spacing attachment, either as part of the 
hive or frame, as unnecessary, and a back- 
ward step. See Frames, Self-spacixg. 

The original comb foundation by Mehring 
was a very crude product; and it may be 
questioned whether or not Wagner should 
not share equal honor in the invention. The 
great improvements that were made in this 
article had more to do with the machinery 
for making the product than the thing it- 
self. A. I. Root did more to perfect comb 
foundation than perhaps any other man 
unless it was his colaborer and mechanic, 
Alva Washburn. He certainly introduced 
it to the beekeeping public. The first foun- 
dation was turned out on plates, and was, 
therefore, a very crude article; but A. I. 
Root conceived the idea of having it made 
by means of a pair of rolls. This sugges- 
tion came to him when noticing the wet 
clothes as they came out from a common 
wringer in his own home. After consult- 



482 



INVENTIONS RELATING TO BEE CULTURE 



ing his friend and mechanic, Mr. Wash- 
burn, a pair of rolls were made, the prod- 
uct of which was nearly the equal of any 
comb foundation made on modern machines. 
To Mr. Washburn belongs the credit of 
making perfect foundation on rolls th^ 
were mechanically correct. The only im- 
provement made on the Washburn mills 
was in the method of making them, by 
which they could be duplicated, and manu- 
factured not by hand but by machinery, in 
such a way that every roll is perfect. 
Later improvements were made by E. B. 
Weed, which will be referred to later. 

As regards the invention of Hruschka, 
several machines were made and put on the 
market. The one made by J. L. Peabody 
consisted of a can that revolved without 
gearing. The limitations of this were such 
that very few of them were ever sold. To 
A. I. Root belongs the credit of making 
some of the first all-metal extractors that 
use gearing, a stationary can, and a reel 
with baskets to hold the combs, said reel 
connected to the gearing, and mounted to 
revolve independently of the can. Thou- 
sands and thousands of these machines 
were sold, and very little in the way of 
improvement was made until the reversible 
extractor was put on the market. The 
Cowan principle was applied to the two- 
frame machines, and later came the Root 
principle of a series of baskets geared to- 
gether in such a way that the reversing of 
one pocket reversed all at the same time. 
A few years later came the invention of 
Frank G. Marbach, by means of which the 
pockets could be reversed automatically h^' 
simply applying a brake and slowing dov a 
the speed of the machine. This was fol- 
lowed by a slip gear and better mechan- 
ism, by which the extractor of today has 
from two to ten times the capacity of the 
earlier machines. In this connection men- 
tion should be made of the honey-pump 
that is now being used successfully on the 
large-sized extractors to deliver the honey 
from the extractor to a tank at one side 'or 
in an adjoining room. 

The fourth important invention is the 
bee-smoker. Quinby was the inventor of 
the bellows bee-smoker, which he brought 
out in 1875. This was further improved 
by'T. F. Bingham, L. C. Root, and H. H. 
Root, younger son of A. I. Root. The 
modern bee-smoker is almost as indispens- 



able as an extractor and movable frames; 
for without smoke, applied by means of a 
convenient instrument, the work of han- 
dling bees would be disagreeable if not 
impossible at times. The invention of Mr. 
Quinby forms the basis of all the modern 
smokers. But to T. F. Bingham belongs 
the credit of devising a smoker that blows 
air into the fire-cup without sucking any 
smoke into the bellows. Mr. Bingham's 
invention consisted in leaving out the tube 
connecting the two parts of the instrument. 
While that at first thought might seem to 
be no invention, yet it made all the differ- 
ence in the world between a workable tool 
and an unworkable one. The latter would 
go out and clog up with creosote, while the 
former would continue burning, burn any 
kind of fuel, and not clog up. 

E. B. Weed, formerly of Medina, was 
the inventor of what is known as the 
'' Weed New Process " for making comb 
foundation of a very superior kind in large 
quantities. His automatic machinery, with 
Washburn's and Howk's improvements for 
turning out the product, is now used in 
nearly all civilized countries of the world. 
This invention almost ought to be classed 
among the four great inventions. 

An invention which is now in almost 
universal use, in this country at least, is 
that of the late Julius Hoffman, in what is 
known as the Hoffman self -spacing frame. 
While the old-style Langstroth non-spacing 
frame was once the leader, yet during late 
3^ears the Hoffman-Langstroth is one that 
is listed by large and small manufacturers 
and dealers all over the country. It is an 
invention that has come to say. However, 
the present Hoffman frame is not the same 
as the original Hoffman; or, to put it in 
another way, the modern Hoffman retains 
only the self-spacing end-bars of the origi- 
nal, and not the Hoffman top-bar. 

Another improvement was suggested by 
Francis Danzenbaker — namely, the lock 
cornering on hives. This feature has now 
come to be adopted by all modern hive- 
makers thruout the United States, and, to 
a great extent, thruout the world. 

The invention of the sectional honey-box 
is not attributable to any one person ; how- 
ever, A. I. Root was the first to make one 
holding one pound. His first pound sec- 
tions were dovetailed all around. Later on 
came the invention of the one-piece section, 



INVENTIONS RELATING TO BEE CULTURE 



483 



on which J. H. Forncrook secured a pat- 
ent; but after long litigation from one 
court to another, the Supreme Court finally 
declared it " null and void for want of 
novelty." It was shown that one J. Fiddes 
and a number of others had made and used 
sections of this kind; so in the matter of 
one-piece sections the honor will have to be 
divided among four or five different people. 
The late James G. Gray of Medina made 
the first practical machine for making one- 
piece sections. Later, machines for turning 
out section honey-boxes in lots of one hun- 
dred thousand a day were the invention of 
George L. Howk. 

The Porter bee-escape is one of the best 
little inventions that have been brought 
out. It is one of the few patented inven- 
tions that survived and is now used very 
largely. 

Queen-excluders in the form of perfor- 
ated zinc and spaced wires are inventions 
of merit. In connection with these we find 
entrance-guards and Alley traps that are 
useful. The Alley trap is another patented 
invention that survived. 

The steam uncapping-knife (see Ex- 
tracting) is an invention that is coming 
more and more into use. The capping- 
melter for melting cappings as fast as they 
come from the knife gives promise of being 
one of the inventions that will last; for it 
enables a competent man who follows direc- 
tions to melt his cappings and separate the 
honey from the cappings immediately, so 
that when the day's work is done he will 
have his honey free from cappings, and 
the cappings converted into wax ready for 
use. 

Arthur C. Miller was the discoverer or 
inventor of the principle that is now used 
in all modern foundation-fasteners using a 
hot plate; yet, strangely enough, not one 
of these fasteners bears his name. Mr. 
Miller was also the inventor of two or three 
different uncapping-machines, and of the 
steam-heated uncapping-knife. If he had 
applied for letters-patent on this kind of 
knife it would have been granted him, and 
he would be today considered the inventor, 
as he really is, of the steam-heated uncap- 
ping-knife. 

T. F. Bingham and Mr. Hetherington 
were really the inventors of the modern 
uncapping-knife popularly known as the 
Bingham. The Bingham-Hetherington shape 



is now used in all uncapping-knives, whether 
steam-heated or plain. 

No one seems to have invented the double- 
walled packed hive for outdoor wintering; 
but A. I. Root was, perhaps, in connection 
with J. H. Townley, the first to apply the 
principle of chaff packing in double walls. 
As chaff is not now obtainable, other pack- 
ing material is used. Langstroth in the 
early '50's used double hives but not packed. 

In the early '80's there was a hoard of 
inventions relating to feeders, foundation- 
fasteners, and reversing attachments for 
movable frames, nearly all of which died a 
natural death because they were imprac- 
ticable and only increased the cost of man- 
agement. 

Among the later hive inventions that 
have merit is the Aspinwall hive, based on 
the principle designed to prevent swarm- 
ing. (See Swarming.) But its cost of 
construction, and the large number of extra 
parts that must be manipulated at inter- 
vals, will probably prevent this hive from 
displacing the present standard hives to 
any great extent. The swarming problem 
is not a serious one in the production of 
extracted honey ; and while probably three- 
fourths if not four-fifths of aU the honey 
produced in the world is extracted, it will 
be seen that there will be a vei-y limited 
demand at best for non-swarming hives. 

In the way of minor inventions or im- 
provements mention should be made of the 
omission of porticos on hives, and of bevel 
edges between the parts of the hives. A 
hive plain and simple, with a detachable 
bottom-board and a plain simple cover, is 
much more workable than some of the com- 
plicated domiciles of the early days with 
moth-traps, porticos, etc. 

It is another improvement to have the 
hive body and supers of the same dimen- 
sions and the same depth, except in the 
case of half -depth supers. In a word, the 
modern hive is made up of multiples of 
parts that will fit each other in any com- 
bination, perniitting of any degree of ex- 
pansion and contraction to accommodate a 
large or small colony. This feature of in- 
terchangeability is prized almost as much 
as any one single invention, barring only 
the four great inventions first mentioned. 

It might be interesting and perhaps en- 
lightening to some would-be inventors to 
record here a list of the inventions that 



484 



INVERT SUGAR 



have died a natural death. Some of these 
at the time were heralded as revolutionary ; 
but they never " revolutionized," but, on 
the contrary, sickened and died, as thou- 
sands of others had done. It is well that 
they did. 

It is but fair to say to inventors that a 
patent or patents on any invention or im- 
provement relating to bee-feeders, methods 
of wiring frames, or foundation-fasteners, 
are generally a waste of time, and can only 
lead to disappointment. There is a large 
list of patents in the Patent Office covering 
all forms of bee-feeders, not one of which 
is equal to any of the unpatented feeders 
described under the head of Feeders. In 
the same way it is a waste of time to try to 
invent a beehive, something new and better 
than those that are generally accepted by 
the fraternity at large. Every conceivable 
form of hive has been made the subject of 
a patent. With perhaps a dozen import- 
ant exceptions there is hardly a patent on 
bee-fixtures that is worth the paper on 
which it is printed; and the beginner, at 
least, will be very wise if he accepts the 
standard hive and appliances which are de- 
scribed in this or any standard work on 
bees. It is true, patents will be granted on 
almost anything ; but any one who is famil- 
iar with patent claims knows that they can 
be and usually are so loosely drawn that 
they are worthless. The poor inventor sup- 
poses that tJecause he has been granted a 
government parchment a fortune awaits 
him. But he is doomed to disappointment 
as sure as fate. (See Patents^ elsewhere.) 

INVERTING.— See Reversing. 

INVERT SUGAR.— Chemically consid- 
ered, this is a mixture of equal parts of the 
two sugars, dextrose and levulose, coming 
from the inversion or breaking down of 
sucrose. In common terms, sucrose is the 
ordinary white sugar of commerce, such as 
beet sugar or cane sugar. This breaking 
down of sucrose occurs when it is dissolved 
in water and boiled. The action then is 
very slow; but by the addition of a very 
small percentage of any acid the action 
is made more rapid. Hence, in the com- 
mercial preparation of this product white 
sugar is dissolved in water, then tartaric, 
acetic, phosphoric, or hydrochloric (muri- 
atic) acid is added and the whole boiled. 



Of the two sugars of invert sugar, dextrose 
is easily crystallizable, while levulose re- 
mains a liquid under most conditions, but 
on long standing and under concentration 
the dextrose will crystallize out. As re- 
gards sweetness, dextrose is not so sweet 
as sucrose, while levulose is much sweeter; 
hence invert sugar is generally said to be 
sweeter than sucrose. 

The preparation of invert suger from 
sucrose by using water and tartaric acid 
was patented a number of years ago by 
Herzfeld in Germany. The proportion he 
uses is approximately as follows: cane 
sugar, 25 lbs.; tartaric acid, I/2 oz. (avoir- 
dupois) ; water, 1 gallon. Bring to a boil 
and keep at that temperature for I/2 to % 
hour. 

When prepared as above the product is 
liable to be yellow or brown in color, but 
it is perfectly possible by concentrating in 
vacuum or under reduced pressure to pro- 
duce an invert sugar water-white. It can 
be made to appear like a high-grade clover 
honey. Its analysis is very similar to that 
of a clover hone3^ 

During the preparation of this sugar, a 
small amount of the levulose is broken 
down into furfurol or methylfurfurol. This 
product even in very small quantities gives 
strong color reactions with some reagents 
as resorcin — aniline acetete which forms a 
partial test for invert sugar. 

Attempts have been made to make invert 
sugar which would not give these color re- 
actions, but on a commercial scale they 
have not been altogether successful. The 
enzyme, invertase (from yeast) will break 
down sucrose into dextrose and levulose 
without the formation of these furfurol 
bodies, but on concentration these bodies 
are formed. Other ways have been tried. 
It is true, tho, that invert sugar can be 
made commercially that gives only slight 
color reactions, and improvements in man- 
ufacture of late years have yielded a prod- 
uct which has very much less of these fur- 
furol bodies present, but the chemist does 
not need these color reactions altogether to 
prove the presence of commercial invert 
sugar in honey. 

Commercial invert sugar is generally put 
on the market as a water-white liquid at 
the same price as granulated sugar. It has 
anywhere from 50 per cent to 75 per cent 
invert sugar, from 1.5 per cent to 30 per 



ITALIAN BEES 



485 



cent of sucrose, and from 18 per cent to 
30 per cent of water. If a mineral acid as 
phosphoric, muriatic, or sulphuric is used 
for the inversion, this is generally partially 
neutralized with soda, and hence the prod- 
uct will have from 0.5 to 3.08 per cent of 
ash. Where acetic acid or phosphoric acid 
unneutralized is used, or where tartaric 
acid is used, there is practically no ash un- 
less the sucrose carried some. For the 
detection of commercial invert sugar see 
Honey Analysis and Adulteration. 



ISLE OF WIGHT DISEASE.- 

EASES OF Bees. 



-See Dis- 



of absolute and known purity. Altho a 
first cross might do very well, unless he had 
this one pure queen to furnish queen-cells 
he would soon have bees of every possible 
grade, from the faintest trace of Italian 
blood, all the way up. The objection to 
this course is that these blacks, with about 
one band (with the exception of the East- 
ern blood), are much crosser than Italians; 
they also have a very disagreeable way of 
tumbling off the combs in a perfectly de- 
moralized state whenever the hive is opened. 
Neither will they repel bee disease like 
pure Italians. See Foul Brood^ subhead 
"European Foul Brood;" also "Hybrids.-'^ 





Characteristic markings of pure Italians. 



ITALIAN BEES.— At present the Ital- 
ians, and even hybrids, have shown them- 
selves so far ahead of the common bee that 
we may safely consider all discussion of 
the matter at an end by the great major- 
ity of beekeepers. Many times we find 
colonies of hybrids that go ahead of pure 
stock; but as a general thing (taking one 
season with another), pure Italians, where 
they have not been enfeebled by choosing 
light-colored bees to breed from, are ahead 
of any mixture. There has been a great 
tendency with bees, as well as other stock, 
to pay more attention to looks than to real 
intrinsic worth, such as honey-gathering, 
prolificness of the queens, hardiness, etc. 

Even if it were true that hybrids pro- 
duce more honey than pure Italians, each 
beekeeper would want at least one queen 



If for no other reason, one can well afford 
to Italianize because in no other way can 
European foul brood be controlled. This 
disease, in some sections of the country, is 
cleaning out the blacks and hybrids, while 
the Italians are nearly immune to it. 

The pure Italian stocks can be opened at 
any time and their queens removed, scarce- 
ly disturbing the cluster, and, as is some- 
times the case, without the use of any 
smoke, by one who is fully conversant with 
the habits of bees. A good many hybrids 
will not repel the moth as do the pure 
Italians. 

The queens, and drones from queens ob- 
tained direct from Italy, vary greatly in 
their markings, but the normal worker bee 
shows three yellow bands. 



486 



ITALIAN BEES 



While the presence of three yellow bands 
has for many years been supposed to be an 
absolute test of purity, a recent work by 
Prof. Wilmon Newell, then of College Sta- 
tion, Texas, shows that this may not be 
entirely correct. But reference to this is 
made later. 

Every worker bee, whether common or 
Italian, has a body composed of six tubes, 
or segments, one sliding into the other, 
telescope fashion. When the bee is full of 
honey these segments slide out, and the 
abdomen is elongated considerably beyond 
the tips of the wings, which are ordinarily 
about the length of the body. Sometimes 
one sees bees swollen with dysentery 
spreading the rings to their fullest extent, 
and in that condition they sometimes would 
be called queens by an inexperienced per- 
son. 

On the contrary, in the fall when the bee 
is preparing for its winter nap, its abdo- 
men is so much drawn up that it scarcely 
seems like the same insect. 

The engraving shows the abdomen of the 
bee detached from the body, that one may 
get a full view of the bands or markings 
that distinguish the Italians from our com- 
mon bees. It is important to observe par- 
ticularly that all honeybees, common as 
well as Italian, have four bands of bright- 
colored down, J, K, L, M, one on each of 
the four mid.dle rings of the body, but none 
on the first and none on the last. These 
bands of down are very bright on young 
bees, but may be so worn off as to be 
almost or entirely wanting on an old bee, 
especially on those that have been in the 
habit of robbing very much. This is the 
explanation of the glossy blackness of rob- 
bers often seen dodging about the hives. 
Perhaps squeezing thru small crevices has 
thus worn off the down, or it may be that 
pushing thru dense masses of bees has 
something to do with it. Such shiny black 
bees are often seen in great numbers, in 
stocks that have been nearly suffocated by 
being confined to their hives in shipping, or 
at other times. 

These bands of down differ in shades of 
color from nearly pure white to a rich 
orange or to a brown, many times, and this 
is the case with the commomn bee as well 
as with the Italian. Under a common lens 
the bands are simply fine soft hair, or fur, 
and it is this principally which gives the 



light-colored Italians their handsome ap- 
pearance. One may have noticed the pro- 
geny of some particular queen when they 
first came out to play, and pronounced 
them the handsomest bees he ever saw ; but 
a few weeks after they would be no better 
looking than the rest of the bees. This is 
simply because they had worn off their 
handsome plumage in the " stern realities " 
of hard work in the fields. Occasionally 
will be found a queen whose bees have 
bands nearly white instead of yellow, and 
this is what has led to the so-called albino 
bees. When the plumage is gone, they are 
just like other Italians. These bands of 
down have nothing to do with the yellow 
bands that are characteristic of the Ital- 
ians; for, after this has worn off, the yel- 
low bands are much plainer than before. 
A, B, C are the normal yellow bands of 
which so much has been said, and they are 
neither down, plumage, nor any thing of 
that sort, as will be seen by taking a care- 
ful look at an Italian on the window. The 
scale, or horny substance of which the body 
is composed, is yellow, and almost trans- 
parent, not black and opaque, as are the 
rings of the common bee, or the lower rings 
of the same insect. 

The first yellow band. A, is down next 
the waist. It is very plain, when one 
knows what to look for, and no child need 
ever be mistaken about it. 

At the lower edge of this first yellow 
band is the first black band; this is often 
only a thin sharp streak of black. 

The second, B, is the plainest of all the 
yellow bands, and can usually be seen in 
even the ver3'' poorest hybrids. The first 
band of down is seen where the black and 
yellow join, but it is so faint one will hard- 
ly notice it at first in some specimens. 

At the lower edge of the scale there is 
a narrow line of black; when the down 
wears off, this shows nearly as broad as the 
yellow band. 

In hybrids are found a greater diversity ; 
for while the bees from one queen are all 
pretty uniformly marked with two bands, 
another^s will be of all sorts, some beauti- 
fully marked Italians, some pure black, 
others one or two-banded. Some will sting 
with great venom, while others with only 
one or two bands will be as peaceable as 
the best Italians. Without a doubt, many 
queens have been sent out as pure that pro- 



ITALIAN BEES 



487 



duced only hybrids] but since the author's 
recent studies in the matter he is quite well 
satisfied that several queens have been sold 
as hybrids that were really full-bloods. 

In the matter of rearing queen-cells, 
either the Cyprians or Holy Lands will 
rear more queens than any Italians, Car- 
niolans, blacks, or hj'brids. 

As many as 100 natural cells are not in- 
frequently found on one frame. One in- 
stance is recorded where 25 cells from a 
Holy-Land queen hatched within a few 
minutes of each other; and so vigorous 
were they that some of them actually flew 
the moment they popped out of their in- 
closures. 

The recent craze for five-banded bees, 
golden bees, and yellow-all-over bees, has 
complicated the marking problem some- 
what. For instance, a colony that produces 
four- or five-banded bees, when crossed 
with a black or Carniolan drone, may pro- 
duce the same kind of bees ; but the second 
cross, at least, will show three-banded bees 
that are in reality hybrids but still showing 
the typical three yellow bands. 

Under the Dzierzox Theory^ subhead 
" Recent Evidence in Support of the The- 
ory," it will be found that the first cross 
between an Italian queen and a Carniolan 
drone may have generally the markings of 
the 3'ellow bees. The second cross will 
make one, two, or three-banded Italians, 
and the bees will be distinctly hybrid, show- 
ing characteristics of the two races. 

While the presence of three yellow bands 
does not necessarily prove the purity of 
Italian stocks, the test is fairly reliable in 
an Italian apiary that has not been run to 
color to get four and five bands, or in a 
yard where there have not been raised 
Carniolan, Caucasian, or black drones for 
several years previously. 

FOUR- AND FIVE-BAXDED ITALIANS. 

Reference has already been made to the 
extra-yellow bees. For a good many years 
back there has been a demand for beautiful 
bees, and in all probability there always 
will be such a demand. A large number of 
queen-breeders in the country have been 
endeavoring to meet it. The time was when 
breeders guaranteed to furnish queens that 
would furnish " yellow-all-over bees " and 
" five-banded bees." While an occasional 



queen may produce a majority of such 
bees, it should be said that the most of the 
extra yellow stock does not show more than 
four bands; and the yellow-all-over bee is 
a " rare bird " indeed. It may be said that 
there is no such thing as a five-banded Ital- 
ian or yellow-all-over Italian. The nearest 
approach to it is the very yellow three- 
banded bees and four-banded — perhaps the 
fourth band showing a predominance. As 
to the real practical value of these bees 
there is considerable discussion. While it 
is true that some of these very yellow bees 
are also good workers and good bees to 
winter, the facts are that very many of 
them, at least, are worth very little in the 
field, and die early in the winter. Many 
breeders, in their efforts to get color, have 
lost sight of other desirable qualities; and 
it is, therefore, coming to pass that very 
many extra-yellow bees are poor workers, 
very cross, and lacking in hardiness. On 
the other hand, it is only fair to say that 
there are some very yellow bees that com- 
bine to a remarkable degree other desirable 
qualities. 

A good many readers of this will prefer 
good bees and those that are gentle. Usu- 
ally the t3'pical Italians that have been 
bred for business will be found to have not 
more than three yellow bands, often not 
more than two showing distineth^ These 
are usually called " leather-colored " Ital- 
ians because they are typical of the native 
bees in Italy. These two-banded Italians, 
however, will show a third band if full of 
honey and placed on the window. These 
may often be confused with the ordinary 
two-banded hybrids. There is, however, a 
very marked difference in their general de- 
portment and general behavior. 

HOLY-LAND AND CYPRIAN BEES. 

In 1882 considerable excitement arose 
over two new races of bees brought over 
from the Old World by D. A. Jones of 
Beeton, Ontario, Canada, who was the 
leading beekeeper of his country. They 
were called Cyprian and Holy-Land bees, 
from the places where he found them. The 
former, from the Isle of Cyprus, seem to 
have been for many years isolated, and are 
a very distinct and uniform race. 

While they look like Italians, and might 
be classed as such by beekeepers not famil- 



488 



ITALIAN BEES 



iar with their peculiarities, they have a few 
distinct characteristics. Holy-Land bees 
show whiter fuzz-rings, and the bodies are 
slimmer than those of the ordinary Ital- 
ians. They are more like the ordinary 
albinos. In fact, most of the albinos for- 
merly sold were of Holy-Land extraction. 
The Cyprians look very much like the 
four- and five-banded Italians. The yellow 
bands are of a deeper orange than those of 
the Italians, slightly wider, and sometimes 
more than three in number. Just at the 
base of the thorax, and between the wings, 
there is a little yellow spot that is quite dis- 
tinct and prominent, called the " shield." 
This is seen on some Italians, but less dis- 
tinctly. 

When Italians are crossed with Cyprians 
or Holy Lands it is a little difficult to see 
the difference except by their nervousness. 

TEMPERAMENT OF EASTERN BEES. 

Eastern bees are more nervous, especial- 
ly the Cyprians. Sometimes smoke seems 
to have no power over them. They will fly 
up 20 or 30 at a time without warning, 
and sting the moment they touch the apia- 
rist. The more they are smoked, the more 
enraged they become. Cyprians especially 
are the crossest bees ever brought into this 
country — so cross, indeed, there is scarcely 
a breeder in the United States who has 
them for sale.' The same objection, tho to 
a less extent, applies to the Holy Lands. 

The author once sold an imported 
Cyprian queen; and the customer, after 
he had kept her for a while, returned her, 
saying that her bees were so vicious that 
on one occasion they stung everything in 
sight, and drove the family down cellar. 
We bought the queen back; but after we 
had had her for a few weeks and her bees 
had begun to hatch out we found it would 
be hardly safe to keep them in the yard. 
They would become so enraged at times 
that the whole colony would rush out in 
battle array. While the progeny of this 
queen w^as exceptionally cross, the general 
run, both of Cyprians and Holy Lands, is 
so disagreeable to handle that they are now 
well nigh discarded in the United States. 

The only possible redeeming feature is 
that they are good brood-rearers ; but they 
breed to excess after the honey flow, using 
up all their available stores in raising bees, 



when Italians would conserve their energies 
and leave enough honey for winter. 

ITALIANIZING. — Few questions are 
asked oftener than, " How shall I Italian- 
ize r and ''When shall I do it?" There 
is generally a loss in removing a queen and 
substituting another, even where one has 
laying queens on hand; and where he is 
to use the same colony for rearing the 
queen, there is still greater loss. Under the 
heads of Nuclei and Queen-rearing these 
points will be found fully discussed. 
Where one has an apiary of black bees, his 
cheapest way, especially if he has plenty 
of time to devote to the subject, is to pur- 
chase three or four choice tested queens, 
and rear his own queens from them after 
the honey flow. He should then put drone- 
traps on all his black and hybrid colonies, 
leaving only the Italian drones the freedom 
of the air. (See Drones.) If the breeders 
are bought in the spring or summer 
months, the old queens should not be re- 
moved until the summer flow of honey is 
over. Instead of allowing natural swarm- 
ing, two or three frames from each old 
stock may be taken about swarming time, 
making nuclei, and giving cells from the 
breeding stock. 

When these queens are hatched and lay- 
ing, the nuclei can be built up, with frames 
of brood given one at a time until they are 
full stocks. By such a course one will have 
the full benefit of old queens during the 
honey season, until the new ones are ready 
to take their places. After the honey yield 
the old queens can be removed, new ones 
introduced, and the now small colonies 
given queen-cells. This does the swarming 
for the season, and the Italianizing, at one 
and the same time. See Increase; also 
Nucleus. 

If one has more money than time to 
spare, and wishes to have the work done 
up quickly, he can purchase as many 
queens as he has colonies, and introduce 
them at any season of the year, as directed 
under Introducing. He can ])ui-eliase 
all tested queens, but we would advise tak- 
ing untested Italian queens during the 
months of July and August, when they are 
the cheapest, as this is also the best time of 
the year to Italianize. If done in the spring 
it is liable thru change of queens to cut ofi" 
brood-rearing, and, hence, cause too few 



LABELS FOR HONEY 



489 



workers when the harvest comes on. Some 
find it more convenient to change queens 
during the swarming season, first for the 
purpose of stopping swarming, and, sec- 
ond, because there are plenty of cells usu- 
ally at this time from choice stocks. See 
Cell-protector under Queen-rearing. 

After the stocks have all been provided 
with Italian queens, by either of the plans 
given above, if one wishes the bees to be- 
come pure Italians he is to commence re- 
placing all queens that prove to be hybrids, 
as soon as the young bees are hatched in 
sufficient numbers to enable him to decide. 



(See Italian Bees.) If honey only is the 
object these hybrids should not be replaced 
until after the honey fiow; for they will 
average nearly if not quite as good honey- 
gatherers, and will raise just as pure 
drones as pure Italians. If the bees of any 
particular queen are too cross to be endur- 
able she can be replaced. These hybrid 
colonies should not be allowed to swarm 
naturally; for if they raise a queen she 
will produce hybrid drones;* and this is 
something we wish most scrupulously to 
guard against. 



LABELS FOR HONEY.— The Federal 
Food and Drug Act has been amended by 
the " Gould Amendment," which changes 
the wording of the original act regarding 
the labeling of net weight and makes it 
compulsory for food in package form to 
bear a statement of its net weight, etc. 
The section as amended reads : 

That, for the purpose of this Act, an article 
shall be deemed to be misbranded: 

(1) 

(2) 

(3) If in package form, the quantity of the 
contents be not plainly and conspicuously 
marked on the outside of the package in terms 
of weight, measure, or numerical count. Pro- 
vided, however, that reasonable variation shall 
be permitted, and tolerances and also exemp- 
tions as to small packages shall be established 
by rules and regulations made in accordance 
with the provisions of section three of this 
act. 

In the case of extracted honey, packages 
holding two ounces or less weight, or one 
fiuid ounce or less by measure do not have 
to have the contents stated on the label, but 
for larger ones the statement must be on 
the label in a conspicuous place. The net 
weight so placed must be the actual net 
weight, and the variations in individual 
packages must be as often above as below 
to relieve one of prosecution under this act. 



In the case of comb honey, " The net 
weight of the comb honey is considered to 
be the weight of the honey and comb, ex- 
clusive of the wooden section. As it is not 
practicable to mark the exact net weight on 
each, the sections are sorted into groups 
and on each section in the group should be 
marked its minimum net weight. (See 
Comb Honey_, to Produce.) This may be 
marked in accordance with paragraph (h) 
of Food Inspection Decision No. 154. (A 
copy of this can be obtained by addressing 
the Bureau of Chemistry, Ignited States 
Department of Agriculture, Washington, 
D. C.) 

" The individual units must be marked, 
and the shipping case may be if desired. 
The marking should be done before their 
introduction into interstate commerce. 

" While the regulations do not prescribe 
the manner of marking, as to whether a 
rubber stamp may be used, the law requires 
that the statement shall be plain and con- 
spicuous. Stamping by means of aniline 
ink is frequently illegible, owing to failure 
to print or to the running of the ink. If 
such a stamp is used, care should be taken 
to make the statement plain and conspicu- 
ous, as required by the act." 

* To get rid of black drones, see Drones. 



490 



LANGSTROTH 



The above is a letter signed by the Sec- 
retary of the Committee on Regulations, 
Net Weight, and Volume Law, and repre- 
sents the committee's views as to which 
weight be considered final. 

LARV^. — Brood while in the worm 
state. See Brood and Brood-rearing; Be- 
havior OF Bees; and Development of 
Bees. 

LANGSTROTH, — Lorenzo Lorraine 
Langstroth was born in Philadelphia, Pa., 
Dec. 25, 1810. He graduated at Yale Col- 
lege in 1831, in which college he was tutor 
of mathematics from 1834 to 1836. After 
his graduation he pursued a theological 
course of studj^, and in May, 1836, became 
pastor of the second Congregational Church 
in Andover, Mass., which position ill health 
compelled him to resign in 1838. He was 
principal of the Abbott Female Academy 
in Andover in 1833-'9, and in 1839 removed 
to Greenfield, Mass., where he was principal 
of the High School for Young Ladies, from 
1839 to 1844. In 1844 he became the pas- 
tor of the Second Congregational Church 
in Greenfield, and after four years of labor 
here, ill health compelled his resignation. 
In 1848 he removed to Philadelphia, where 
he was principal of a school for young 
ladies from 1848 to 1852. In 1852 he re- 
turned to Greenfield; removed to Oxford, 
0., in 1858, and to Dayton, 0., in 1887. 

At an early age the boy Lorenzo showed 
a fondness for the study of insect life ; but 
" idle habits " in that direction were not 
encouraged by his matter-of-fact parents. 
In 1838 began his real interest in the 
honeybee, when he purchased two stocks. 
No such helps existed then as now, the first 
bee journal in America being issued more 
than 20 years later, and Mr. Langstroth at 
that time had never seen nor heard of a 
book on bee culture ; but before the second 
year of his beekeeping he did meet with 
one, the author of which doubted the ex- 
istence of a queen! But the study of the 
bees fascinated him, and gave him the 
needed outdoor recreation while engaged in 
literary pursuits, and in the course of time 
he became possessed with the idea that it 
might be possible to construct a hive so 
that its contents in every part might be 
easily examined. He tried what had been 



invented in this direction, bars, slats, and 
the " leaf -hive " of Huber. None of these, 
however, was satisfactory, and at length 
he conceived the idea of surrounding each 
comb with a frame of wood entirely de- 
tached from the walls of the hive, leaving 
at all parts, except the points of support, 
space enough between the frame and the 
hive for the passage of the bees. In 1852 
the invention of the movable-comb hive 
was completed, and patented October 5 of 
that year. See Frames^ Hives^ and Bee- 
space. 

It is well known that, among the very 
many hives in use, no other make is more 
popular than the Langstroth; but it may 
not be so well known that, in a very im- 
portant sense, every hive in use among 
intelligent beekeepers is a Langstroth ; that 
is, it contains the most important feature 
of the Langstroth — the movable comb. 
Those who have entered the field of api- 
culture within a few years may faintly 
imagine but can hardly realize what bee- 
keeping would be today, if, thruout the 
world, in every beehive, the combs should 
suddenly become immovably fixed, never 
again to be taken out of the hive, only as 
they were broken or cut out. Yet practi- 
cally that condition of affairs existed thru 
all the centuries of beekeeping up to that 
time when, to take out every comb and re- 
turn again to the hive without injury to the 
colony, was made possible by the inventive 
genius of Mr. Langstroth. It is no small 
compliment to the far-seeing inventive 
powers of Mr. Langstroth, that, altho 
frames of different sizes have been devised 
and tried, and improvements, so-called, 
upon his hive have been made by the hun- 
dreds, yet today his hive and frame still 
stand, and their use is almost universal 
thruout this country and over a large part 
of Europe. 

As a writer Mr. Langstroth takes a high 
place. " Langstroth on the Hive and Hon- 
eybee," published in May, 1853, is consid- 
ered a classic; and any contribution from 
the pen of its author to the columns of the 
bee journals was read with eagerness. In- 
stead of amassing the fortune one would 
think he so richly deserved, Mr. Langstroth 
at the time of his death was not worth a 
dollar. He sowed, others reaped. At the 
date of his invention he had about 20 colo- 
nies of bees, and never exceeded 125. 



492 



LANGSTROTH 



In August, 1836, Mr. Langstroth was 
married to Miss Anna M. Tucker, who died 
in January, 1873. He had three children. 
The oldest, a son, died of consumption con- 
tracted in the army. Two daughters sur- 
vive. 

After his twentieth year, Mr. Langstroth 
suffered from attacks of "head trouble" 
of a strange and distressing character. 
During these attacks, which lasted from 
six months to more than a year (in one 
case two years) he was unable to write or 
even converse, and he viewed with aversion 
any reference to those subjects which par- 
ticularly delighted him at other times. Mr. 
Langstroth was a man of fine presence, 
simple and unostentatious in manner, 
cheerful, courteous, and a charming con- 
versationalist. 

In reply to a question, he wrote, under 
date of March 26, 1888: "I am now a 
minister in the Presbyterian Church. Al- 
tho not a settled pastor, I preach occa- 
sionally, and delight in nothing so much as 
the Christian work. My parents were 
members of Mr. Barnes' church, in Phila- 
delphia, the mother Presbyterian church in 
the United States." 

Mr. Langstroth died Oct. 6, 1895, at the 
Wayne Avenue Presbyterian Church, Day- 
ton, Ohio, where he was preaching that day. 
Before he began, the pastor of the church. 
Rev. Amos 0.. Raber, moved the pulpit to 
one side and placed a chair in front where 
Mr. Langstroth could sit while speaking, 
for his enfeebled condition would not per- 
mit him to stand. After a few preliminary 
sentences, and requests for prayer on the 
part of the congregation, he said : " I am 
a firm believer in prayer. It is of the love 
of God that I wish to speak to you this 
morning — what it has been, what it is, what 
it means to us, and what we ought — " 

His daughter, Anna L. Cowan, who was 
present, thus describes the last scene : 

"As he finished the last word he hesi- 
tated; his form straightened out convuls- 
ively ; his head fell backward, and in about 
three minutes he was absent from the body, 
at home with the Lord. 

" There was no scene of confusion in the 
church. Tears were running down every 
cheek, but there were no screams, no loud 
sobbing. As one person remarked, 'Heaven 
never seemed so near before. It seemed 
but a step.' " 



Then, with no fiery throbbing pain, 
No slow gradations of decay, 

Death broke at once the vital chain 

And freed his soul the nearest way. 

Thus was finished the remarkable career 
of one of the great men of the country. 
He would have been great had he never 
known anything about bees; but his con- 
tributions to bee literature, and his basic 
invention that revolutionized beekeeping 
thruout the world, place him in the very 
front if not the greatest beekeeper who 
ever lived — not in the money he made, but 
what he did in making money for others 
who followed the directions given in his 
delightful book, "The Hive and the Honey- 
bee." (The publishers of this work have 
published a reprint just as he wrote it — 
price $1.00.) 

For further particulars regarding his in- 
vention, see Frames^ also Hives. 

The statement was made that Mr. Lang- 
stroth was a great man. Some interesting 
sidelights showing the greatness of his 
character are set forth in an article by his 
old friend A. I. Root in Gleanings in Bee 
Culture for Oct. 15, 1895, just after Mr. 
Langstroth's death. 

A. I. root's personal recollections of the 

REV. L. L. LANGSTROTH. 

In the introduction to our ABC book you 
will find some mention of the incidents of my 
first acquaintance with the honeybee, and how 
I came into possession of Langstroth's book. 

I made the acquaintance, by letter, of Sam- 
uel Wagner; got hold of Vol. I. of the Amer- 
ican Bee Journal. I wonder whether there is 
anybody living now who will enjoy reading; 
the first edition of Langstroth and the first 
volume of the American Bee Journal as I en- 
joyed it then. Why, the very thought of those 
old days of enthusiasm makes the blood even 
now tingle to my fingers ' ends. 

As soon as I found that Mr. Langstroth 
was living at Oxford, Butler Co., 0., I com- 
menced correspondence. Then I wanted the 
best queen-bee to start with that the world 
afforded. It was pretty well along in the 
fall, but I could not wait till spring, as some 
of my friends advised me to do. I soon 
learned to look up to friend Langstroth with 
such confidence and respect that I greedily 
read again and again every word I could find 
from his pen — even his advertisements and 
circular in regard to Italian bees. When the 
book was read thru once I read it again. 
Then I read certain chapters over and over; 
and when summer time came again, and I 
had little miniature hives or nuclei under al- 
most every fruit tree in our spacious door- 
yard, each little hive containing a daughter 



LANGSTROTH 



493 



of that $20 queen, iljen 1 read Langstroth *s 
book with still more avidity and eagerness, 
finding new truths and suggestions in it eacli 
time. 

I think I met him first and heard him talk 
at a convention in Cincinnati. He was a 
wonderful talker as well as writer — one of 
the most genial, good-natured, benevolent men 
the world has ever produced. He was a poet, 
a sage, a philosopher, and a humanitarian, all 
in one, and, best of all, a most devoted and 
humble follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
His fund of anecdotes and pleasant memorie.s 
and incidents was beyond that of any other 
man I ever met; and his rare education and 
scholarly accomplishments but added to it all. 
No one I ever saw could tell a story as he 
would tell it. A vein of humor and good- 
natured pleasantry seemed to run thru it all. 
1 think he enjoyed telling stories — especially 
stories with good morals; and they all had to 
have a good moral or they could not come 
from L. L. Langstroch. Not only the play of 
his benevolent face and the twinkle of his 
eye, but the motion of his hands as he gave 
emphasis to the .different points in his narra- 
tion, showed how thnroly he entered into his 
topic. 

It was my good fortune to listen to him 
onb or more times from the pulpit. He 
preached to us once here in Medina. The 
church was full, but 1 hardly believe any one 
else in that large audience enjoyed his talk as 
I did. They did not know him as I did. 

You must not think from what I have said 
that our good friend always agreed with 
every one else. He had opinions of his own, 
and he could be stubborn and almost contrary 
when he got ' ' hot " in a discussion. But the 
gentle spirit was back of it all. I remember 
once being out in his apiary, explaining to 
him some wonderful improvement I had just 
been working out. He, however, did not see 
it as I did, and stoutly maintained that the 
old way — his way, in fact — was better. All 
at once I stopped and concluded we had better 
give up the subject. Pretty soon he laid his 
hand on my arm, and said : 

" Friend Eoot, will you not forgive me? 1 
was rude and uncourteous. You have prac- 
ticed this thing, and are succeeding. Very 
likely you are right and I am wrong. ' ' 

Mr. Langstroth paid us a visit. He told 
us a long story about his patent. This poor 
man had dwelt on it so long that even he, a 
minister of the gospel, and a successful one, 
had lost his peace of mind; and if he had 
not lost his faith in God it shook his faith 
in humanity. I called his attention to the 
hopeful text, " But I say unto you, Love ye 
your enemies; do good to them that hate 
you; bless them that curse you, and pray for 
them that despitef ully use you. ' ' But even 
he did not catch on. I urged until he seemed 
annoyed, and I was afraid of a return of 
his malady. With a sad heart I gave it up. 
As it was getting to be late and toward bed 
time I went with him to his room. He said 
very little, altho he was naturally exceedingly 



talkative, and * I felt I had offended him by 
my importunity. In the morning, when break- 
fast was ready, as he had not put in an ap 
pearance Mrs. Eoot thought I had better go 
to his room. It was warm weather, and the 
door was wide open. The old gentleman was 
awake and partly sitting up, leaning on his 
elbow. As soon as he saw me he beckoned 
me to come up near him, with his finger. I 
was really afraid he was going into one of his 
* ' spells, ' ' He took his watch out from un- 
der his pillow and asked me to listen. As I 
was a watch repairer I supposed there was 
something wrong with the beat; but when I 
told him that it seemed to be in perfect order, 
and that it beat clearly and regularly, what 
do you think he said? He asked me what the 
watch said to me. I replied that it did not 
" say " anything, and now felt sure that he 
was losing his mind. This is what he said: 

" Mr. Eoot, that watch has been saying 
' Quinby ; Quinby ! Quinby ! ' all night long, 
and I can't stand it any longer, I am going 
to start today, I am going to see Mr. Quinby, 
I am not going to say a word about the pat- 
ent or about the hive. I am going to him as 
tho we had always been friends." 

Friend Langstroth went to see Mr. Quinby, 
as he declared he would do, and they had 
" the best time in the world." 

His last public talk to beekeepers, if I am 
correct, was the one given at Toronto; and 
I felt Lnxious at the time that some short- 
hand reporter might be at hand who could 
give all his words and even his little stories 
just as he gave them to us. Perhaps others 
did not enjoy this talk as I did, because they 
did not know him as I did. Why, that his- 
tory of long ago, telling of the troubles, blun- 
ders and mistakes in introducing the Italian 
bees from Italy to America, should be handed 
down to coming generations. It should be 
embodied in some of the standard works on 
bees, in order to secure its preservation. 

Langstroth and Quinby — those two old pio- 
neers — have now both passed away, but "their 
works do live after them," and shall live for 
a thousand years or more. I feel anxious that 
the first edition of both Langstroth and Quin- 
by should be preserved. There is something 
to me more interesting in their first efforts — 
Quinby 's book, for instance, telling how to 
keep bees with a box hive, and Langstroth 
telling his first experiments with the movable- 
frame hive. Those early editions should be 
preserved. 

When quite a child I was greatly interested 
in reading the life of Benjamin Franklin. 
WTien I first became acquainted with Lang- 
stroth I could not resist the suggestion that 
he was much like Franklin. The maxims of 
Poor Eichard suggest the thought. Mr. Lang- 
stroth was remarkably well read in ancient lit- 
erature. He was familiar with the writings 
of great men in all the ages. It rejoices my 
heart now to know that he has been remem- 
bered for many years at our national con- 
ventions, and to know that he was even pres- 



494 



LAWS RELATING TO BEES 



ent with his daughter at the one that oc- 
curred so short a time before his death. He 
never seemed to have a faculty for accumulat- 
ing property, but what is millions of money 
compared to the grateful remembrance with 
which Langstroth's name will be spoken in 
every civilized land on the face of the earth? 

LAWS RELATING TO BEES. — The 

subject of bees takes up but little space in 
law. The old law writers, the men who 
really laid down the basic principles of our 
law during its formative period, classified 
bees and defined the rights of the keepers 
of bees in a few brief paragraphs, yet they 
seem to have covered the subject as fully as 
was necessary at the time at which they 
wrote. 

As to legal opinions handed down in 
cases that have been adjudicated by a 
court of last resort, and which opinions 
form the bulk of our law of today, those per- 
taining to bees are very meager in volume. 
There have been, no doubt, many cases in 
the minor courts, but the decisions in such 
cases are binding only on the courts that 
decided them, and then only where there is 
a lack of higher authority. It matters not 
how much was involved in a case nor how 
ably it was presented and argued, nor how 
learned and scholarly was the opinion 
handed down by the trial judge, nor what 
the verdict of the jury was, provided it was 
a jury case; unless the case was appealed 
to a court of last resort the decision is not 
available law. For it is only the decisions 
that have been handed down in cases that 
have been appealed to a court of last re- 
sort that are published, and available to 
the lawyers and the courts in general and 
can be considered as law by them. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF LAW PERTAINING 
TO BEES. 

But the fact that but little litigation 
concerning bees has reached the courts of 
last resort does not mean that the laws 
governing bees and their keeping was in an 
undetermined state. Law deals primarily 
with principles; the subject matter is sec- 
ondary. To ascertain what the law is in a 
given instance, all that is really necessary 
to do is to apply an established principle 
of law to the facts in the case. For exam- 
ple, to steal the property of another person 
is larceny, and it mfi|:terp not whether the 



subject matter stolen be an automobile, a 
caged lion, an aeroplane, or a hive of bees, 
as it is the act that constitutes the offense. 

The law as laid down by Blackstone and 
other law writers of his time and of times 
prior is briefly as follows : 

That bees are wild by nature ; therefore, 
tho they swarm upon your tree they are not 
yours until you have hived them, any more 
than the birds that have their nests in your 
trees or the rabbits that run wild thru your 
fields. But when they have been hived by 
you they are your property the same as 
any other wild animal that you may have 
reduced to possession. Animals that are 
wild by nature and have been captured by 
you, should they escape, 3^ou still have a 
right in them if you follow them with the 
idea of recovery. A swarm of bees that has 
left your hive continues to be yours so long 
as you ^ can keep them in sight and under 
any probability of recovery; 2 Blackstone 
Com. 392; Coopers Justinian Inst. Lib. 2, 
tit. 1, No. 14; Wood's Civil Law, bk. 2, 
chap. 3, p. 103 ; Domat's Civil Law, vol. 1, 
bk. 3, pt. 1, Subd. 7, No. 2133; Puffen- 
dorf's Law of Nature, 4, chap. 6, No. 5; 
Code Napoleon No. 524; Bracton's Law, 
2, chap. 1, No. 3; and see notes in 40 
L. R. A. 687; 62 L. R. A. 133. 

During the early development of our 
Eastern States the general principle of 
law relative to ownership of bees was ad- 
judicated in a number of cases. The ques- 
tions raised and the decisions rendered are 
briefly as follows; Where bees have es- 
caped and so properly may be considered 
as wild bees and without any owner at the 
time of their discovery, it has been held 
that such bees in a tree belong to the 
owner of the soil where the tree stands. 
Merrills vs. Goodwin, 1 Root 209; Fergu- 
son vs. Miller, 1 Cow. 243; 13 Am. Dec. 
519; Goff vs. Kilts, 15 Wend. 550. 

That bees are ferae naturae, that is, wild 
by nature, but when hived and reclaimed 
may be a subject of ownership. State vs. 
Murphy, 8 Blackf. 498; Gillet vs. Mason, 
7 Johns. 16; Rexroth vs. Coon, 15 R. I. 
35; 23 Atl. 37. 

But the finding of a swarm of bees in a 
tree on the land of another, marking the 
tree and notifying the owner of the land 
does not give the finder such property in 
the honev as will entitle him to maintain 



LAWS RELATING TO BEES 



495 



trover for the honey. Fisher vs. Steward, 
Smith 60. 

Where one discovers wild bees in a tree, 
and obtains license from the o^Tier of the 
land to take possession of them, and marks 
the tree with his initials, he gains no prop- 
erty in them until he takes them into his 
possession. Gillett vs. Mason, and Fergu- 
son vs. Miller, supra. 

Where bees take up their abode in a tree, 
they belong to the owner of the soil even 
tho they are reclaimed; but if they have 
been reclaimed and their owner is able to 
identify them as in a case where he fol- 
lowed the bees and saw them enter the tree, 
they do not belong to the owner of the soil, 
but to him who had former possession, 
altho he cannot enter upon the land of the 
owner of the tree and retake them without 
subjecting himself to an action for tres- 
pass. Goif vs. Kilts, 15 Wend, 550. 

In a case decided in 1898 and entitled 
State of Iowa vs. Victor Repp, 101 Iowa, 
305, 40 L. R. A. 687, it was held that the 
mere finding of bees in a tree on the land 
of another did not give the finder any title 
to the bees or to the tree. The facts were, 
one Stevens who found the bees trespassed 
on the land and hived the bees in a gum 
belonging to another. The defendant Repp 
removed the bees from where they had been 
hived and was for that act arrested and 
tried for larceny, Stevens, the man who 
hived the bees, being the complaining wit- 
ness. The trial court convicted Repp, and 
the case was appealed to the Iowa Supreme 
Court. The court reversed the trial court, 
and in rendering the decision. Justice Ladd 
said : " The title to a thing ferae naturae 
cannot be created by the act of one who was 
at the moment a trespasser, and Stevens 
obtained no interest in the bees by the 
mere wrongful transfer of the bees from 
the tree to the gum. Having neither title 
nor possession he had no interest therein, 
the subject of the larceny. As the infor- 
mation alleged ownership in Stevens, and 
the case was tried on that theory, we need 
make no inquiry as to any taking from 
Cody (the owner of the land)." 

WHERE BEES SHOULD BE LOCATED. 

Bees should be located by their owner so 
that in the natural course of events they 
wiU not molest others. If a keeper of bees 
locates his bees so that they will be prone 



to attack other people or theii' horses he is 
guilty of negligence. A case in point is 
Parsons vs. Manser, 119 Iowa 92, 62 L. 
R. A. 132, decided in 1903, the facts of 
the case being that the beekeeper had a 
hitching post in front of his house. This 
post was located in the public highway; 
about 25 feet from the post, but in the 
beekeeper's yard, there were two bee-gums. 
The plaintiff. Parsons, was a medicine ped- 
dler. He called at Manser's house and tied 
his horses to the hitching post. The bees 
attacked the horses and stung them to 
death. The beekeeper was held liable for 
the death of the horses, as the evidence 
showed that he was aware of the fact that 
the bees would attack horses when hitched 
to the post. A beekeeper is not liable, 
however, unless he has been negligent. In 
other words, the beekeeper must have been 
at fault, and if thru no fault of the bee- 
keeper some other person is injured, the 
beekeeper is not liable. It was so held in a 
Xew York case. Earl vs. Van Alstine, 8 
Barb. 630, which was an action for dam- 
ages caused by plaintiff's horses being 
stung, resulting in the death of one of the 
horses. 

EARL vs. VAX ALSTINE. 

The facts in this case were: That Van 
Alstine was the owner of 15 hives of bees. 
The bees were kept in his yard, adjoining 
the public highway. Earl, the plaintiff in 
the case, was traveling along the highway 
with a team of horses, and when he passed 
Van Alstine's place the bees attacked his 
hoi*ses and stung them so severely one died. 

Action was brought in the Justice's 
Court and Earl secured judgment for the 
sum of $70.25 and costs. The case was 
appealed to the County Court of Wayne 
County where the judgment was reversed. 
From the County Court the case was ap- 
pealed to the Supreme Court, Seventh Ju- 
dicial District, which court affirmed the de- 
cision of the County Court, the decision 
being of date June 4, 1850. 

The opinion was written by Justice Sel- 
den, and he discussed very thoroly the 
questions involved, the opinion being in 
part as follows : 

This case presents two questions : 
1. Is any one who keeps bees liable, at all 
events, for any injury thev may do? 



496 



LAWS RELATING TO BEES 



2. Did the defendant keep those bees in an 
improper manner or place, so as to render 
him liable on that account? 

It is insisted by the plaintiff that, while 
the proprietor of animals of a tame or do- 
mestic nature (domitas naturae) is liable for 
injuries done by them (aside from trespasses 
upon the soil) only after notice of some 
vicious habit or propensity of such animal ; 
that one who keeps animals ferge naturae is 
responsible at all events for any injury they 
may do, and that as bees belong to the latter 
cla<5s, it follows, of course, that the defendant 
is liable. 

In order to determine this question, upon 
which no direct or controlling authority ex- 
ists that I have been able to find, it becomes 
necessary to look into the principles upon 
which one who owns or keeps animals is liable 
for their vicious acts. It will be found upon 
examination of the authorities upon this sub- 
ject that this classification of animals by the 
common law into animals ferae naturae and 
domitae naturae has reference mainly, if not 
exclusively, to right of property which may 
be acquired in them ; those of the latter class 
being the subject of absolute and permanent 
ownership, while in regards to the former 
only a qualified property can exist, and the 
distinction is based upon the extent to which 
they can be domesticated or brought under the 
control and dominion of man, and not at "ill 
upon the ferocity of their disposition or their 
proneness to do mischief. For instance, the 
dog, some species of which are extremely sav- 
age and ferocious, is uniformly classed among 
animals domitae naturae, while the hare, rab- 
bit, and dove are termed ferae naturae altho 
completely harmless. It would not be natural 
to suppose that a classification adopted with 
exclusive reference to one quality of animals 
could be safely used to define and regulate 
the responsibilities growing out of other and 
different qualities; nor would it accord with 
that just analysis and logical accuracy which 
distinguishes the common law, that it should 
he resorted to for that purpose. 

Chitty, under the head of actions on the 
case for negligence, gives the following rule: 
' ' The owner of domestic or other animals, 
not naturally inclined to do mischief, as dogs, 
horses, and oxen, is not liable for any injury 
committed by them to the person or personal 
property unless it can be shown that he previ- 
ously had notice of the animal's mischievous 
propensity; " Chitty Plead. 82. This accu- 
rate elementary writer did not fall into the 
error of applying the rule to the whole of the 
class of animals domitis, but adds the qualifi- 
cation, " not naturally inclined to do mis- 
chief." By his arrangement of the subject, 
too, he confirms the view of Peake that the 
liability is based upon negligence. 

These authorities seem to me to point to the 
following conclusions : 

1. That one who owns or keeps an animal 
of any kind becomes liable for any injury 
the animal may do, only on the ground of 
some fictual or presumed negligence on his 
part. 



2. That it is essential to the proof of negli- 
gence and sufficient evidence thereof that the 
owner be shown to have notice of the pro- 
pensity of the animal to do mischief. 

3. That proof that the animal is of a savage 
and ferocious nature is equivalent to proof of 
express notice. In such cases notice is pre- 
sumed. 

Having shown then, I think 

clearly, that the liability does not depend 
upon the classification of the animal doing 
the injury, but upon its propensity to do 
mischief, it remains to be considered whether 
bees are animals of so ferocious a disposition 
that any one who keeps them, under any cir- 
cumstances, does so at his peril. If it is nec- 
essary for the plaintiff to aver and prove the 
mischievous nature of the animal, nothing of 
the kind has been done in this case ; but if the 
courts are to take judicial notice of the nature 
of things so familiar to man as bees, which I 
suppose they would be justified in doing, then 
I would observe that however it may have 
been anciently, in modern days the bee has 
become as completely domesticated as the ox 
or cow. Its habits and instincts have been 
studied, and thru the knowledge thus ac- 
quired it can be controlled and managed with 
nearly as much certainty as any of the domes- 
tic animals ; and altho it may be proper still 
to classify it among those ferae naturae, it 
must nevertheless be regarded as coming very 
near the dividing line, and in regards to its 
propensities to do mischief, I apprehend that 
such a thing as a serious injury to person or 
property from its attacks is very rare, not 
occurring in ratio more frequent certainly 
than injuries arising from the kick of a horse 
or the bite of a dog. 

There is one rule to be extracted from the 
authorities to which I have referred, not yet 
noticed, and that is that the law looks with 
more favor upon the keeping of animals use- 
ful to man than such as are noxious and use- 
less. And the keeping of the one, altho in 
some rare instances they may do injury, wiU 
be tolerated and encouraged, while there is 
nothing to excuse the keeping of the other. 
In the case of Vrooman vs. Lawyer, 13 John. 
Eep. 339, the court says: " If damage be 
done by any animal kept for use or conven- 
ience, the owner is not liable to an action 
without notice. ' ' The utility of bees no one 
will question, and hence there is nothing to 
call for the application of a very stringent 
rule to the case. Upon the whole, therefore, 
I am clearly of the opinion that the owner 
of bees is not liable at all events for any 
accidental injury they may do. The question 
is still left whether the keeping of bees so 
near the highway subjects the defendant to 
a responsibility which would not otherwise 
rest upon him. I consider this question sub- 
stantially disposed of by the evidence in the 
case. It appears that the bees had been kept 
in the same situation for eight or nine year^, 
and no proof was offered of the slightest in- 
jury having ever been done by them. On the 
contrary, some of the witnesses testified 
that they had lived in the neighborhood and 



LAWS RELATING TO BEES 



497 



had been in the habit of passing and re- 
passing frequently with teams and other- 
wise without ever having been molested. 
This rebuts the idea of notice to the defend- 
ant, either from the nature of the bees or 
otherwise, that it would be dangerous to 
keep them in that situation; and of course 
upon the principles already settled, he could 
not be held liable. 

1 he judgment of the county court must be 
affiiined. 

The two cases last mentioned (Parsons 
vs. Manser and Earl vs. Van Alstine) are 
in perfect harmony. In the first case the 
evidence showed the beekeeper was at 
fault; in the second, no negligence of the 
beekeeper was proven. From these cases 
it can be seen that the law governing the 
location of bees is verj' simple. For a bee- 
keeper not to be liable for any injury that 
his bees may inflict on some other person 
who is acting within his rights the bees 
should be located in such a way that the 
beekeeper knows or should ordinarilj^ know- 
that they will not be troublesome, for if he 
has knowledge that in the course of ordi- 
nary events the bees in the position where 
they are located are liable to molest others, 
he can be held to answer for whatever dam- 
ages they may commit, and that means not 
only actual but punitive damages should 
the facts warrant. 

BEES XOT A NUISAXCE. 

The liability of a beekeeper for any in- 
jury done by the bees to another person or 
the property of another rests on the doc- 
trine of negligence, and not on the doctrine 
or theory that bees are a nuisance per se; 
that is, in themselves a nuisance. In the 
case of Pete}^ Manufacturing Co. vs. Dry- 
den (Del.) 5 Pen. 166; 62 Atl. 1056, the 
court used the following language : " The 
keeping of bees is recognized as proper 
and beneficial, and it seems to us that the 
liability of the owner as keeper thereof for 
any injury done by them to the person or 
property- of another rests on the doctrine 
of negligence." Also see Coolev on Torts, 
349. 

CITY ORDINANCES DECLARING BEES A 
NUISANCE. 

The right to follow any of the ordinary 
callings of life, to pursue any lawful busi- 
ness vocation, is one of the privileges oi 



citizens of this country; but it must be 
done in such a manner as is not incon- 
sistent with the equal rights of others. 
Butchers Union vs. Crescent Citv, etc. Ill 
U. S. 746; 28 L. Ed. 591. 

A city has a right under what is termed 
in law " Police Power " to pass ordinances 
for the public welfare, even tho the thing 
prohibited limits and restricts some person 
in the exercise of a constitutional right, if 
the act is for the public health and welfare. 
For example, laws prohibiting the main- 
taining of slaughter-houses in certain dis- 
tricts and the prohibiting of livery stables 
on certain streets have been held to be valid 
police legislation. But the act specified in 
the ordinance must, in the particular in- 
stance mentioned therein, be a nuisance. 
The mere fact that the city has passed an 
ordinance declaring the keeping of bees a 
nuisance does not of itself make it so un- 
less the bees are in fact a nuisance. 

ARKADELPHIA VS. CLARK. 

Arkadelphia vs. Clark, 52 Ark. 23; 11 
S. W. 957, is a case in point. This particu- 
lar case was decided in 1889, and a report 
and history of it was published by Thomas 
G. Newman, then General Manager of the 
National Beekeepers' Union, for free dis- 
tribution to the members. From the his- 
tory of the case as given b}' Newman it 
seems that Z. A. Clark, the defendant in 
the case, was not in political harmony with 
those in power. He was a beekeeper, and 
it was sought to punish him and get rid of 
his presence by prohibiting the keeping of 
bees within the corporate limits of the city 
of Arkadelphia. So in May, 1887, the 
Arkadelphia city council adopted an ordi- 
nance which read : 

Be it ordained by the Council of the City 
of Arkadelphia, That it shall be unlawful for 
any person or persons to own, keep, or raise 
bees in the City of Arkadelphia," the same 
having been declared a nuisance. 

That any person or persons keeping or 
owning bees in the City of Arkadelphia are 
hereby notified to remove the same from the 
corporate limits of Arkadelphia within thirty 
days from the flnte hereof. 

The ordinance nlso provided a penalty 
of not less than $5.00 nor more than 
$25.00 for violation of the ordinance. 

Tn June, 1887, Clark was e^iven notice to 
remove his bees. This he di?^ not do, and 



498 



LAWS RELATING TO BEES 



he was arrested on January 2, 1888, and 
fined day after day for ten successive days. 
He did not pay his fines, so was committed 
to jail by the order of the mayor of Arka- 
delphia. Being a member of the National 
Beekeepers' Union, he appealed to it for 
protection; and as it was considered that 
Clark was in the right the National Bee- 
keepers' Union engaged attorneys to de- 
fend the suit. 

The decision as handed down by the 
Supreme Court was that " Neither the 
keeping, owning, or raising of bees is, in 
itself, a nuisance. Bees may become a 
nuisance in a city, but whether they are so 
or not is a question to be judicially deter- 
mined in each case. The ordinance under 
consideration undertakes to make each of 
the acts named a nuisance without regard 
to the fact whether it is or not, or whether 
the bees in general have become a nuisance 
in the city. It is therefore too broad and 
is invalid." 

Another instance where a city tried to 
prohibit beekeeping within the city oc- 
curred in 1901, when the city of Rochester, 
N. Y., enacted an ordinance similar to the 
one enacted by the city of Arkadelphia. 

W. R. Taunton, a member of the Na- 
tional Beekeepers' Association, was living 
in Rochester. The National Association 
had an investigation made, by which it was 
ascertained that .Taunton was handling his 
bees in such a manner as not to annoy his 
neighbors, and that he ought to be pro- 
tected, so advised him not to remove his 
bees, and assured him that in case of trou- 
ble the association would defend him. 

Taunton was arrested for refusing to 
comply with the ordinance and was tried in 
police court. The defense was that the or- 
dinance was unconstitutional and void, and 
it was so held by the court, and the de- 
fendant was discharged. 

A case, where the bees were, from the 
evidence given at the trial, declared to be a 
nuisance, is that of Olmsted vs. Rich,' 25 N. 
Y. S. R. 271; 6 N. Y. Supp. 826, which 
was an action for an injunction prohibit- 
ing the keeping of bees in a certain place 
and for $1500 damages. At the trial the 
evidence showed that the beekeeper had a 
large number of hives of bees on a village 
lot adjoining the man who desired the in- 
junction, and that during the spring and 
summer the bees interfered with the enjoy- 



ment of his premises. The bees drove him 
and his servants and guests from his gar- 
den and grounds, stinging them, and other- 
wise making his dwelling and premises un- 
fit and unsafe for habitation, constituting 
a nuisance. The verdict was against the 
beekeeper for six cents damages and a per- 
manent injunction was granted, which was 
affirmed on appeal. 

SHIPPING BEES BY RAIL. 

The general rule is, that it is the duty of 
a common carrier to carry all freight that 
is tendered to be carried. As to the right 
to refuse shipment, in Porcher vs. North- 
eastern R. R. Co. 14 Rich. L. 181, the court 
quoted with approval from Story, Bail- 
ments : " If he (the carrier) refuses to 
take charge of the goods because his coach 
is full or because they are of a nature 
which will at times expose them to extraor- 
dinary danger or to popular rage because 
he has no convenient means of carrying 
such goods with security, etc., these will 
furnish reasonable grounds for his refusal, 
and will, if true, be a sufficient legal de- 
fense to a suit for the non-carriage of 
goods." In Boyd vs. Moses, 74 U. S. 7 
Wall 316; 19 L. Ed. 192, it was held that 
"A carrier may refuse to take lard which 
is packed in such a condition that it can- 
not be carried without injury to the rest of 
the cargo." Also see note in 36 L. R. A. 
649. 

The law, therefore, appears to be that if 
bees are properly packed for shipment it 
is the duty of a common carrier of freight 
to take them, but should they be not prop- 
erly packed for shipment so that the car- 
rier could refuse the shipment on any of 
the previously stated grounds he could le- 
gally refuse to accept them. 

LIABILITY OF RAILROADS FOR LOSS IN 
SHIPMENT OP BEES. 

It is the duty of a railroad to furnish a 
proper car when they undertake the trans- 
portation of bees; and the railroad com- 
pany with which the contract for shipment 
is made is liable for injury caused by a de- 
fective car, even tho the car has left the 
initial road and was in the possession of a 
connecting railroad. This was held to be 
the law in the case of International and 



LAWS RELATING TO FOUL BROOD 



499 



G. N. R. R. Co. vs. Aten, a Texas case re- 
ported in 81 S. W. 316, in which case the 
station agent was informed that the car 
was desired for a shipment of bees. The 
car furnished was not suitable, and by rea- 
son of the car not being suitable the bees 
were injured on a connecting railroad. 

BEES INJURIOUS TO FRUIT. 

That bees are an essential agent in the 
pollination of fruit blossoms, and that they 
are never injurious to sound fruit, or in 
any way injure fruit trees are matters that 
are firmly established. 

That bees do not injure fruit or fruit 
trees has also been established in a court of 
justice to the satisfaction of a jury. It 
was in the case of Utter vs. Utter, tried at 
Goshen, N. Y., in 1901. As the case was 
not appealed from the trial court, the de- 
cision is not to be found in the reported 
cases. In the Utter case, like the Arka- 
delphia case, the bees were merely inciden- 
tal. The facts were, that there had been 
years of previous trouble between the par- 
ties, and the suit over the supposed or 
alleged injury- caused by the bees was but 
the culmination of the long-continued quar- 
rels. 

It was claimed by the plaintiff that the 
bees of defendant ate and destroj'ed plain- 
tiff's peaches, and the trial was to ascertain 
if such were the case. 

At the trial there appeared as witnesses 
for the defense A. I. Root and E. R. Root 
of Medina, Ohio ; Frank Benton of Wash- 
ington, D. C, and several others promi- 
nent in the world of apiculture. Frank 
Benton, at that time Assistant Entomolo- 
gist of the Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C, by reason of his stand- 
ing as a scientist and his general knowledge 
of matters pertaining to apiculture, was a 
very important witness. 

The testimony of Mr. Benton established 
the following facts : 

That the honeybee has a soft, pliable 
tongue, and could not puncture sound 
fruit; that the inner tongue of the bee is 
spoon-shaped and covered with hairs ; that 
the tongue of the bee cannot become rigid ; 
that the bee laps up the nectar; and that 
the feelers of the bee are soft and cannot 
pierce anything, being only organs of 
touch and smell. Mr. Benton's further 



testimony was to the effect that birds and 
other insects do the puncturing, and that 
then the bees may suck the wasting juices. 
The jury found the bees not guilty of 
injuring the fruit and returned a verdict 
for the defendant, J. W. Utter. 

FRUIT DRYING. 

Where fruit is being dried is another 
matter, and there is no doubt but that 
damage is done by bees to drying fruit if 
thej^ are allowed to work upon it. The 
sugar that bees carry away from the dry- 
ing fruit is deducting just that amount of 
weight from the fruit, besides injuring its 
appearance. Bees can also make themselves 
a nuisance to those at work where fruit is 
being dried. In one instance known to the 
writer a beekeeper in California by reason 
of there having been a poor season in the 
mountains brought his bees to the small 
town where he lived. The principal crop 
in and about this town was fruit, and when 
the apricot drying season came on the 
bees became so thick on the newly cut 
fruit that a large force of girls who were 
cutting the fruit had to be laid off and 
operations stopped for the day. That 
night the beekeeper removed his bees some 
three miles away, and the next day made a 
satisfactory settlement with the fruit- 
dryer, and so the trouble ended. 

LAWS RELATING TO FOUL BROOD. 

— In controlling bee diseases in a commu- 
nity, past experience has shown that it is 
necessary that every beekeeper do his part ; 
otherwise the work done by individuals is 
largely nullified by the carelessness or neg- 
lect of a few. Where all the beekeepers 
are progressive, a simple plan of co-opera- 
tion would be enough; but, unfortunately, 
there are in almost all communities some 
beekeepers who are either ignorant, care- 
less, or willfully negligent. If any of these 
will not voluntarily care for their bees 
there must be some legal means of com- 
pelling them to abate a public nuisance 
when disease appears among their colonies. 
Laws providing for inspection of apia- 
ries with the object of controlling diseases 
are, therefore, drafted primarily for the 
beelvceper who does not voluntarily treat 
diseased colonies. The progressive bee- 
keeper needs no such law to compel him to 



500 



LAWS RELATING TO FOUL BROOD 



do his duty. The inspector of apiaries, 
however, in actual practice, is much more 
than a police officer; in fact, his police 
duties are but a small part of his work. 
However the law may be worded, the good 
which an inspector does is due in the 
greater part to his work as an educator. 
It is the duty of the inspector, specified in 
the law in most cases, to instruct the bee- 
keepers how to know disease and how and 
when to treat. The great good which has 
been done by the various inspectors in the 
past has been due almost entirely to this 
part of their work. 

It would, however, be unwise to set the 
inspector to work merely as an educational 
officer without any power to enforce his 
orders. This has been tried, and appears 
to be a failure. There are, unfortunately, 
in almost all communities beekeepers who, 
from obstinacy or spite, must be driven to 
their duty. Most men, however, when once 
they learn that they must treat disease will 
accept the teachings of the inspector. 

Hawaii and the following States now 
have laws of some kind providing for in- 
spection: Arizona, California, Colorado, 
Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, 
Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachu- 
setts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ne- 
braska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, 
New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn- 
sylvania, Rhod^ Island, South Dakota, 
Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Wash- 
ington, West Virginia, Wisconsin. Some- 
what similar laws exist in New Zealand, 
some States in Australia, Ontario, Ireland, 
and parts of Europe. The beekeepers in 
several other States are now agitating the 
passage of similar laws. 

These laws may be divided into two 
groups — those in which the work is done 
by men employed by the State, and those 
in which the county authorities appoint in- 
spectors for the county only. Of these the 
work by the State officers has proven much 
more effective. In States where the coun- 
ties are small, as in the East, county in- 
spection is practically of no value. 

In California the county plan for in- 
spection has given fairly good results. The 
counties are veiy large, some of them as 
large or larger than some States in the 
East. However, it has been felt that the 
State ought to have one general State Bee 
Inspector or State Bee Adviser, so that the 



work of the various counties would corre- 
late a little better than it does now. 

The chief weakness in county inspection 
is the lack of co-operation among the in- 
spectors in neighboring counties. The dif- 
ference in the ordinances or laws neces- 
sarily make inspection in one county more 
rigid than in another. In some cases, there 
is not only a lack of co-operation, but too 
often a jealousy between the various bee 
inspectors. In California this could be 
remedied by having a State Apiarist who 
might have more or less of a supervision of 
the various inspectors or bee advisers of 
the various counties. Where the States are 
smaller and likewise the counties, the 
scheme of county inspection has proven to 
be a failure 

Practically all laws in force, whether 
State or county, provide for inspection of 
apiaries; penalties for resisting the en 
trance of the inspector on the premises: 
penalties for failing to comply with in- 
structions for treatment if the hives are 
found to be diseased, and penalties for 
selling or bartering bees, hives, or appli 
ances before the apiary has been pro 
nounced free of disease. Usually addi 
tional provision is made for more than one 
inspection of queen-rearing yards. This is 
very wise as they might spread infection 
far and wide. 

Several laws of the various States are 
based on the Ohio law, a copy of which is 
here given. Such a law is practicable 
where there is a State Board of Agricul- 
ture, with sufficient funds to carry on, not 
only its general work, but any additional 
special work, like bee inspection. 

APICULTURAL INSPECTION LAW OF OHIO 

Section 1155-1. The Ohio State Board of 
Agriculture is hereby authorized to establish 
a division of apiary inspection in the Ohio 
department of agriculture, and to appoint 
a competent entomologist as the chief inspec- 
tor of said division, and the necessary assist- 
ants, who shall, under the direction of the 
board, have charge of the inspection of apia- 
ries as hereinafter provided; he may investi- 
gate, or cause to be investigated, apiaries as 
hereinafter provided ; he may investigate or 
cause to be investigated outbreaks of bee dis- 
eases and cause suitable measures to be taken 
for their eradication or control. 

Section 1155-2. The inspector or his assist- 
ants shall, when notified in writing by the 
owner of an apiary, or by any three disinter- 
ested tax-payers, examine all reported apia- 



LAWS RELATING TO FOUL BROOD 



501 



ries, and all others in the same locality not 
reported, and ascertain whether or not the 
diseases known as American foul brood or 
European foul brood, or any other disease 
which is infectious or contagious in its nature, 
and injurious to honeybees in their egg, lar- 
val, pupal, or adult stages exists in such api3 
ries; and if satisfied of the existence of anj; 
such diseases he shall give the owners or care- 
takers of the diseased apiaries full instruc- 
tions how to treat such cases, as in the in- 
spector's judgment seems best. 

Section 1155-3. The inspector or his assist- 
ant shall visit all diseased apiaries a second 
time, after ten days, and, if need be, burn 
all colonies of bees that he may find not 
cured of such disease, and all honey and ap- 
pliances which would spread disease, without 
recompense to the owner, lessee, or agent 
thereof. 

Section 1155-4. If the owner of an apiary, 
honey, or appliances wherein disease exists 
shall sell, barter, or give away, or move with- 
out the consent of the inspector any diseased 
bees (be they queens or workers), colonies, 
honey, or appliances, or expose other bees to 
the danger of such disease, said owner shall, 
on conviction thereof, be fined not less than 
fifty dollars nor more than one hundred do! 
lars, or imprisoned not less than one month 
nor more than two months or both. 

Section 1155-5. For the enforcement of the 
provisions of this act the State inspector of 
apiaries or his duly authorized assistants shall 
have access, ingress, and egress to all apiaries 
or places where bees are kept; and any per- 
son or persons who shall resist, impede, or hin- 
der in any way the inspector of apiaries ir 
the discharge of his duties under the provi- 
sions of this act shall^ on conviction thereof, 
be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more 
than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned not 
less than one month nor more than two month? 
or both. 

Section 1155-6. After inspecting infected 
hives or fixtures or handling diseased bees, 
the inspector or his assistant shall, before 
leaving the premises or proceeding to any 
other apiary, thoroly disinfect any portion of 
his own person and clothing and any tools 
or appliances used by him which have come 
in contact with infected material, and shall 
see that any assistant or assistants with him 
have Ukemse thoroly disinfected their persons 
and clothing and any tools and implements 
used by them. 

Section 1155-7. It shall be the duty of any 
person in the State of Ohio, who is engaged in 
the rearing of queen bees for sale, to use 
honey in the making of candy for use in 
mailing-cages which has been boiled for at 
least thirty minutes. Any such person en- 
gaged in the rearing of queen bees shall have 
his queen-rearing apiary or apiaries inspected 
at least twice each summer season; and on 
the discovery of the existence of any disease 
which is infectious or contagious in its na- 
ture and injurious to bees in their egg, 
larval, pupal, or adult stages, said person 



shall at once cease to ship queen bees from 
such diseased apiary until the inspector of 
apiaries shall declare the said apiary free 
from all disease. Any person engaged in 
the rearing of queens who violates the pro- 
visions of this section shall, on conviction 
thereof, be fined not less than one hundred 
dollars nor more than two hundred dollars. 

Section 1155-8. The Ohio State Board of 
Agriculture shall make an annual report to 
the governor of the State concerning the oper- 
ations of the division of apiary inspection, 
which shall give the number of apiaries in- 
spected, the number of colonies treated and 
destroyed by the direction of the chief inspec- 
tor, and such other information as may be 
deemed necessary. 

Section 2. That sections, 5853, 5854, 5855, 
5856, 5857, 5858, 5859, 5860, 5861, 5862, 5863, 
5670, and 13368 of the General Code be and 
the same are hereby repealed. 

The above is a correct copy of the apiary- 
inspection law now in force. 

N. E. Shaw, Chief Inspector. 
Effective May 21, 1910. 

The few years that this law has been in 
force has shown that some changes might 
be made to advantage. Section 1155-3, 
where the funds are somewhat limited, has 
not been found to be workable. It would 
make a large expense for the inspector to 
come back in ten days and reinspect. The 
section should authorize the inspector or 
assistant to use his discretion. In ninety- 
nine cases out of a hundred the average 
man is very willing to act on instructions 
for treatment. 

In section 1155-4 the owner of bees hav- 
ing disease shall not sell, barter, nor give 
away, without the consent of the inspector, 
any diseased bees, colonies, hives, nor ap- 
pliances, including honey. There is really 
no objection to one selling honey in the 
general market. To require the owner of 
a diseased apiary not to sell his crop, that 
might be worth several thousand dollars, 
would be an unnecessary restriction and 
hardship. The presumption is that honey 
in supers will be free from disease anyway ; 
and even if it were diseased it could not 
possibly affect human beings. However, 
the Ohio law allows the inspector to give 
his consent to sell either the honey or the 
bees. So the matter is up to his discretion. 

THE IOWA PLAN. 

There is a general defect in not only the 
Ohio law, but in practically every foul- 
brood law in the United States, with the 



502 



LAWS RELATING TO FOUL BROOD 



exception of Iowa, reference to which will 
be made further on. With this exception 
all the laws clothe the bee inspector with 
police authority, under w^hich he may arrest 
a person refusing to obey his instructions 
or destroying his property, or both. The 
very fact that he may exercise such author- 
ity very often causes a feeling of antagon- 
ism on the part of the person whose bees 
are to be inspected. 

Frank C. Pellett, formerly of Iowa, now 
Assistant Editor of the American Bee 
Journal at Hamilton, 111., w^as for a num- 
ber of years inspector of Iowa. He came 
to the conclusion that the law of that State 
based on the old plan of coercion or " the 
big stick " ought to be modified, and he 
had it changed. Instead of clothing the 
state apiarist or inspector with police 
authority, the new law makes him a bee 
adviser or bee lecturer, whose chief and 
only function is to give instruction on how 
to keep bees and keep them better. In- 
stead of going to a beekeeper as a police 
officer, he goes to him as an agent of the 
State, with the glad hand, ready to assist 
and help in any way he can in his general 
bee work. A part of his duties is to give 
instructions on how to distinguish and how- 
to treat the various forms of disease. This 
policy at the very outset secures the good 
will of the beekeeper, and instead of oppo- 
sition, his eo-ope'ration in eradicating bee 
disease is secured. 

In order that this bee adviser or state 
apiarist may reach a large number he an- 
nounces that a m.eeting will be held at Mr. 
So-and-So's apiary on such a date. This 
is widely advertised with the result that he 
will have, instead of only one beekeeper, 
two or three dozen to w^hom he can give his 
instruction. This enables him to cover the 
entire state, which he can not do under the 
old plan of visiting one beekeeper at a 
time, often finding him not at home. 

Whenever a case arises w^here a bee- 
keeper is negligent or refuses to carry out 
certain instructions for the eradication of 
disease, the bee inspector instead of caus- 
ing the arrest of such individual and the 
destruction of his property, places the 
whole matter in the hands of the properly 
constituted authorities, the prosecutor and 
the sheriff. The sheriff under this kind of 
law will have the moral backing of prac- 
tically all the beekeepers, with the result 



that Mr. Bee Man, who refuses to comply 
with the instructions of the bee adviser 
bum.ps up against the regularly constituted 
authorities, whose business it is to see that 
the laws are enforced. 

In Iowa the plan here outlined has given 
most excellent results. 

A BILL FOR AN ACT 

Creating the office of State Apiarist at the 
loAva State College of Agriculture and Me- 
chanic Arts in connection with the work in 
entomology and agriculture, pro\dding for 
the inspection of bees and the prevention of 
disease among the same, making appropria 
tions therefor, and to repeal the law as it 
now appears in sections twenty-five hundred 
seventy-five-a-fifty-three (2575-a-53) inclusive, 
supplement to the code, 1P13. 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of 
the State of Iowa: 

Section 1.— That the State Board of Edu- 
cation is authorized and directed to appoint 
a State Apiarist who shall work in connec- 
tion and under the supervision of the director 
of Agricultural extension and the professor 
of Entomology of the Iowa State College of 
Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, the term of 
said Apiarist to commence on the first day of 
July, 1917, and continue during the pleasure 
of said Board of Education. 

Section 2. — It shall be the duty of the said 
apiarist to give lectures and demonstrations 
in the State of Iowa on the production of 
honey, the care of the apiary, the marketing 
of honey, and upon other kindred subjects 
relative to the care of the bees and the 
profitable production of honey. Upon the 
written request of one or more beekeepers in 
any county of the State, said apiarist shaU 
examine the bees in that locality suspected of 
being affected with foul brood or any other 
contagious or infectious disease common to 
bees. If upon examination the said apiarist 
finds that said bees to be diseased he shall 
furnish the owner or person in charge of said 
apiary with full written instructions as to the 
nature of the disease and the best methods 
of treating the same, which information shall 
be furnished without cost to the owner. Said 
apiarist shall also make an annual report to 
the Governor, stating the number of apiaries 
visited, number of examinations made, num- 
ber of demonstrations held, number of lec- 
tures given, together with such other matters 
of general interest concerning the business 
of beekeeping as in his judgment shall be of 
interest and value to the public. 

Section 3. — Any one who knowingly sells, 
barters, or gives away, moves or allows to be 
moved, a diseased colony or colonies of bees, 
without the consent of the State Apiarist, or 
exposes any infected honey or infected appli- 
ances to the bees, or who willingly fails or 
neglects to give proper treatment to diseased 
colonies shall be deemed guilty of misde- 
meanor, and, upon conviction thereof before 



LAYING WORKERS 



503 



any justice of the peace of the county, shall 
be fined not exceeding the sum of fifty 
($50.00) dollars or imprisonment in the 
county jail not exceeding thirty days. 
Section 4. — Appropriations * * * 

Dr. E. F. Phillips of the Bureau of En- 
tomology, Washington, D. C, who has had 
an opportunity to have a direct knowledge 
of the workings of the various state laws 
under the old system, says the Iowa plan 
is much to be preferred. He also says that 
the spread of bee disease over the country 
is due more to ignorance many times over 
than to wilfulness — and he is right. 

Those who have examined into the mer- 
its of the Iowa plan give it as their opinion 
that it would be far more effective than 
the plan outlined under the Ohio law. 

LAYING WORKERS.— These queer in- 
mates, or, rather, occasional inmates, of the 
hive are worker bees that lay eggs. Aye, 
and the eggs they lay hatch too; but they 
hatch only drones, and never worker bees. 
The drones are rather smaller than the 
drones produced by a queen, but they are 
nevertheless drones, in every respect, so far 
as we can discover. It may be well to re- 
mark, that ordinary worker bees are not 
neuters, as they are sometimes called; they 
are considered undeveloped females. Micro- 
scopic examination shows an undeveloped 
form of the special organs found in the 
queen, and these organs may become, at 
any time, sufficiently developed to allow the 
bee to lay eggs, but never to allow of fer- 
tilization by meeting the drone as the queen 
does. See Parthenogenesis^ Dzierzon 
Theory and Queens. 

CAUSE OF LAYING WORKERS. 

It has been over and over again sug- 
gested that bees capable of this egg-laying 
duty are those reared in the vicinity of 
queen-cells, and that by some means they 
have received a small portion of the royal 
jelly necessary to their development as bee- 
mothers. This theory has been entirely dis- 
proved by many experiments; and it is 
now pretty generally conceded that laying 
workers may make their appearance in any 
colony or nucleus that has been many days 
queenless, and without the means of rear- 
ing a queen. With Cyprians, Syrians, and 
their crosses the laying workers are com- 



mon, even tho the colony has a good queen ; 
and a case is known of a yearling queen in 
full vigor, a queen a few weeks old and 
reared in the same colony, and scores of 
laying workers, all busily laying on the 
same combs. The stock was Cyprian. Not 
only may one bee take upon herself these 
duties, but there may be many of them; 
and wherever the beekeeper has been so 
careless as to leave his bees destitute of 
either brood or queen for two or three weeks, 
he is liable to find evidences of their pres- 
ence, in the shape of eggs scattered about 
promiscuously; sometimes one, but oftener 
half a dozen in a single cell. 

Sometimes the eggs will be found stuck 
on the sides of the cell. In that case it is 
evident the laying worker cannot reach the 
bottom of the cell. Very often there will 
be found several eggs in a queen-cell. 

If the matter has been going on for some 
time, he wiU see now and then a drone 
larva, and sometimes two or three crowding 
each other in their single cell; sometimes 
they start queen-cells over this drone larva ; 
the poor motherless orphans, seeming to 
feel that something is wrong, are disposed, 
like a drowning man, to catch at any straw, 

HOV^ TO GET RID OF LAYING WORKERS. 

Prevention is better than cure. If a col- 
ony, from any cause, become queenless, be 
sure it has unsealed brood of the proper 
age to raise a queen; and when one is 
raised, be sure that she becomes fertile. It 
can never do any harm to give a queenless 
colony eggs and brood, and it may be the 
saving of it. But suppose one has been so 
careless as to allow a colony to become 
queenless and get weak, what is he to do? 
If he attempts to give them a queen, and 
fertile workers are present, she wUl be 
pretty sure to get stung; it is sometimes 
difficult to get them to accept even a queen- 
cell. The poor bees get into a habit of 
accepting the egg-laying workers as a 
queen, and they will have none other until 
they are removed ; yet we cannot find them, 
for they are just like any other bee; we 
may get hold of them, possibly, by care- 
fully noticing the way in which the other 
bees deport themselves toward them, or we 
may catch them in the act of egg-laying; 
but even this often fails, for there may be 
several such in the hive at once. We may 



504 



LAYING WORKERS 



give the bees a strip of comb containing 
eggs and brood, but they will seldom start 
a good queen-cell, if they start any at all; 
for, in the majority of cases, a colony hav- 
ing laying workers seems perfectly demor- 
alized, so far as getting into regular work 
is concerned. 

It is almost impossible to introduce a 
laying queen to such colonies; for as soon 
as she is released from the cage she will 
be stung to death. No better results would 
follow from introducing an ordinary vir- 
gin; but the giving of a queen-cell, or a 
just-hatched virgin, if the colony has not 
been too long harboring laying workers, 
will very often bring about a change for 
the better. In such cases the cell will be 
accepted, and in due course of time there 
will be a laying queen in place of the laying 
worker or workers; but often cells will be 
destroyed as fast as they are given. The 
only thing then to be done is to scatter 
brood and bees among several other colo- 
nies, perhaps one or two frames in each. 
From each of these same colonies take a 
frame or two of brood with adhering bees, 
and put them into the laying-worker hive. 
The bees of this hive, which have been 
scattered into several hives, will for the 
most part return ; but the laying worker or 
workers will remain and in all probability 
be destroyed in the other hives. Of course, 
the colonies that' have been robbed of good 
brood will suffer somewhat; but if it is 
after the honey season, no great harm will 
have been done. They wdll proceed to clean 
up the combs; and if they do not need the 
drones as hatched they will destroy them. 

See that every hive contains, at all times, 
during the spring and summer months at 
least, brood suitable for rearing a queen, 
and you will never see laying workers. 

HOW TO DETECT THE PRESENCE OF LAYING 
WORKERS. 

If no queen is found and eggs are scat- 
tered around promiscuously, some in drone- 
and some in worker-cells, some attached to 
the side of the cell, instead of the center of 
the bottom, where the queen lays them, 
several in one cell and none in the next, it 
may be assumed that laying workers are 
present. Still later, if the worker-brood 
is capped with the high convex cappings, 
it indicates clearly that the brood will never 



hatch out worker bees. Finding two or 
more eggs in a cell is never conclusive, for 
the queen often so deposits them in a 
feeble colony where there are not bees 
enough to cover the brood. The eggs de- 
posited by a fertile queen are usually in 
regular order, as one would plant a field of 
corn; but those from laying workers, and 
usually from drone-laying queens, are ir- 
regularly scattered about. 

LAUREL. — See Poisonous Honey. 
LINDEN.— See Basswood. 

LIVE-BEE DEMONSTRATION.— See 

Honey Exhibits. 

LOCALITY.— This has a great influence 
in beekeeping. Many of the manipulations 
recommended in one locality will not an- 
swer for another. A hive well adapted to 
one place might give indifferent results 
elsewhere with different conditions. The 
length of the honey flow, the time it comes 
on, whether the nectar comes in a rush for 
three or four weeks at a time as it does in 
the East, or whether the flow extends over 
a period of three or four months, coming 
in very slowly, are all conditions the bee- 
keeper must study and be able to meet. A 
slow honey flow, continuing over a period 
of four or flve months, may require an 
altogether different hive or management. 
It may render the production of comb 
honey impracticable, for the reason the 
combs will be travel-stained, and therefore 
not fit to compete with honey from other 
localities. On the other hand, a short rapid 
honey flow, as in the basswood regions, and 
where the honey is mainly white, and of 
good flavor, makes the production of comb 
honey more profitable than extracted as a 
rule. 

Locality has a bearing on the kind of 
treatment the bees should receive. If there 
is no honey after the first or middle of 
July, and the beekeeper is located in a 
region where snow falls in winter, and 
where cold winter prevails for five or six 
months, he will have to make some plans to 
keep down brood-rearing after the honey 
flow, and arrange to get the bees in the best 
possible condition for cold weather. He 
will probably have to feed, and then in the 
spring he will be compelled to stimulate 



LOCALITY 



505 



brood-rearing to a high pitch as soon as the 
bees can fly, thus getting the colonies strong 
at the beginning of the honey flow. If, 
however, one is located in the South he 
must see that his bees have a large amount 
of stores; for in a warm climate they will 
consume more than in the North, where it 
is cold. While the beekeeper of the colder 
regions tries to prevent his bees from dying 
during the winter, he who is located in the 
South endeavors to prevent his bees from 
starving until the next honey flow. 

THE BEST STATES FOR KEEPING BEES. 

We are very often asked the question as 
to the best location in the United States for 
keeping bees as a business. We usually 
advise the inquirer to stay right where he 
is. 

Undoubtedly California, of all the States 
in the Union, leads off in the aggregate 
amount of honey produced. The best por- 
tions of the State are within 200 miles of 
Los Angeles. The chief sources of honej^ 
are cotton in Imperial County, alfalfa in 
several of the counties, mountain sage, bean 
and orange in the southern half of the 
State. Mountain sage depends almost whol- 
ly on the amount of rainfall. Alfalfa and 
orange are more regular, because when 
there is a failure of the rains irrigation 
comes in to help out; but fog and cool 
weather sometimes even then prevent the 
bees from getting the honey. The winters 
in California are hard on the bees, not be- 
cause the climate is cold, but because the 
temperature drops from 60 to 70 in the 
middle of the day down to 50 and below 
freezing at night.* This causes breeding, 
and many bees to fly out in the day time 
and get lost. These conditions make it 
necessary for the beekeepers in California 
to study local conditions very carefully be- 
fore they can make a success of the busi- 
ness. 

There is not much open territory left, 
but more will be available as soon as the 
roads can be run up into the mountain 
country where sage is abundant. The citrus 
groves are expanding very rapidly and 
these in time will open up more bee-range. 

On account of the severe changes during 
the winter from warm to cold in 24 hours, 
many of the colonies are weak, with the 
result that they become easy prey to the 



ravages of European foul brood. Bee dis- 
ease and the lack of rains have held back 
the industry in the State. 

In the central and northern parts of 
California, the seasons are more depend- 
able, but the good locations are by no 
means as numerous. In Imperial County, 
the crops are sure and the yields large, but 
the territory is all taken up. 

Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, 
New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, in the irrigated 
portions, sometimes show wonderful results 
in honey; but in several of the States 
named, where the bee-range is at all good, 
the country is overstocked with bees and 
beekeepers, and one can scarcely get into 
one of the places without buying out some- 
body already in the field. 

Texas as an all-around bee proposition 
is one of the best bee States in the Union. 
It is not over-populated yet, and there are 
very many desirable bee-ranges within its 
borders, but some seasons it has severe 
drouths resulting in a failure of the honey 
crop and the death of many colonies from 
starvation. 

Kansas and Nebraska are good bee States, 
having usually good fall flows; but some- 
times either or both have fearful drouths 
that kill nearly all vegetation, rendering 
fanning as well as beekeeping, for that 
season, almost a failure. 

Oklahoma as a bee State is coming for- 
ward very rapidly. The climate is mild, 
and soil conditions good. 

Among the Eastern States, New York is 
one of the best because it has, in addition 
to clover and basswood, immense acreages 
of buckwheat, which on those hills yields 
immense quantities of honey. Wisconsin 
and Minnesota were formerly good local- 
ities for basswood; but that desirable tree 
for timber as well as honey is now being 
rapidly cut off, and the main stay will be, 
as with the other States, white clover, with 
a large sprinkling of sweet clover along the 
roadsides and railways. 

Most of the North-central States have 
conditions that are practically the same, 
reaching from Minnesota to Maine, and 
continuing down the Ohio River and Ches- 
apeake Bay. While the amount of honey 
secured in these localities is less per col- 
ony, the price it brings is higher, because 
in this portion of the United States the 
centers of population are located. Thru- 



506 



LOCUST 



out the South, east of the Mississippi, the 
honey secured is very good, mostly ex- 
tracted, and the flow covers a long period; 
but the quality is not quite equal to the 
honey of the North. 

There is some desirable bee territory in 
Florida, but as in California the seasons 



grove is a good yielder. Migratory bee- 
keeping is found to be fairly profitable on 
the Florida Keys. (See Migratory Bee- 
keeping.) In general, beekeeping in Flor- 
ida is no more profitable than in some of 
the Northern States. The great advantage 
of Florida is from the standpoint of health, 




are not always dependable. In a good year 
large quantities of tupelo honey are pro- 
duced in northern Florida, particularly 
along the Apalachicola River. Palmetto 
and orange blossom yield a light crop in 
central and southern Florida; and in a 
good year along the Florida Keys man- 



Common locust. 

and on this account much of the available 
bee territory is overstocked. 



LOCUST {Robinia Pseudo-Acacia L.). — 
Variously called common locust, yellow 
locust, white locust, and false locust. This 
is one of the finest honey trees of the East- 



LOGWOOD 



507 



ern and Southern States. It belongs to the 
great family of the Legiiminosae. which in- 
cludes many of the best honey plants, as 
the clovers, acacias, vetches, peas, and 
beans. It is a native of the mountains 
from Pennsylvania to Georgia, and west- 
ward to Missouri and Arkansas ; but it has 
become extensively naturalized in Canada, 
New England, and the Eastern States. 
Large plantations of it have been made for 
timber. The wood is hard and very dur- 
able, and is much used for posts. There is a 
saj'ing that stone will crumble before locust 
will rot. The tree grows to great size, and 
is long-lived except when attacked by bor- 
ers. It spreads rapidl}^ by sprouts rising 
from the roots, which run for long dis- 
tances near the surface. "When the trees 
are cut or killed by borers the roots send 
up a great many sprouts, which grow very 
rapidly and flower within two or three 
years. 

The white fragrant flowers resemble pea 
blossoms, but are in pendant clusters like 
those of wisteria. It blossoms in May and 
June, remains in bloom for about 10 days, 
and yields an immense amount of milk- 
white honey, of heavy body and mild flavor. 
Two other species of locust occur in eastern 
America. The clammy locust, or R. viscosa, 
is similar to the above ; but its flowers are 
tinged with pink and are inodorous. It is 
a native of the mountains from Virginia to 
Georgia, but it has been introduced in the 
North, where it seems perfectlj^ hardy. 
The other species, bristlj^ locust or rose 
acacia {R. hispida), is a shrub growing 
from three to ten feet high. The stems are 
covered with bristles, hence the name. The 
flowers are large, rose-colored, and not fra- 
grant, and are few in a cluster. It is a 
native of the mountains from Virginia to 
Georgia, but has also been introduced and 
become established in the North. While of 
no particular value as a honey plant, it is 
very beautiful as a cultivated shrub. 

LOGWOOD {Haematoxylon campechia- 
num). — A tree found in the West Indies 
and Central Am.erica. It is primarily a 
dyewood. The dye is extracted from the 
heart of the tree. , In its early stages, this 
heart is only a small colored core; but as 
development continues, it enlarges, until in 
full maturity there is but little sap between 
heart and skin. The dyewood is prepared 



for shipment by digging up the tree, roots 
and all, chipping away the outer sap wood, 
thus leaving the colored core ready to be 
rendered into dye. 

There are large areas in the tropics 
where this tree is the predominating 
growth. When the full bloom is on, many 
square miles of country become suffused 
with the mellow beauty of its golden blos- 
soms, the delicate and pleasing perfume of 
which is everj^where paramount. We know 
no flner honey than that of the logwood 
blossom. It is almost water-white, very 
dense, and possesses a peculiarly pleasing 
flavor — in fact, it seems to embody the 
primal fragrance of the bloom. 

In Jamaica logwood is the principal 
source of honej-. This is true both as re- 
gards quality and quantity. One may usu- 
ally count on two main flowerings — one 
occurring in November, and the other about 
Christmas time. The first is not so much to 
be depended on, as it is usually light, and 
besides there are about that time other 
honey sources productive of inferior qual- 
ity — " bitter bush," for instance — so that 
the finished combs held up to the light re- 
veal a patchwork of various colors. Even 
in extracted honey, it is almost impossible 
to efl:ect a separation. This mixed flow, 
however, is peculiarly valuable as it enablei? 
the beekeeper to fill his brood-nest and 
catch the main logwood flow in the supers. 

The second or main flow occurs about 
Christmas, and may last all thru January. 
Here lies the hope of the apiarist. Two 
factors then contribute to his crop. The 
first is the condition of his colonies. They 
must be ready, or the finest honey of the 
year goes to brood and brood-combs. Even 
if barrels of sugar have to be fed, a super 
should be on every hive, and bees in the 
supers by the middle of December. This 
done, the beeman's end has been accom- 
plished. But there is another factor: Rain. 
We have watched the great strings of buds 
drooping heavily downward, and while for- 
ests beaded with folded blossoms all ready 
to burst — one factor was missing — rain. 
We have seen, while full apiaries waited, 
the untempered torrid sun burn the blos- 
soms into crumbled dust. But, let the rains 
fall at the proper juncture, and thousands 
of acres burst into fairyland. We have 
seen evenings when everj-thing looked 
hopeless. That night a shower fell. At 



508 



MANGROVE, BLACK 



daybreak the apiary was a-roar, and the 
clear atmosphere was black with bees. Of 
course, the duration of the principal bloom 
is also dependent upon light intermittent 
showers. There have been seasons when 
the main bloom lasted for six weeks, and 
individual colonies made as high as 500 
pounds. 

Is there no danger of the logwood forests 
being depleted? Hardly, unless by inten- 
tional transfer of industry. The tree grows 
of its o\vn accord, and the growth is so 
abundant that the planter, so far from 
planting trees, has to thin out the yearly 
natural propagation. Otherwise the log- 



wood estate needs little attention. The 
main expense is to prepare the mature 
stock for market, and this consists in pay- 
ing laborers so much per ton for " chip- 
ping." Owing, however, to the rapid in- 
troduction of aniline dyes, the logwood in- 
dustry is being supplanted by others that 
are more profitable — such as cultivation of 
sugar cane, bananas, etc. But where a 
genuine logwood estate can be found, the 
beekeeper can afford to establish an apiary 
of some 500 colonies. 

LUCERNE.— See Alfalfa. 



M 



MAGNOLIA {Magnolia foetida (L.) 
Sarg.). — English names are laurel bay and 
bull bay. The noblest tree of all the mag- 
nolia family grows to a height of 40 feet 
in its native habitat, the deep hammocks, 
straight and heavily branching. The leaves 
are dark, rich green, smooth and glossy on 
the upper side, of a rusty-velvety nature 
below. The blossoms are the crowning 
glory. They are large and showy, like huge 
creamy-white saucers, gradually turning 
brown as they mature and fade. They are 
rich in pollen, and the bees become fairly 
steeped in the dust as they gather the nec- 
tar from the stiff yellow stamens at the 
center of the white saucer-like fiower. An 
analysis of samples of honey sent to the 
government experts at Washington, from 
the vicinity of DeLand, Florida, always re- 
veals the presence of pollen grains from 
the magnolia, showing that it is a good 
yielder of honey. It comes along with 
holly, and often with scrub palmetto, so 
that it is never secured alone. Even back 
from the hammocks it is extensively planted 
for shade and avenue trees, and the number 
of these trees used for ornament is so large 
that they make considerable showing in the 
activity of the bees in localities that would 
not otherwise feel their influence. 



MANGROVE, BLACK {Avicenum niti- 
da Jacq.). — Never in the history of honey- 
producing plants has any single source 
3'ielded the results or attracted the atten- 
tion of the public as has the black man- 
grove of southern Florida. Of the vervain 
family, the black mangrove is an evergreen 
maritime shrub or tree — shrub in northern 
limits, tree further south. It flourishes 
best on the small islands and keys that 
fringe the shore on both eastern and west- 
ern coasts, w^here the salt water keeps its 
feet seasoned with brine, tho not necessari- 
ly under water. It does not grow much 
north of the 29th parallel — that is, about 
the range of Ormond, on the east coast. It 
needs to be kept distinct in mind from the 
red mangrove {Rhizophora Mangle, L.), 
and the white mangrove (Laguncularia 
recemosa, Gaertn) whose habitat is similar 
to that of the black mangrove, only it does 
not need salt water to flourish. The white 
mangrove belongs to the pomegranate fam- 
ily, and is also called buttonwood. (See 
Button WOOD.) The black mangrove, when 
a tree, resembles a scraggy old oak, the bark 
being a gray hue and the surface rough 
and uneven. It attains a trunk diameter of 
four feet at its base, and even greater in the 
extreme southern portion of the state and 



MANGROVE, BLACK 



509 



on the Keys. It usually grows back of the 
red mangrove, if both grow together, the 
red being a soil gatherer, on the fringes 
and shell reefs, and the black forming soil 
back of that. Both are valuable in this 
particular of catching drift and lodging 
humus and gradually transforming the 
shallows into reefs and islands, and ulti- 
mately into solid earth. It does not, like 
the red, require a sea-bath every day, but 




Black mangrove on the right ; red mang 
left. 



must have salt water in the subsoil. The 
leaves are short-stemmed, fuzzy in ap- 
pearance when young, soon becoming 
smooth and tough. The shape is oblong, a 
little larger just above and below the mid- 
dle. The leaves are bright green above, 
pale beneath, speckled with fine specks that 
gleam with a peculiar metallic glint. The 
flowers are inconspicuous, of a yellowish- 
green hue, blossoming in a spike or head, 
the same flower stalk carrying both old and 
new blossoms at the same time. This pe- 
culiarity lengthens out the bloom-period 
very considerably, which lasts from six to 
eight weeks in most favorable seasons. The 
wood closely resembles ebony in color and 
weight, and when used as fuel, makes an 
intense heat and burns with a peculiar 
crackling sputter. The stove door must 



not be tightly closed in burning the wood 
or it will not burn steadily. On the small 
islands thick set on the Indian River, and 
even further north, along the east shore of 
Florida from Ormond, south, are thousands 
of acres of the black mangrove, now from 
six to ten feet high, shrubs of considerable 
size. This is the paradise of beemen, or 
was before " the freeze " of 1894. But if 
the name is "black," the honey is white. 
It is the whitest honey in Florida, with per- 
haps the single exception of cabbage pal- 
metto. The body is rather thin, tho better 
in that on the Keys than on the mainland. 
In flavor it is very sweet and mild, and has 
just the barest suggestion of brackishness 
about it, due either to the soil or the vicin- 
ity of the salt marshes. The brackishness 
is not at all objectionable. The honey is 
usually pronounced first class, and ranks 
with the four best honeys of Florida — 
namely, the white tupelo, the orange, the 
scrub palmetto, and the mangrove. Up to 
the year of the " big freeze " in 1894 it 
was without exception the greatest yielder 
of honey of any plant or tree in the world. 
As much as 400 lbs. from one hive in one 
season from black mangi'ove has been re- 
corded. The severe cold of the year named 
froze down the mangrove on the coasts, 
and it took 18 years to recover. It began 
to yield honey again in small quantities 
first in 1909. Since that time the bushes 
have been increasing in size, and the yields 
have grown also, tho it has not yet shown 
anything like its former secretion. Like 
most sea-coast yielders it seems very sensi- 
tive to temperature and humidity changes 
and conditions. In 1911, for example, in 
the vicinity of the 29th parallel it started 
in to yield well, and all seemed prosperous. 
The bees began to show their old-time zeal, 
leaving their hives for the marshes almost 
before dawn, and lingering there till after 
dusk, roaring across the intervening coves 
incessantly; but after about two weeks of 
such work, weather conditions suddenly al- 
tered, and hardly a bee was seen again on 
the blossoms, altho they continued to gi'ow 
and fade as before. When conditions are 
just right the honey can be seen in large 
drops, shining in the tiny cups, and a bee 
can load up from a single blossom. Over- 
stocking could never be a bugbear in a 
mangrove section if conditions were just 
right. The cabbage palmetto usually 



510 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 



blooms at the same time as the black man- 
grove, so that the two honeys usually 
blend. (See Palmetto^ Cabbage.) In 
earlier days '* migratory beekeeping " to 
the vicinity of Hawks Park was practiced 
from many points up and down the coast, 
and from inland localities, from 50 or more 
miles distant. The severe cold weather of 
one or two years put an end to that prac- 
tice. Whether or not former conditions 
will return remains to be seen. 

MANIPULATION OF COLONIES. — 

Success or failure in the bee business de- 
pends very largely on manipulation. Colo- 
nies can be so handled as to make the busi- 
ness an entire failure. Sometimes im- 
proper handling so disgusts the would-be 
beekeeper that he never becomes one. Tem- 
peramentally he may not be fitted for the 
business, or else mentally he may be inca- 
pable of acquiring the art of handling 
them. A great majority of persons, how- 
ever, who love honey and who enjoy out- 
door work, have no difficulty in learning to 
handle what perhaps a few erroneously 
regard as a " mighty dangerous proposi- 
tion." Over and over the statement has 
been made, " Bees would sting me, even if 
I were half a mile away from them. The 
further I am away from them, the better I 
like it." There is a sort of silly fear, on 
the part of a few. at least, that bees are 
" mighty dangerous animals," and that 
their disposition is to rule or ruin, and to 
take possession of the field because they 
are possessed of that small but mighty 
weapon, the sting. Nothing could be fur- 
ther from the truth. 

There is probably not one person in a 
hundred who is not perfectly capable of 
handling bees. Whether he can make money 
or honey out of them is not a question so 
easy to answer, but that he can learn to 
handle them — that he can overcome all nat- 
ural fear and prejudice — has been demon- 
strated by thousands who have commenced 
beekeeping, and know no fear of them. 

Under the head of Anger of Bees and 
under Stings it is shown that bees are not 
the irascible little creatures that many 
people suppose; that they are, on the con- 
trary, when their nature is carefully stud- 
ied, as gentle as kittens; and when one 
goes about it in the right way, they can be 
handled almost as safely. (See AB C of 



Beekeeping at the beginning of this 
work.) But one cannot thoroly know this 
until he has actually opened a hive or seen 
it opened, and actually handled the combs 
for himself. This is not saying bees will 
not sting when handled improperly or at 
the wrong time. 

The beginner should understand that bees 
can be worked very much better when 
weather conditions are right. The day 
should be warm, the sun shining, and the 
time selected for the manipulation between 
ten in the morning and three in the after- 
noon. Experienced beekeepers can handle 
them at any time under practically all con- 
ditions; but even the veterans endeavor to 
do it when they can work to the best advan- 
tage. In early spring or late in the fall. 




or when the atmosphere is chilly, or at any 
time immediately following a rain, or after 
a sudden stoppage of the honey flow, bees 
are inclined to be cross. When it is cold, 
the bee glue in the hives is brittle. In order 
to open a colony at such times it is neces- 
sary to break this bee glue with a snap or 
jar. This always has a tendency to irritate 
the bees, even when weather conditions are 
favorable. The beginner at least should 
select his time, and of course will endeavor 
to make his movements very deliberate, 
avoiding very quick jerky actions, all snaps 
or jars. There are times when one will be 
compelled to open hives when the bee glue 
snaps and when the bees sting; but he will 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 



511 



then have the experience and proper appli- 
ances for doing the work. 

Before we attempt to go into details of 
manipulation it will be necessary to con- 
sider tools and conveniences, without which 
the handling of colonies would be difficult 
or even impossible at times. There are 
several essentials which may be mentioned 
in the order of their importance: A bee- 
smoker (see Smokers) for quieting the 
bees; a bee-veil (see Veils), and suitable 
clothing for protection against stings, and 
some form of knife, screwdi'iver, or hive- 
tool to separate the frames and parts of 
the hive from each other that are usually 
stuck together with bee glue. Without the 
smoker and its intelligent use one would 
feel almost inclined to go back to the days 
of our forefathers when they brimstoned 
their bees (see Box Hives). But with 
smoke properly applied, one can render 
perfectly tractable bees that would be oth- 
erwise nervous and hard to handle. Even 
when conditions are bad, weather chilly and 
propolis hard, they can generally be 
brought under perfect control. The intel- 
ligent use of the smoker will often render 
the use of the veil unnecessary; and not a 
few experienced beekeepers do not use a 
veil constantly, but have it conveniently 
hanging from the hat, whence it can be 
pulled down whenever necessary. A bee- 
veil, however, is generally worn by veter- 
ans and beginners alike all the time while 
at work among bees. It is annoying and 
disconcerting to have cross bees buzzing 
around the face with the possibility of a 
sting in the eye, nose, or mouth. The be- 
ginner will always have a greater sense of 
security when his face is protected, and the 
old hand works with less interruption. 

Gloves (see Glo\T]s) are recommended 
to the novice when he opens a hive for the 
first time. After he has learned the habits 
of bees he may dispense with them, because 
he will at most receive only an occasional 
sting on the hand. Very often experienced 
beekeepers wear a long gauntlet that reaches 
from the elbow to the wrist. This should 
be made so that no bees can get up the 
sleeve. It should fit tightly around the 
wrist, or, better yet, reach far enough to 
cover the hand, leaving the ends of the 
fingers exposed. 

If one is very timid, or is unusually sus- 
ceptible to stings, he can wear gloves that 



protect the fingers as well as the whole 
hand, wrists, and forearm. See Gloves. 

In the line of tools a common jackknife 
or a common screwdriver may often be 
used in lieu of something better. But a 
hive-tool made for the purpose is far su- 
perior. 

The subjoined illustrations show a form 
of tool that has given general satisfaction 
among beekeepers. 

It is something that any blacksmith can 
make out of an old buggy-spring or any 
good piece of spring steel. It must not be 




Fio. 1 



tempered too hard or it will break. Each 
end should be fiattened out while hot, and 
brought to an edge. One end is bent to a 
right angle, and the other is left straight. 
The tool is then finished on an emery wheel 
or grindstone, care being taken to have 
the edges straight and square. 

The hooked end is ordinarily used for 
scraping propolis or wax off the frames or 
bottom-boards, while the other end (also 
useful for scraping) is pushed between the 
two parts of the hive. The drawing (Fig. 
1) shows the tool held improperly. The 
bent or curved end should be placed direct- 
ly against the palm in order that sufficient 
pressure may be exerted to shove the other 
or straight end between the two hive parts. 
Either end of the tool may be used for 
separating Hoffman frames, or, in fact, 
any style of frame that one happens to 
use; but our men prefer the hook end. 
This is inserted between the frames to be 
separated, as shown in Fig. 2, when a side 
twist of the wrist will exert considerable 



512 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 




Fifi. 2. — A side twist of the tool affords a strong 

leverufje b.v which the frames are separated 

easily and ^vithout jar. 



3. — Another method of using a hive-tool when 
prying the frames apart. 




Fig. 4. — The proper way to pry all the frames over 
at one operation. 



Fig. 



-How the hook end is useful in fishing out 
frames and division-boards. 



leverage, forcing apart the frames very 
gently. However, there are some who pre- 
fer to use the straight end of the tool in 
the manner shown in Fig. 3; but the 
method given in Fig. 2 exerts more of a 
leverage, and, at the same time, is less 
liable to crush bees. 

Fig. 4 shows how the tool may be used 
for crowding all the frames over to one 
side in one block; or one can, if he pre- 
fers, use the plan shown ui Fig. 2; but it 
will generally be found that the one shown 
in Fig. 4 is more convenient. In Fig. 5 
the curved end is used to good advantage 
in lifting the division-board out of the 
hive. See also, in this connection. Fig. 9. 

Some prefer a hive-tool having a nar- 
rowed end like a screwdriver; but the con- 
tinuous use of a tool like this abrases the 
edges of the hives so that, after a time, it 
leaves bruise marks and cracks, inviting 
winds and storms, and robbers when they 
are prowling about. For separating two 
hives heavy with honey there is nothing 
better than a tvide thin blade made of good 



spring steel, tempered just enough to have 
the resilient qualities of a buggy-spring. 

HOW TO WORK OVER HIVES. 

Many yard men prefer to work with a 
sort of stool and hive box combined; yet 
others wish to have nothing to lug around 
except the bee-smoker and the hive-tool. 
As most hives are placed on or near the 
ground, one must either sit down on some 
object or kneel in front of the hive, to 
bring himself to the proper working dis- 
tance. We usually use a hive-cover as 
shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9. It is always 
handy and has the further advantage of a 
milk-stool in that one can shift his body 
back and forth on the hive-cover in order 
to reach frames toward the near or far 
side of the hive, as the case may be. A 
seat that does not allow one to shift his 
body back and forth, necessarily requires 
more stooping or bending of the back. 

Occasionally it will be found desirable 
to turn the cover up lengthwise, and the 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 



513 




times when only one hand can 
do good work. If one can as- 
sume a comfortable attitude, 
even tho it be only momen- 
tary, he ought to do so. 

Some of our apiarists will 
say they have no time to sit 
down, much less " loaf on 
the job," as might appear 
in Fig. 6. The more one 



M: 



Fig. 7. 



1 lu. ij. iiuKiiig ci gap between the 

frames so that one can be 

easily removed. 

author always uses it in that 
manner when he desires to 
place the weight of the body 
against the frame that is 
crowding over against its fel- 
lows. See Fig. 8. In pull- 
ing out a division-board, one 
has a little more leverage if 
he sits high rather than low. 
(See Fig. 9.) But if he 
merely wishes to separate 
the frames, then spend several minutes 
hunting for the queen or looking over 
the brood, as shown in Fig. 7, one should 
sit on the narrow side rather than on 
the end. In this the operator assumes a 
very natural, easy, and comfortable posi- 
tion. The left arm rests upon the knee, 
supporting the weight of the frame, while 
the right arm holds it in a position for 
examination. 

A change of position is often restful. 
After one has been working over a number 
of hives, sitting down on the hive-cover, he 
finds it convenient to vary the position by 
resting on the knees close to the hive; and 
still again he may find it comfortable to 
vary the monotony by standing upright, 
bending over only when it is necessary to 
remove a frame. 

Perhaps it may seem that the operator 
in Fig. 9 is taking things easy. There are 
17 




A comfortable position for all-day work. Note that the left 
arm that supports the weight of the frames 
rests comfortably on the knee. 

can save his legs and arms the more he 
can actually accomplish in a day. In 
hunting for a queen one cannot afford 
to stand up on the job, but should get 
right down where the eyes can do their best 
work, as seen in Fig. 7, always holding the 
frame in such a way that the sunlight will 
strike it squarely. In looking for eggs this 
is very important, especially if the operator 
is getting old when eyesight is not at its 
best. 

Where one is working over bees day 
after day, a special hive-seat is a great 
convenience. The illustration next page 
shows one used in our bee-yard. It was 
shown in one of the early editions of this 
work, but was dropped out because it was 
thought hardly of sufficient importance to 
occupy space. During all the years that 
have intervened, our apiarists have seemed 
to find it very handy. In fact, they con- 



514 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 



sider it almost indispensable. 
If one were to come to any 
one of our yards he will find 
the men carrying one around 
as they go among the hives. 

The top is made of % lum- 
ber, having two oblong holes 
in the center to provide a 
handle by which to carry the 
box. The legrs are also of 





Fig. 



-Pulling* out a refractory division-board that resists removal. 



%, while the sides, ends, and bottom 
are of %. The compartment in the side, 



reached by the oval hole, is 
for holding broken section 



very handy 
pieces for 




Handy seat and tool-box for yard work. 

record work, and other small articles, 
while the two compartments on the ends 
usually hold the smoker fuel, hive-tools, 
hammer, bee-brush, queen-cages, and other 
articles of like nature. The smoker has a 



i(. .-. \. .w^w.. w. is better when 

one wishes to place his weight 

against the frame to be 

shoved over. 



hook on the bellows so that 
it can be carried in the man- 
ner shown. With this whole 
outfit one has practically all 
the tools he needs, including 
smoker fuel, for a day's 
work. 

The exact dimensions of 
the seat are not important. 
The one we use is 13 inches 
high by 22 long, outside measurement. 



HOW TO OPEN A HIVE. 

The prospective beekeeper should ap- 
proach the hive and blow smoke into the 
entrance. This is not always necessary, 
but it will be found to be a wise precaution 
for the beginner and for an experienced 
man on a bad day. After the beginner 
learns the individual temperament of his 
different colonies, and also discovers that 
on certain days, and certain times of days, 
the bees can be handled much better than 
on others, he will of course use his judgment 
in the matter. If he has reason to believe 
that a colony would be irritable he should 
send two or three puffs of smoke into the 
entrance. He will now push the screw- 
driver, or special hive-tool already shown, 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 



515 



under the cover. He should do this gently, 
working the thin edge of the blade between 
the two hive parts until the cover is raised 
about the thickness of the blade, but not 
wide enough to allow any bees to escape. 
Thru the gap thus made he will blow three 
or four puffs of smoke. He then shoves 
the tool a little further, increasing the gap, 
following it up with some more smoke. He 
now lifts or lowers the hand holding the 
tool so that the cover is raised an inch 
above the hive. The smoker is next set 
down upon the ground, when the cover is 
gently lifted off — gently, because this is im- 
portant. 




Fig. 9. 



-Method of inserting the hive-tool under the 
r ; blowing smoke in the gap thus made. 



Sometimes much more smoke will be re- 
quired than others. If the atmosphere is a 
little chilly, or if it be immediately after a 
rain during a honey flow, much more smoke 
will be needed than on a warm balmy day 
when bees are at work in the fields. If 
they are at aU nervous the smoker should 
be brought into play again; indeed, at such 



times we would advise putting it between 
the knees. See SiiOKE and Siiokees. 

This nervousness may not immediately be 
recognized by a novice; but for his special 
benefit it should be said that, when bees are 
subdued and require no more smoke, they 
will be do^vn between the frames almost out 
of sight ; but if they are inclined to " re- 
sent the intrusion," dozens and dozens of 
them may have their heads sticking up; 
and as the apiarist proceeds to lift out a 
frame he may meet with a " warm recep- 
tion." But before this takes place he will 
usually see on the part of the bees a nervous, 
quick movement, their bodies twitching 
either to the right or to the left, apparently 
read}'' to take wing. When they do so, it 
will be a quick sharp dart, without warn- 
ing, for any exposed part of the beekeeper^s 
anatomy. But even if the bees do make a 
general onslaught, and grab as if about to 
strike, stings may be averted if the opera- 
tor is quick enough to brush the bee or bees 
off. There is an interval of a fraction of a 
second, not very long, it is true, in which, 
after the bee shoves its claws into the flesh, 
it can be brushed off, just before the sting 
gets into action, for a bee, when it stings, 
must have a good strong hold, and it is 
while it is taking this hold that the apiarist 
can often save himself many a wicked jab. 

If, then, the bees seem inclined to fly up, 
they should be smoked just enough to keep 
them down. If an attendant is present, let 
him use the smoker. See Stixgs^ subhead 
" How to Avoid being Stung." 

HOW TO HAXDLE UXSPACED FRAMES. 

To get at the center frame, crowd the 
frames, adjacent to it, one at a time, toward 
the sides of the hive. This will give room 
to lift out the desired frame. Beginners 
are very apt to pull the frame out without 
spacing the frames apart. This roUs the 
bees over and over, enrages and maims 
them, and moreover runs a pretty good 
chance of killing the queen. Lift the frame 
out carefully, and be careful not to knock 
the end-bars against the sides of the hive. 
If it is one's first experience he may be 
nervous, and do things a little hurriedly. 
As a reward, the bees will quite likely sting 
him and make him stiU more nervous. To 
avoid this, proceed very cautiously and 
make the movements deliberate. Having 



516 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 




E. D. Townsend illustrating for beginners the proper use of smoke in opening a hive. 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 



517 



removed the frame, hold it up as shown in 
Fig. 1, which we will call the first position. 
Perhaps the queen is not to be seen on 
this side, so it may be necessary to turn it 
over and see the other side. If the comb is 
not heavy with honey, it can be turned 
right over with the bottom-bar resting hori- 
zontally. But a better way, and a good 




Fig. 1. — First position of frame. 




Fig. 2. — Second position. 

Arrows show direction in 

which the frame is 

now to be turned. 



Fig. 3. — Third position. 

Arrows show direction 

from which the frame 

has just been 

turned. 




Fig. 4. — Fourth position of frame. 

habit to fall into, and one that beekeepers 
usually adopt, is to raise the right hand until 
the top-bar is perpendicular, as in Fig. 2. 

Now revolve the frame like a swinging 
door, or the leaf of a book, so that the 
opposite side is exposed to view (see Fig. 



2). Lower the right hand as in Fig. 3 until 
it reaches the position as shown in Fig. 4. 
To examine the other side follow the exact 
reverse order. 

Having examined this frame, lean it up 
against the side of the hive, and remove 
another frame next to the one already taken. 
Examine this in like manner. Lean this 
also against one corner of the hive, or 
return it to its place ; lift out another, and 
so on until all have been examined. Should 
the queen not yet have been found, look the 
frames all over again, being careful to ex- 
amine the bottom edge of the combs. See 
'* How TO Maxipulate Hoffmax Frames.-" 

If the queen is not found on the second 
examination it may be advisable to go over 
the frames once more; but very often it is 
better to close the hive and wait an hour or 
two, after which one can go back and 
search the frames as before. By this time 
the colony will have recovered itself, and 
the queen, in all probability, have shifted 
her position from the bottom or sides of 
the hive to one of the combs. Nine times 
out of ten she will be found at the second 
going-over of the frames, without any 
trouble. When the queen cannot be found 
the second time going over, as a rule hunt- 
ing longer is not advisable because one is 
liable to waste a good deal of valuable 
time: and it is, therefore, better to wait 
till the queen comes out of her hiding-place 
back to the brood-frames themselves.* 

In the case of black colonies, especially 
where very populous, it is sometimes nec- 
essary to lift the hive off the stand and put 
it down to one side. On the old stand place 
an empty hive, affixing an entrance-guard. 
(See Drones.) Take the frames one by 
one out of the old hive, and shake them in 
front at the entrance of the empty hive on 
the old stand. Black bees fall off very 
readily; and as they crawl toward the hive 
the queen can be easily seen; but if she 
eludes scrutiny she will be barred by the 
1' erf orated zinc where she may be readily 
discovered trying to make her way thru. 
After all the frames pre shaken, if she 
cannot be found, take the old hive, now 
empty, and dump it, causing the bees to be 
thrown before the zinc. She will soon be 
seen trying to pass the guard. 

* If the bees are inclined to rob, use an empty body 
to hang half of the frames in, placing them in pairs, 
and pair-off the rest in the hive being wori.ed on. — 
A. C. Miller. 



518 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 



We have told how to find the queen; but 
the reader must not imagine that it is going 
to be as difficult as this every time. She is 
usually to be found on the center frames; 
and, especially with Italians, is likely to be 
found on the first or second frame handled. 

When loose frames or frames without 
spacing shoulders are put back in the hives 
they must be spaced carefully 1% inches 
from center to center as near as it is possi- 
ble. It is not practicable by the rule of 
thumb or finger to get them all exactly this 
distance so that there will be some combs a 
little thicker than others, even when the 
greatest of care is used. If one is a little 
careless (as most people are) there will be 
considerable variation in the thickness of 
the combs, and the thicker ones will have to 
be shaved down with an uncapping-knife 
at the first extracting. If the combs are 
left thick and thin there will be danger of 
killing a good many bees in inserting and 
removing the frames, especially when the 
position of the frame is changed. All of 
this nuisance of irregularity in thickness of 
combs can be avoided by the use of self- 
spacing or Hoffman frames. 

There is no cut-and-try spacing as with 
unspaced frames, no big and little fingers 
to get the distances wide and narrow, and 
the beginner has no difficulty in determin- 
ing just how far to place the combs; for if 
he places the shoulders in contact they will 
always be the right distance apart. 

There is not much danger of killing bees 
provided one proceeds carefully, using a 
little smoke in blowing the bees away from 
the contact edges of the frames. When the 
hive is ready to close up, all that is neces- 
sary is to shove together the frames that 
are separated two and three inches apart, 
or put in the groups of two, three, or four 
frames at a time, as the case may be, and 
crowd the whole together, finally putting on 
the cover. On the other hand, when un- 
spaced frames are handled, each frame must 
be put back into position separately. This 
takes a large amount of time whatever we 
may say of the time consumed in separat- 
ing spaced frames apart. See Frames^ 
Self-spacing; also Frames. 

It is important to observe in the handling 
of Hoffman frames that smoke can be used 
to very good advantage. Just a little blown 
down between the contact edges or where 
the edges are to come together will drive 



the bees away so they can be shoved to- 
gether. Mr. Hoffman, the inventor of the 
frames, stated that the judicious use of a 
smoker would save time, avoid bee-killing, 
and, taking it all in all, he could handle 
twice as many colonies on his spaced frames 
as he could on the ordinary old-style frames 
without spacing attachments. 

There are some localities where propolis, 
or bee glue, is much worse than others. In 
such places the Hoffman metal-spaced frame 
has the advantage. The illustrations will 
show their special features. They are some- 
what more expensive, but they are stronger ; 
and as they have only points of contact 
there is less danger of killing bees. 

HOW TO MANIPULATE HOFFMAN FRAMES. 

The manner of opening hives containing 
Hoffman or any other self-spacing frames, 
is just the same as that for hives contain- 




Metal-spaced Hoffman frame. 

ing lose or unspaced frames already de- 
scribed, but the manner of handling the 
combs is somewhat different. 

If there is a division-board in the hive 
this is first removed in order to give room 
for the handling of the frames themselves. 
If there is none the outside frame is pried 
over to the side of the hive and lifted out 
very carefully. This will then make room 
for the removal of any two, three, four, or 
five frames all in blocks. As an ordinary 
Hoffman or self -spacing frame will be some- 
what glued together by propolis, it will be 
necessary to use the hive-tool to separate 
the frames in the group. They should be 
left together because they can be put back 
in one block. 

In removing self -spacing or Hoffman 
frames from a brood-nest, it is not neces- 
sary to scatter them all around the outside 
of the hive, leaning them up against each 
other in such a way that it kills bees, but 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 



519 




Handling closed-end frames in groups of three at a time. 



each group of frames, two, three, or four, 
as the case may be, can be left sticking 
together stationed on the outside of the 
hive. There is no danger then of killing 
the bees between the frames, and the neces- 
sary information can be secured from the 
one or two surfaces of combs examined. 
When the ordinary unspaced frames are 
used, it is necessary to handle each frame 
individually, because they cannot be picked 
up very well in groups of three or four like 
the Hoffman or any other good self -spacing 
frame. See Feames, Self-spacing. 

In ordinary practice it is not necessary 
to hunt up the queen. The examination of 
the surface of one or two combs will show 
whether eggs are being laid. If eggs and 
brood in various stages are found in regu- 
lar order it may be assumed that the queen 
was in the hive within three days at least. 

The location of the queen can be deter- 
mined somewhat by the manner in which 
the eggs are laid. If the examination of 
one comb shows no eggs and an examina- 
tion of another shows that there is young 
brood, the position of the queen can be 
traced by the age of the brood until eggs 
are found, and the queen may at the time 
of the examination be at one side of the 



brood-nest rather than the other. After she 
goes clear across she is quite liable to jump 
from one side clear to the other. 

Sometimes the behavior of the bees is 
such as to indicate where the queen is. Her 
location can generally be determined imme- 
diately after releasing the queen when in- 
troducing, because the bees will have their 
heads pointing in one direction ; and some- 
times by a hum of rejoicing the queen can 
be traced, especially if she has been well 
received. 

DISLODGING BEES PROM COMBS. 

For many manipulations like giving brood 
to another hive, or for the purpose of ex- 
tracting, it becomes necessary to dislodge 
the bees from the frames. This can be 
done by brushing them off as shown under 
EXTRACTING;, or they can be pounded off 
with a blow of the fist on the back of the 
hand, grasping the end-bar. Or one may 
grasp the end-bars solidly, and with a quick 
downward jerk remove all or nearly all of 
the bees. When more convenient one can 
swing the frame, pendulum fashion, with 
one arm, letting the corner drop violently 
against the ground w^hile the other end is 
held in the hand. 



520 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 




Dr. Miller's method of jarring bees off the combs. 



HOW TO ASCERTAIN THE CONDITION OF THE 
HIVE WITHOUT HANDLING FRAMES. 

A good many, in working for extracted 
honey, operate on the tier-up principle. 




How to bump the bees ofif a comb. 



leaving' all the supers on the hives until the 
season is over. By that time it is important 
that robbers be given no opportunity to 
help themselves to sweets, when the honey 
is taken off ; but before doing so the condi- 
tion of the supers should be determined in 
advance. In order to keep ahead of the 
bees it is necessary to make an examination 
from time to time. Toward the early part 
of the season it is customary to place the 
empty supers under those partly filled. As 
the season begins to draw toward its close, 
the process is reversed — that is to say, the 
empties are put on top of those partly 
filled. 

In order to determine the amount of 
hone}^ in anj^ super, it is not necessary to 
take off the cover and pull the hive apart. 
If it is tiered up four and five stories high, 
it involves a large amount of labor and 
considerable lifting to pull the supers off 
one by one, inviting the attention of rob- 
bers in the operation. If one is supplied 
with a good strong steel hive-tool and a 
smoker, he can get a fair idea of the filling 
of any super, without even removing the 
cover from the hive. In the series of snap- 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 



521 




Determining the filling of the supers and whether reaay to coir.e err. 



522 



MANIPULATION OF COLONIES 



shots on previous page, the reader will be 
able to gather, almost at a glance, the ex- 
act method to be used in determining what 
the bees are doing. 

I^t us take an example. We will start 
with the hive shown in Fig. 5, previous 
page. It has three supers. The middle one 
is the one on which the bees began work 
first, and at the time of this examination it 
should be completely filled. The bottom 
super was placed under after the middle 
one was about half filled. The colony was 
again crowded for room, but since there 
was only a week or so more of honey flow, 
the third super was put on top, so that the 
first two will be certain to be completely 
filled before the bees begin work on the 
third. 




Fig. 13. — How a smoker and a hive- tool w 
one to learn the condition of the 
supers at one glance. 



enable 



At this time we desire to know what the 
bees have actually done; so, without re- 
moving the telescope cover on top nor the 
super cover directly beneath, we extend the 
thin blade of the hive-tool, broad end, be- 
tween the two lower supers, at the hack end 
of the hive; for one should always en- 
deavor to keep out of the flight of the bees. 
This is gradually shoved in until the blade 
has been pushed in anywhere from ^4 to a 
full inch. A gap is now formed, of ap- 
proximately 1-16 inch, just wide enough so 
that a little smoke will drive back the bees. 
A slight pressure downward separates the 



two upper supers about an inch at the back 
end, when more smoke is blown in. The 
tool is pushed down a little further, mak- 
ing the gap a little wider. See Fig. 6. But 
we are not quite satisfied as to the condi- 
tion of the supers, so we push the tool and 
supers upward, as shown in Fig. 7, until 
we have the hive-tool in position as shown 
in Fig. 8. Here it acts as a prop, when, 
with the intelligent use of the smoker, we 
can drive back the bees enough so that we 
can see the condition of the two supers, or 
enough to determine whether the bees need 
more room. 

But suppose we are not quite satisfied. 
We turn to the position shown in Fig. 9, 
disregard the hive-tool, and lift the two 
supers higher, the hive-tool falling on the 
ground. When doing this we slide the two 
supers about an inch backward so that the 
other end will fulcrum on a safe bearing. 
If the super is slipped forward, as shown 
in Fig. 7, it can be readily seen that it 
cannot be tilted up very high without slid- 
ing off in front. See Figs. 9, 10, 11. 

Usually an examination of this sort is 
quite sufficient. If the supers are not filled 
they are quietly let back into place, using 
sufficient smoke to drive the bees away so 
they will not be crushed as the hive parts 
come together again. The operation shown 
in Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, is then repeated 
with other hives, taking from 30 to 60 sec- 
onds per hive. At no time have we lifted 
but a part of the dead weight. When the 
supers are held at an angle the load is on 
the fulcrum point of contact, while the 
hand sustains only a small part of the 
weight. 

Fig. 12 shows the method employed when 
supers are apparently well filled and ready 
to come off. The top super is removed and 
leaned up against the leg of the operator. 
The middle super that has been filled can 
now be taken oft"; but before doing so a 
second examination is made as shown. It 
is set off, when the bottom super may also 
be removed if ready. If so, the top super 
is put back, the idea being to confine the 
bees to as small a super capacity as possi- 
ble as the season draws to a close, in order 
to make the bees finish their work. 

Fig. 13 shows a slightly different pose 
from that indicated in Fig. 8. While the 
position of the operator is somewhat 
cramped, it is true, yet it is much easier 



MARIGOLD 



523 




Fig. li. — Shaking bees out of a super. 



than tearing down the hive, super by super, 
and replacing. 

In Fig. 14 is a case where the season is 
closing abruptly. The bees have only par- 
tially begun work in the top super. To 
leave it on would mean that all the supers 
would have honey in, and none of them 
quite completed. Accordingly we shake the 
bees out of the top super, and remove it 
until we can determine a little more about 
the season. If there should be some good 
rains and warm weather, the season may 
take another start. In that case a super 
cover temporarily placed between the top 
super and the two below is removed, when 
work will be resumed in the third super. 
If we were sure that the season was draw- 
ing to a close, the top super should be re- 
moved in the first place. 

HOW TO PUT ON ESCAPE-BOARDS. 

In going thru bee-yards we have noted 
the fact over and over that some beekeep- 
ers have an awkward way of putting on 
escapes. They will pull the hive apart, 



super by super, place the escape on the 
brood-nest or on a super partly filled, then 
one by one put back the supers. If no 
honey is coming in, this will probably mean 
that robbers will get started. 

There is no need of removing any super, 
nor a cover, for that matter. All that is 
necessary is to apply the principles illus- 
trated in Figs. 5, 6,^7, 8, 9, 10, 11. See 
also illustration imder CoiiB Honey_, to 
Produce^ showing how to put on an escape- 
board. 

MARIGOLD {Gaillardia pulchellaFousr.) . 
— This is found all over the United States, 
but, so far as is known, it does not yield 
any great amount of honey except in Texas, 
where it is considered one of the main 
honey-producing plants. It begins to yield 
in May or June, giving a rich golden honey. 
While it is praised greatly by many con- 
noisseurs in the South, it would not rank 
well with the clover and basswood of the 
North. The comb honey is golden yellow, 
not white. 



524 



MARKETING HONEY 




Marigold, great honey plant of Texas, but found all over the United States. 



MARKETING SONEY. — Everything, 
nowadays, depends on having goods neat, 
clean, and in attractive shape, to have them 
" go off " readily ; even our hoes have to be 
gilt-edged, for we noticed some once at a 
certain hardware store, and it seemed that 
those that were gilt, or bronzed, perhaps, 
were selling in advance of the plain ones. 
We've been told of gilt-edged butter that 
sold for fabulous prices, but we hardly 
think it will be advisable to put our honey 
up in that way, altho we do wish it to look 
as well as any of the other farm products. 

In order to get a fair price for his honey, 
one should watch the markets. To obtain 
this information, he should take one or 
more bee journals. Thru the medium of 
these he will learn whether the honey crop 



is going to be small or large. This he can 
not determiue from his own locality. If 
one has secured a good crop of honey, and 
learned that the crop thruout the country 
is small, he must not be in haste to dispose 
of it to the first buyer. In any case he 
must exercise judgment. 

HOW TO MAKE HONEY SELL IN THE LOCAL 
MARKETS. 

The grocer should be supplied with a lot 
of the choicest extracted, in tumblers and 
bottles and best comb honey in shipping 
cases. Some of it should be set off in 
paper cartons, and some of it should be 
plain. There should be strips of paper 
about 1^2 by 2 or 3 inches, which when a 



MARKETINO HONEY 



625 



customer enters, should be curled in the 
shape of a trough, dipped into the ex- 
tracted honey, twirled around till all the 
drip is off, and passed quickly to the cus- 
tomer to sample. If he would like another 
taste, hand him another slip of paper, 
which he is to fold as nearly as possible in 
the form of a spoon. If the honey is ripe 
— that is, good and thick — the taster will 
want some. There is one thing that is 
very important. Something should be done 
to draw a crowd. Prepare a nucleus in a 
glass hive, and put it up near the window 
where the crowd can see the bees. Some- 
times the crowd to see the queen or " king 
bee," will be so great as to block the street ; 
but the producer will be the gainer, because 
his honey is inside. 

This nucleus or glass hive should be 1^2 
stories high, with glass panels on the sides. 



r^ HONEY 

We Produce It. 
WESEbUlT. 





The silent salesman. 

It should contain a single comb of bees, 
brood in all stages, a queen, and just over 
the frame four sections of honey, filled or 
partly filled. The purpose of the sections 
4s to show the relationship of the comb- 
honey production to the brood-nest. In 
fact, the nucleus will be a vertical section 
of a 1%-story hive run for comb honey. 
See Observatory Hives. 

There should be on hand for a day or 
two an expert to explain about the honey, 
how it is produced, how good it is, etc., 
and to show that it is the most wholesome 
sweet in the world for children. He should 
then reinforce his arguments by handing 
out honey-leafiets that contain cooking reci- 
pes, and that tell why the doctors recom- 
mend honey in preference to cane sugars, 



or why some invalids can eat honey when 
they can not eat other forms of sweet. 
Perhaps the producer himself will be the 
best man to do the " talking" ; and, there- 
fore, he had better stay with his grocer a 
day or two, or at least be on hand when he 
is likely to have a run of customers. He 
should charge the grocer nothing for his 
services, telling him that he will take his 
pay out of the increased sales. 

If one succeeds well in one market, and 
the novelty of the thing wears off, let him 
try another in a neighboring town, and so 
on complete the circuit of towns around 
about. After one has done all this he will 
not need to ship much if any to the city 
markets, save commission, save freight, and 
have his honey within a few miles of where 
he can look after it, without being at the 
mercy of a city commission house. See 
Shipping Cases; Honey-peddling; also 
Honey Exhibits, subhead " Live - Bee 
Demonstration Work.''' 

SENDING honey TO COMMISSION HOUSES. 

Commission houses thruout our cities are 
great aids to beekeepers in disposing of 
their honey; notwithstanding, a word of 
caution should be entered against being in 
too great haste to lump off one's honey to 
these places. One may argue that he would 
not 'have time to dispose of his product in 
small amounts; but many a beekeeper has 
found to his sorrow the mistake he made in 
contributing to the flood of honey at a cer- 
tain commission house. The consequence 
is, that at that place honey is a " glut on 
the market." 

But it very often happens that one can 
get a higher price by sending to these com- 
mission men. The general trade looks to 
them for supply, and they make it their 
business to find a market. 

One should never send honey on commis- 
sion or outright sale to a new firm, no mat- 
ter what it advertises, how big it talks of 
its financial standing, nor what promises it 
makes. He should go to the bank and find 
out its responsibility, and ask the commis- 
sion house to send the names of beekeepers 
who have dealt with it. But even comply- 
ing with this request should not in itself 
be considered an evidence of good faith. 
Take time to write to the parties and ask 
if their dealings were entirely satisfactory, 



526 



MARKETING HONEY 



and whether they would advise shipping to 
the commission house in question. The 
temptations in the commission business are 
very great ; and if the broker is not honest 
he may take advantage of the producer. 
Commission men charge all the way from 
5 to 10 per cent commission; and in addi- 
tion to this the shipper is required to stand 
freight, dray age, and all breakage. 

Most commission houses will make ad- 
vances in cash on receiving the honey ; and 
a few of them will make payments as fast 
as it is sold; but a majority make no re- 
mittance until all the honey is sold, and 
sometimes not even then until the beekeeper 
writes complaining, and inquiring regard- 
ing his honey or his money. 

Commission men should be strictly hon- 
est; but some of them yield to the tempta- 




Sturwold's show case for honG\'. 

tion of quoting a higher price than they are 
actually realizing in every-day sales. The 
beekeeper complains when he receives his 
returns, and he is met with the statement 
that his honey was of poor quality, and had 
to be sold for less money; or that the 
honey came badly broken, and had to be 
lumped off as chunk honey; or he may be 
told that the "market suddenly fell" (which 
may be true), and it was not therefore pos- 
sible for the house to realize quotations 
previously given. It is a common trick on 
the part of dishonest commission men to 
quote high prices, then sell for lower prices 
in order to *' move off stock." From com- 
plaints that have come in, it is certain that 
honey has actually sold at several cents 
higher per pound than was shown by the 



account of sales rendered the beekeeper, on 
which commission was based. In this way 
commission men practically take two com- 
missions. Suppose the honey sold for 12 
cents. The broker makes returns to the 
beekeeper of 10 cents, and then charges 10 
per cent commission on this 10 cents. He 
thus makes the 2 cents which he actually 
steals, and then the 10 per cent which is 
rightfully his. 

In the foregoing some of the tricks that 
are practiced by some of the unscrupulous 
commission houses are set forth. But the 
real facts are that all, or nearly all, of the 
men who quote prices in the bee journals 
are responsible and honest men, especially 
those who have been doing business for 
years ; for no commission man can hold his 
name in the advertising columns of the 
average bee journal today if there are com- 
plaints entered by beekeepers against him. 
And in this connection it should be said 
that the mere fact that one's bank says a 
certain commission house has good jSnan- 
cial rating should not be considered as evi- 
dence that the house is also honest. It 
would be safer to trust the man who is 
honest and not responsible than the one 
who is financially good and yet " up to the 
tricks of the trade." 

At the time of making shipment, send 
bill of lading to the commission house, and 
name price below which the honey must not 
be sold. A commission house has no right 
to sell at a lower figure until it is given 
instructions. Before the honey is packed 
it should be carefully weighed so that one 
will know exactly how much honey he has 
sent. Large shipments should not be sent 
at first. If in any case honey is sent, and 
the commission house fails to make returns, 
or refuses to do so, it is a criminal act. 
Such house has no right to appropriate 
one's honey without rendering some sort of 
returns. Never take a note in payment 
from an irresponsible firm or individual, 
for legally a note is a settlement. 

SELLING FOR CASH. 

If the producer can sell for cash and the 
party is responsible, he should do so, pro- 
vided he can get market prices. He should 
be cautious in dealing with firms wanting 
to buy for cash, with no rating in Dun's or 
Bradstreet's commercial agencies. To make 



MESQUITE 



527 



himself secure he should ship to his name 
at the point of destination, and then send 
bill of lading to some bank in the city with 
instructions to turn over bill of lading to 
purchaser on receipt of cash. Banks will 
charge a small fee for doing the business, 
but the shipper will be safe. The law gives 
the producer greater protection when his 
honey is sold on commission than when 
sold for cash, provided money is not re- 
ceived before honey is turned over. To 
recapitulate : Never deliver honey to a con- 
cern on an outright sale or deal till the 
banks say the broker is entirely responsi- 
ble; then if everything is in writing pro- 
ducers are able to collect by due process of 
law; but if the buyer is irresponsible, pro- 
ducers will be throwing away money in 
trying to do anything with him in a legal 
way. For further consideration see Hon- 
ey Peddlixg^ Honey Exhibits, and Ship- 
ping Cases. 

MATING OF QUEEN AND DRONE.— 

See Drones. 

MESQUITE {Prosopis juliflora, variety 
glandulosa) . — A leguminous tree common 
in southern Texas, New Mexico, and Ari- 
zona, and important in old Mexico, more 
particularly in Sonora, where it grows to 
the dignity of a fine timber tree in the val- 
ley of the Yaqui River. Growing in a 
semiarid country it is always possible to 
get a yield of honey from the mesquite 
except where it grows so far north that the 
cold injures it. In Uvalde Co., Texas, it is 
regarded by the beekeepers as a great tree 
for honey. There it is little more than a 
shrub ; but further south in Mexico, around 
Monterey, it becomes of far more economic 
importance. The Texans class the mesquite 
honey high; but we should be inclined to 
rate it among the ambers. There are sev- 
eral species of mesquite, but the foregoing 
is the one usually referred to by beekeep- 
ers. The others are probably equally good 
for honey. 

" One of the main sources of nectar," 
says L. H. Scholl, " for the Texas bee- 
keeper is the mesquite brush and trees that 
cover a very large area of the Lone Star 
State. As unimportant in appearance as 
this bushy tree is, it is of gi-eater importance 
to the beekeeper than most people suppose." 

The mesquite (pronounced mes-keet) has 
two separate and distinct blooming periods 



during the year. The first comes during 
April, and the other during the last of 
June or the beginning of July. These 
periods are sometimes a week or so earlier 
or later, according to the conditions of the 
season, the lateness or earliness of the 
spring, cold weather, and the quantity of 
rain during the preceding fall and winter. 
In this last respect the mesquite is peculiar 
in that, if rain has been plentiful in the fall 
and winter, no matter how dry the follow- 
ing spring or summer may be, there will be 
a profusion of bloom and a heavy flow of 
nectar. This is due to the ability of the 
plant to store up water, from which it is 
enabled to put forth its growth, and also to 
the fact that its roots penetrate the soil to 
a great depth, spreading out quite a dis- 
tance in the soil. It is remarkable how 
large the roots of a very small shrub of 
mesquite are in proportion to its size. It 
shows at once that it is well adapted to a 
dry region. 

The honey is light amber in color and of 
a good quality. It has been said many 
times that mesquite honey could be used 
better for an every-day table honey than 
any other of the Texan honeys, since one 
never tires of it, as he is apt to do of 
honey that has a particular flavor that may 
be more pleasing at first. 

The long spikes of feathery blossoms 
measure from three to five inches in length. 
When the second blooming time arrives, the 
beans from the first blooming, which are 
from six to eight inches long, will be in all 
stages of ripening. These are greedily 
eaten hy all kinds of stock and cattle, and 
are of considerable value in this way. Even 
human beings find that these beans have a 
good taste, and children particularly relish 
them each season as they ripen. They vary 
considerably, however, in taste, some being 
so bitter that they cannot be eaten, while 
others are vei*y sweet and agreeable. The 
wood of the mesquite is valuable for furni- 
ture and cabinet work, as it takes a fine 
polish, and mesquite posts are used very 
extensively. 

THE mesquite IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 

In the Hawaiian Islands the mesquite is 
not only the chief but almost the only 
source of floral honey. Here it is called 
algarroba, or, in the native tongue, keawe. 



62S 



MESQUITE 




Mesquite leaf. 



The history of honey plants offers no more 
interesting chapter than that describing the 
introduction of this tree and its rapid in- 
crease, until today it yields annually more 
than 200 tons of algarroba honey, and has 
rendered beekeeping profitable in sections 
of the islands where previously little honey 
was stored. In earlier times the apiaries 
seldom exceeded 50 colonies in number, and 
were located near forest trees growing in 
the mountains, which yielded comparatively 
little nectar. 



About 1828 the seed was brought from 
the Royal Gardens of Paris by Father 
Bachelot, founder of the Roman Catholic 
missions; and a tree raised from this seed 
still stands on Fort Street in Honolulu. 
Once introduced, the mesquite increased 
with remarkable rapidity. It thrives from 
the level of the seacoast, where the spray of 
the waves falls upon its foliage, up to an 
altitude of 2,000 feet, but succeeds best at 
a slight elevation in a semiarid climate. As 
the Hawaiian Islands are of recent vol- 



MIGRATORY BEEKEEPING 



529 



canic origin the kinds of soil here are lim- 
ited. The algarroba forests are confined 
chiefly to the lee or western side of the 
islands. The reason for this is that the 
windward or eastern side is exposed to the 
trade winds, which blow, with few excep- 
tions, during the entire year. As the result 
of these winds the climate on one side of 
the islands is entirely different from that 
on the other side, even in the case of an 
island that is only a few miles across. On 
the windward side there is a heavy rainfall, 
in some places in excess of 200 inches for 
the year, and it may exceed 400. On the 
lee side there is much less rain, or the cli- 
mate may be so arid that the land in places 
may be little better than a desert. Where 
there is much rain the mesquite is entirely 
absent or does not grow well. 

On the western side of the islands there 
are vast forests of algarroba trees covering 
thousands of acres of land. In the island 
of Oahu alone there are not far from 
17,000 acres. Cattle are continually dis- 
seminating the seed, and the number of 
trees is also largelj^ increased by system- 
atic planting. Prior to October, 1916, there 
were planted over 100,000 trees in Oahu. 
It is estimated that a tree with a 30-foot 
spread of branches will produce 2^2 pounds 
of honey in a normal year. One strip of 
algarroba forest in Molokai supports nearly 
2,000 colonies. It will not average more 
than half a mile in width, and about 30 
miles of it are used for bees. Of the 600 
or more tons of honey produced in the 
Hawaiian Islands more than 200 tons come 
from the flowers of algarroba. The trees 
begin to bloom when they are from four to 
six years old. There are two periods of 
blooming. The first begins in March or 
later, according to the locality of the island, 
and lasts until August. In Hawaii the 
second period ends about the first of Octo- 
ber. The long period of blooming adds 
greatly to the value of this tree to bee- 
keepers. 

The honey is water-white, about as thick 
as that of white clover, and possesses an 
agreeable altho peculiar flavor. It is suit- 
able for a table honey. Granulation occurs 
soon after it is gathered. Honey which has 
granulated in the combs is placed in huge 
solar extractors which will hold several 
hundred combs at a time. The sun's heat 
liquefies the honey without darkening it. 



and also melts most of the wax, which is 
extracted from the "slumgum" by the usual 
methods. 

The trees grow rapidly, and attain a 
height of 45 to 50 feet, with a diameter of 
two feet or more — much larger than they 
grow in Texas. If necessary the roots will 
go down to a great depth after water. 
Owing to its irregular habit of branching, 
the tree does not present an attractive ap- 
pearance. The spikes of sweet-scented 
densely crowded smaU flowers are five or 
more inches long and produce an abun- 
dance of poUen. The yellow pods are six 
to nine inches long, and are eagerly eaten 
by cattle. The annual crop of pods in 
Oahu alone is estimated at 25,000 tons. 

METAMORPHOSIS OF BEES. — See 

Developmext of Bees. 

MIGRATORY BEEKEEPING.— Expe- 
rience has shown that the secretion of nec- 
tar in a given locality varies sometimes, 
even within a distance of only a few miles. 
It will happen sometimes that the home- 
yard bees will be gathering no honey when 
an outyard eight or ten miles away will be 
securing a fairly good crop. This is due to 
the fact that the character of and moisture 
in the soil make possible the gTOwth of 
some plants that will not take root in other 
locations only a few miles away. For ex- 
ample, a bee-yard may be situated in a val- 
ley close to a stream, along which there will 
be a heavy growth of honey-yielding plants. 
Within a few miles from there, perhaps on 
higher ground, and soil less productive, 
there will be nothing. 

Sometimes one finds conditions like this 
— in one locality a large amount of buck- 
wheat will be grown ; ten miles away from 
there, there will be none whatever. The 
same is true of red clover, alsike, and a 
number of other artificial-pasturage crops. 

Again, it will happen that in one year 
when there is an excess of rainfall the loca- 
tion in the valley will be too wet for the 
proper growth of plants yielding nectar, 
while on the higher ground, a few miles 
away, conditions will be just right for a 
fine flow of honey. 

The knowledge of these varying condi- 
tions in localities only a few miles apart 
has led some beekeepers to practice what is 
known as migratory beekeeping. For ex- 
ample, in one yard it is evident that bees 



530 



MIGRATORY BEEKEEPING 



are not getting any honey, and there is no 
flora of any sort that gives any promise of 
any. On the other hand, there is another 
yard that is doing well, and there are still 
other locations without bees where there 
are immense quantities of alsike or red 
clover, or of buckwheat. Evidently it is a 
part of wisdom and business sense to move 
the yard that is yielding no returns to the 
location in which the honey can be secured. 

In 1913, and again in 1914, for example, 
we found that our bees at our Medina yard 
were on the verge of starvation. We had 
one small yard in a swamp in Summit Co. 
where aster and general fall pasturage were 
abundant, and where the bees were building 
up well. We moved over there 200 to 300 
colonies, and the same bees that required to 
be fed near Medina when placed in their 
new environment began to store honey, rear 
brood and build up. 

Migratory Beekeep- 
ing is now being prac- 
ticed on a large scale 
in the extreme west- 
em part of the United 
States. Bees are be- 
ing moved in carlots 
from Texas, Idaho, 
Montana and Nevada 
into California and 
back again. In many 
cases the lar'ge pro- 
ducers find that they 
can move the bees 
from Idaho, Montana, 
or Wyoming in one 
and two carlots in 
the fall to the citrus 
groves of California, 
build them up on 
eucalyptus during the 
winter, catch a crop 
of orange honey in 
the spring, then of 
mountain sage, after 
which the bees are 
loaded on the cars and 
moved to the state 
whence they came 
where they catch a 
crop of alfalfa. In 
one case in particular, 
one large producer 
says he cleaned up in 
this way $50,000 in 



one season; but this was during war-time 
prices when honey was up to 22^ a pound 
in carlots. Some good beekeepers even 
during normal prices are making migra- 
tory beekeeping pay big returns. 

Bees are also moved in package form 
without combs in lots of a thousand pounds 
at a time by express. (See Moving Bees.) 
One large producer in Nevada had 1,200 
two-pound packages of bees sent him by 
express from California after the orange 
and sage bloom. 

MILKWEED {Asclepias syriaca L.). — 
There belong to the milkweed family, or 
Asclepiadaceae, some 1900 species, widely 
distributed in the temperate and tropical 
regions of both hemispheres. About 22 
species occur in eastern North America, 
and 25 more in the Southern and Western 




Common Milkweed. 



MILKWEED 



531 



States. The common milkweed, or silkweed 
(A. syriaca) is the most common species in 
the Northern States. It is a stout plant, 
four or five feet tall, with oblong leaves 
and purple flowers, growing in fields and 
waste land. 

In California A. mexicana and A. speci- 
osa are of great value to beekeepers. Milk- 
weed has been listed as a honey plant in 
many States, as Massachusetts, North Caro- 
lina, Tennessee, Texas, Nebraska, Califor- 
nia, and Michigan; but it is comparatively 
rare in the prairie region. In Michigan, 
milkweed is very abundant in the northern 
part of the Lower Peninsula in Cheboygan, 
Emmet, Charlevoix, Antrim, and Grand 
Traverse Counties, where an average of 50 
pounds surplus per colony is sometimes ob- 
tained. When the weather is favorable the 
nectar is secreted very rapidly, and a large 
eolonj^ may gather 13 to 17 pounds in a 
single day. A colony has been known 
to bring in an average of 11 pounds 
per day for 10 successive days, and in 
one apiary a yield of 95 pounds per col- 
ony was obtained. The plants grow on 
every kind of soil, from a shore sand to 
heavy clay land, but it is chiefly from 
plants growing on heavy soil that the nec- 
tar is obtained. In special localities milk- 
Aveed is so abundant as to exclude largely 
all other vegetation. It is classed as a 
noxious weed, and farmers are required by 
law to mow it down and often try to eradi- 
cate it; but except on a small scale this is 
impossible. It appears to be spreading; 
and as the raspberry disappears it is yearly 
becoming more valuable as a honey plant. 

The common milkweed {A. syriaca) 
blooms from about July 15 to August 15. 
The honey is excellent and compares well 
with that obtained from raspberry. It is 
white, or tinged with yellow, and has a 
pleasant fruity flavor somewhat suggestive 
of quince, with a slight tang. It is so 
thick and heavy that it may be necessary 
to warm the combs before extracting. The 
capping of the comb honey is nearly al- 
ways pearly white. It sells readily by rea- 
son of its fine flavor, and is in every way 
suitable for table use. 

The small flowers are in flat-topped clus- 
ters or umbels, and are green, white, yel- 
low, red, or purple, but never in our species 
blue. They are called pinch-trap flowers 
since they possess a remarkable clip-mech- 



anism found in no other family of plants 
in the world. 

Many species of milkweed are probably 
harmless to honeybees — only A. syriaca and 
A. mexicana, indeed, have been reported as 
causing much loss. In the case of these 
species the bees probably seldom perish ex- 
cept when several legs or other parts be- 
come entangled at the same time. More 
often the activity of the bee is crippled by 
the many clips and pollinia attached to its 
tongue, legs, or antennsB. Butterfly-weed 
(A. tuherosa) and purple milkweed {A. 
purpurascens) are butterfly flowers. 

In South America Araugia alb ens, an- 
other member of the milkweed family, at- 
tracts hosts of moths to its sweet-scented 
flowers. The tongues of the moths are 
caught in the slit-like notches, and as they 
are unable to free themselves they die a 
lingering death. Some years ago it was 
seriously proposed by an economic entomol- 
ogist to employ this plant in the extermina- 
tion of the codling moth, so injurious to ap- 
ples. But this well-laid scheme went agley, 
as the moth would not visit the flowers. 

The way in which the pollen masses are 
clamped to the feet or legs of insects is 
of much interest to beekeepers, and every 
season there are many inquiries in regard 
to this queer phenomenon. The five an- 
thers stand close together, forming a 
sheath around the stigma. Each anther is 
provided with two lateral wings ; and where 
the wings of two adjacent anthers touch, 
there is a narrow slit, larger at the base 
than at the top. The anther, it will be 
recalled, usually consists of two sacs con- 
taining the pollen. But in the milkweed 
the grains of pollen are not separate, but 
are bound together in waxy flattened masses 
called pollinia. Two of these pollinia, or 
club-shaped masses of pollen, belonging to 
two different anthers, are attached by flex- 
ible bands to a small dry membrane, or disc, 
midway between them. In this flat triangu- 
lar disc there is a wedge-shaped slit at one 
end. The disc stands directly back and 
above the slit between the tWo anther wings. 
This is the pinch-trap ready for action. 

Let us now observe what happens when 
a bee alights on the flower in search of 
nectar. In its efforts to obtain a foothold 
on these small smooth flowers it thrusts a 
claw or leg into one of the slits between the 
anther wings. Presently its leg is drawn 



532 



MOTH MILLER 



upward into the wedge-shaped slit in the 
little membranous disc, which soon becomes 
firmly clamped to its leg, or in some cases 
to one of its antennae. The harder the bee 
pulls, the tighter does the little pinch-trap 
hold. When it flies away to another flower 
the pollen masses which, as described above, 
are joined to the little disc by straps, are 
forcibly torn from their pouches. Exposed 
to the air the strap-like stalks dry and 
draw the pollinia close together. Then as 
the bee alights on another flower they are 
easily thrust thru the slit between two of 
the anther wmgs; but once inserted, and 
the insect's leg drawn upward, they can 
not again be withdra^vTi. The bee can ob- 
tain its liberty only by breaking the con- 
necting bands. If this happens, the pollen 
masses are left in a chamber near the stig- 
ma, and the bee bears away the membran- 
ous disc with its empty stalks. Disc after 




Pollen of the milkweed attached to a bee's foot. 

disc may thus become attached to an insect 
until it is crippled or helpless. 

It is stated on the authority of Gibson 
that one season an English beekeeper lost 
thousands of bees from the effects of strings 
of these clips. It was at first supposed that 
they were being destroyed by a fungus. 
Many different explanations have been 
given of these curious structures by per- 
sons not familiar with the flowers of the 
milkweed. Some think them a parasite, 
others a protuberance growing on the bee's 
foot, and others a winged insect enemy of 
the bee. We give here an engraving of this 
curiosity, magnified at a, and also a mass 
of them attached to the foot of a bee. If 
the insect is not strong enough to pull out 
the pollinia, or later to break the connect- 
ing bands, then it perishes slowly of star- 
vation, probably with little pain. These 
dry membranous discs are often described, 
even in botanical works, as glands, or as 
being glutinous or sticky, but this is not 
the case. 



MOTH MILLER.— In the old box-hive 
days and the early days of the movable 
frame, the bee moth or wax worm was re- 
garded as the most serious enemy with 
which the bees had to deal. Many of the 
beekeepers of those times were driven out 
of the business because their bees were 
cleaned out by the pest. So serious was it 
regarded that numerous moth-traps and 
moth-proof hives were invented. These 
were worse than useless, as they had all 
kinds of " retreats," cracks, and crevices 
for the very purpose of trapping moths. 
Instead of catching them they made the 
finest kind of breeding places for the pest. 

In this day and age the modern bee- 
keeper regards the bee moth as more of a 
joke than a pest. In fact, it is almost a 
disgrace for one to allow it to get a start 
among his colonies or among the combs. It 
has been practically eliminated from all 
modern apiculture, and it is only occasion- 
ally that it gets in its work among good 
combs; and when it does, the owner is or 
should be ashamed of his own carelessness. 

The bee moth does not exist as a real bee- 
enemy anywhere in the United States ex- 
cept in some of the Southern States where 
black bees are kept in box hives exactly as 
they were in the days of our forefathers 
(see Enemies op Bees). They are just as 
ignorant of modern principles; and so to- 
day the bee moths, or, rather, the larvae of 
the wax worm, eliminate all except the verv 
strong colonies (see Box Hives). 

There are two species of wax moth — the 
larger one, Galleria mellonella, and the 
lesser wax moth, Achroia grisella. The for- 
mer is much the more general, and, because 
of that, more destructive. Either species 
thrives among the ignorant and supersti- 
tious beekeepers, and particularly in box 
hives of black bees. In some of the South- 
ern States the bee moth is a serious enemy 
in that it destroys all second, third, and 
fourth swarms, leaving only the first swarm. 
Even the parent colony goes down with the 
rest. If it were not for the bee moth these 
old-time beekeepers would probably be 
keeping three times as many bees, and, of 
course, getting a proportionately larger 
amount of honey. Unfortunately, some of 
this class will not be the ones who read a 
work of this kind; and it is to be hoped 
that the extension workers sent out by the 
United States Government will soon be able 



MOTH MILLER 



533 



to teach them modern methods — methods 
that will eliminate the bee moth and render 
possible a very fair living (see Box Hives) . 
The statement was made at the outset 
that the bee moth is regarded as a joke by 
the modern beekeeper, and so it is. Since 
the introduction of the Italian bee and the 
movable frame there is no excuse for hav- 
ing the pest among colonies or combs. In 
the first place, the Italian bees themselves 
will eliminate it, whether it be in a nucleus 
or a strong colony. Even an admixture of 
Italian blood will keep it under control. 
Black bees, on the contrary, are an easy 
prey to the bee moth. 



colony will take place about the time the 
old bees begin to die olf . Usually a colony 
of black bees will prevent the wax worm 
from making very much progress in the 
hive, but not always ; and here comes in the 
advantage of movable combs, which the 
owner can inspect. When he finds unmis- 
takable traces of the wax worm he can help 
out the bees by cutting out the webs and 
worms with a knife or a stick; but it will 
be very difficult for him to eliminate all the 
eggs of the moth which may be scattered 
all thru the hive in cracks and crevices be- 
yond the reach of the bees. The old patent 
moth-proof (?) hives of early days were 




A sample of how the eggs and cocoons of the bee moth are deposited on wood, 
grooved or eaten out. The illustration fails to convey the real filthiness of the mass. 

HOW TO DETERMINE THE PRESENCE OF THE 
WAX WORMS. 



Sometimes the wood is 



The eggs hatch, and soon the larvae begin 
their chank, chank, chanking. If one will 
listen he will be able to hear these loath- 
some worms eating their way thru the 
combs. Their presence can be easily deter- 
mined also by a sort of webwork spotted 
with their excreta just beneath the surface 
of the comb, where, evidently, they try to 
keep out of sight, and away from the bees. 
As they became more numerous they fill 
the space between the combs with web. In 
the earlier stages a few young Italians will 
keep out the worms and carry them out of 
the entrance; but black bees, unless the 
colony is a strong one, will let them go on 
until all the spaces between the combs are 
filled with the web, and these ugly wrig- 
gling worms. Brood-rearing will be brought 
to a standstill, and the elimination of the 



full of these cracks and crevices, and of 
course much worse for their propagation 
than the regular simple hives without moth 
" contraptions." 

In modern apiculture the moth, or, more 
properly speaking, wax worm, can do no 
damage except among combs which are laid 
aside for the time being. Combs from 
colonies of Italian bees will usually be safe 
when thej^ are put away iu bee-tight ex- 
tracting-supers for the season. 

In this connection combs in unspaced 
frames — that is, frames without shoulders 
— are much more subject to damage from 
the wax worm than those in spaced or 
Hoffman frames. The former when put 
away for the season are generally put into 
the super and placed together in close con- 
tact. Combs that are spaced like the Hoff- 
man, the ordinary distance apart — 1% 
inches from center to center — are much 
safer, because they cannot be placed in 



534 



MOTH MILLER 



close contact. If they are set 2 inches 
apart, the damage, if any, will usually be 
confined to one comb. 

It is generally regarded as perfectly safe 
to take the combs out of the hive right 
after the season is over, and confine them 
in hive-supers stacked up.. If these stacked 
supers are covered so as to make them bee- 
tight there will be practically no danger 
from the bee moth. All combs should be 
put into supers so that neither the moth 
miller nor robber bees can gain access to 
them. As a general thing, some combs will 




How moths ruin ccmbs that are not taken care of. 

contain a little honey; and the first warm 
day during a dearth of honey these combs, 
unless put into bee-tight compartments, will 
invite the worst kind of robbing. Not only 
this, there will always be danger of the bee 
moth. Combs confined in bee-tight hives or 
supers, if they have eggs of the moth in the 
first place, may develop the wax worm later ; 
but in an Italian apiary this will rarely 
occur ; and even when the moth-eggs are in 
the comb they will be killed by the first 
winter freezing. Right here is one explana- 



tion of why the bee moth is much more 
destructive in the South than in the North. 
All stray eggs or larvae are killed by ordi- 
nary freezing weather. Combs stored away 
in the fall in bee-tight supers will usually 
be safe if freezing weather follows shortly 
after. They can also be rendered safe from 
the depredations of the moth worm by the 
use of carbon bisulphide, mentioned fur- 
ther on. 

TWO OTHER SPECIES. 

The work of the lesser wax moth is some- 
what similar to that of the larger species; 
but the galleries are smaller, and the webs 
are finer and more on the surface of the 
comb. The photo, by J. W. Teft, shows the 
characteristic nest of the lesser wax moth. 

There is still a smaller species that in- 
fests combs, known as the Mediterranean 
flour moth. This is not really a wax worm, 
and its presence is due to the fact that it 
eats the pollen in the comb; but it leaves 
in its wake a lot of webs as shown in the 
illustration on next page. 

BEE MOTH IN HIGH ALTITUDES. 

In Colorado, at least in the region of 
Denver, where the elevation is fully a mile 
above the level of the sea, the ordinary wax 
moths are unknown. The great elevation 
seems to be more than they can stand. 
There is, however, a very small wax worm, 
but it is not the same that ordinarily trou- 
bles beekeepers. 

THE MOTH MILLER SOMETIMES A BLESSING 
IN DISGUISE. 

The moth miller is not altogether an un- 
mitigated nuisance. This pest, as already 
explained, seldom troubles the professional 
or up-to-date beekeeper. It is only the 
slipshod, careless, don't-read-the-papers- 
class that it annoys. Their bees become 
weaker and weaker, and finally die in the 
winter, leaving combs more or less filled 
with honey, and smeared over with the 
dead matter from foul brood. Unfortu- 
nately, these " old gums " containing dis- 
eased honey are a constant source of infec- 
tion to all the bees in their vicinity. The 
healthy bees within range rob them out. 
In the mean time the moth millers, if pres- 



MOTH MILLER 



535 




Combs infested by the lesser wax moth. This photograph was sent us by George W. Tebbs, Hespeler, Ontario, 
Canada, who wrote that the frame was taken from a hive which had originally contained an Italian colony, but 
which had been empty during the winter. 

colony dwindles, of course, dies in the win- 
ter, and is again the source of infection to 
the neighboring bees. They rob it out once 
more; but if there are moth millers in the 
locality they soon destroy these old combs 
and leave in their place a mass of webs 
that is so repellent that no swarm of bees 
will make a home there. Said one of our 
Ohio bee inspectors, " The moth miller, 
after all, may be a friend to the progressive 
beekeeper in that it destroj^s one great 
source of infection — old diseased combs 
and ' gums ' in his neighborhood that 



ent, get in their work. Their larvae de- 
stroy the combs so that no future swarm 
will find these old hives a suitable abiding- 
place. It is right here that the moth mil- 
ler proves to be a blessing in disguise. 
These old combs smeared with foul-brood- 
scales would, unless destroyed by some 
agency, attract swarms; for experience 
has shown that they are frequently occu- 
pied by stray swarms. The bees get nicely 
started in housekeeping, begin to fill the 
combs with honey and brood, when, lo ! bee 
disease begins to make its appearance. The 




Work of the Mediterranean fiour moth. 



536 



MOTH MILLER 



might otherwise remain in bee-trees and 
old hives for years and years, and for 
years and years spread the disease." 

One of the most thoro treatises on the 
Avax moth or wax worm is a bulletin issued 




Cluster of bee-moth larvae photographed exact size. 
— Texas Agricultural Bulletin No. 158. 

by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion, No. 158, June, 1913. Among other 
things it discusses the life-history of the 
bee moth or wax worm. The author, F. B. 
Paddock, made a very exhaustive study of 
the larger species, Galleria mellonella. As 




Web and cocoons in the center of a brood-frame. 
— Texas Agricultural Bulletin No. 158. 

this bulletin covers the development, life- 
history, and the control of this pest, we 
are glad to place extracts, including the 
engravings, before our readers. 

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE BEE MOTH. 
THE ADULT MOTH. 

There is some dispute and no little uncer- 
tainty about the origin of the bee moth. Dr. 
A. J. Cook has this to say in regard to its 
origin : ' ' These moths were known to writers 
of antiquity, as even Aristotle tells of their 
injury. They are wholly of Oriental origin, 
and are often referred to by European writ- 
ers as a terrible pest. ' '* 

The bee moth was introduced into America 
about 1805, tho bees had been introduced 
some time prior to this. The time of the 
introduction of the bee moth into Texas is 
not known. The insect is now found in Italy, 
Germany, France, England, Ireland, India, 
Australia, and in most of the bee-keeping sec- 
tions of the United States. This insect is dis- 
tributed practically all over Texas. 

The larva C web-worm"), upon reaching 
maturity, constructs a cocoon by means of 
silken threads which it is able to spin. After 



Manual of the Apiary," A. J. Cook, page 485. 



^ " #;*' 






/' . .-■w 






~> 1^^'-^^^^ 



i, I 






*'3 



538 



MOTH MILLER 



the cocoon is completed the larva changes to 
the pupal stage. This is the stage in which 
the form of the larva is reconstructed to 
make the moth which will emerge later from 
the cocoon. The moths mate and the females 
deposit the eggs which hatch into the larvae. 
This is called the ''life cycle." 

THE ADULT MOTH. 

The adult bee moih (Plate II, a) is about 
five-eighths of an inch (15 millimeters) in 
length, with a wing expanse of about one 
and one-quarter inches (30 to 32 mm). The 
moth with its wings folded appears ashy- 
gray in color, but the back third of each 
front wing is bronze-colored, and this wing 
is thickly covered with fine scales which rub 
off easily when the moth is touched. On the 
outer and rear margins of the fore wing is a 
scanty row of short hairs. The hind wings 
are uniform in color, usually gray, with traces 
of a few black lines extending from the outer 
margin inward toward the base; on the outer 
and rear margins is a thick fringe of hairs on 
which is a dark line running parallel with the 
border of the wing. The body is brown, the 
shade varying, with a covering of scales. 
These scales rub off easily and are not always 
present on the older moths. The male is 
slightly smaller than the female. A differ- 
ence between the sexes is noticed in the fore 
wing, which, in the case of the male, is deeply 
scalloped on its outer margin. 'This scallop 
carries a heavy fringe of hairs, almost black 
in color. Another difference is in the mouth 
parts, the palpi of the male being rudimen- 
tary. 

HABITS. 

The moths emerge entirely at night; and 
in the cases observed, no moths emerged after 
9 p. m. They at once seek some protected 
place in which to expand their wings and dry, 
and by the next morning they are able to fly. 
During the day the moths seek a sheltered 
place away from light and enemies, where 
they apparently settle down and draw their 
wings around them, remaining very still and 
quiet. Usually they are well protected by 
their color, which resembles weather-beaten 
wood. If disturbed during the day, the moths 
will make a dart or short flight, acting as tho 
blinded by the light. When an object is met, 
the moth quickly settles down, and seems very 
anxious to avoid flight. That they are hard 
to disturb in the daytime is shown by the 
fact that in several of the cages used in the 
experiments small ants attacked the moths 
and killed them without any apparent strug- 
gle on the part of the moths. Only by close 
examination could it be detected that the 
moths were dead and not resting in the usual 
manner. It is only during the latter part of 
the oviposition period that the females are 
active during the daytime. 

The male moths emerge a few days earlier 
than the females and are much longer lived. 
In several cages, closely observed, the males 
lived an average of 26 days, which was 14 



days longer than the average life of the fe- 
males. The male moths are very active thru- 
out their existence. Just how long the males 
are functional has not yet been determined. 
In some matings under artificial conditions 
one male fertilized two females at an interval 
of ten days. During the first part of the 
emergence period the males are in excess of 
the females, since the males emerge first as a 
general thing. Later on, the number of males 
and females reaching maturity at the same 
time is about equal. During the latter part 
of the emergence period the females predom- 
inate. However, for the brood as a whole, 
taking sometimes as long as a month for all 
of the individuals to reach maturity, the 
males and females are about equal in number. 
The first and the last emerging individuals 
of the brood are smaller in size than the 
average, regardless of the sex. The quality 
of the food has a great deal to do with the 
size of the adults. The last larvae of the 
brood are always undersized, but are almost 
always able to pupate and reach maturity. 
Several matings have been made with odd- 
sized individuals, such as large males and 
small females, and vice versa. The results 
of these matings indicate that those larvae 
which were forced into pupation prematurely 
may transform to functional adults. 

MATING AND OVIPOSITION. 

During the mating period the males are 
more active than the females; and at this 
time can be noticed ''drumming" with their 
wings, the vibrations of which are, at times, 
sufficient to produce a low hum. 

The moths probably mate very soon after 
emergence, tho no direct observations have 
been made upon this point. However, fe- 
males only one and one-half hours old were 
killed and their ovaries examined. It was 
found that, at this time, fully two-thirds of 
the eggs were of full size and weU down in 
the oviducts, tho not packed closely, as was 
found to be the case in the older moths. The 
eggs had the appearance of being ready for 
deposition. 

Mating takes place at night, as would nat- 
urally be expected from the nocturnal habits 
of the species. In one cage a pair of moths 
were observed in coitu early in the morning, 
but this was no doubt an abnormal condition, 
as the female died in a short time. Another 
case was observed where the moths were in 
coitu from 7 p. m. till 10:30 p. m. The next 
morning no eggs had been deposited, but the 
following night the female began ovipositing. 
This was an exceptional case, as the female 
had been confined for a week after emergence 
before having the opportunity to mate. 

It would seem that the female commences 
to oviposit in a comparatively short time after 
emergence. However, in the cages, an aver- 
age of six days elapsed between the time of 
emergence and the first egg-laying. This 
period varies with the different broods of the 
year. Oviposition usually takes place at night 
and the moths generally start laying the eggs 



MOTH MILLER 



539 




540 



MOTH MILLER 



soon after dark. In the cages they have been 
observed busily engaged in ovipositing as 
early as 7 p. m. While depositing eggs the 
female seems mindful only of the task she is 
performing, and is not easily disturbed, tho 
she is active, seemingly nervous, darting in 
and around the comb. While thus engaged 
the antennae vibrate continuously and perhaps 
are used to locate suitable crevices in which 
to place the eggs. The ovipositor is long, equal 
in length to the last two abdominal segments 
and is very slender. It is constantly moving 
over the comb to detect a roughened spot 
wherein to deposit the egg. It thus has the 
appearance of being dragged after the female 
in her travels over the comb. 

Having found a suitable place for the egg, 
the ovipositor is spread at the tip, the female 
braces herself as tho pushing backward to 
force the ovipositor into the comb, and then, 
after a quick jerk of the abdomen, an egg is 
forced down the ovipositor to its destination. 
In many instances females have been observed 
depositing their eggs at the rate of one every 
minute for a period of 30 minutes, and then, 
after a short rest, have continued again at 
the same rate. The eggs are always securely 
fastened to whatever object they are laid 
upon. The eggs are always laid in cavities. 
In the cage experiments this was on the side 
of the comb, often where the walls of a cell 
had been turned in. An example of this is 
shown at Plate II, b. Only one egg is de- 
posited at a time, altho in working over the 
comb a female often places the eggs close 
together. On the smaller pieces of comb, 
furnished to moths confined in cages, as many 
as seven eggs were found in a single cavity. 
The number. of eggs actually deposited by one 
female has not been determined, but females 
which had not deposited eggs were killed and 
the eggs in their ovaries were counted. The 
largest number of eggs found in ovaries of a 
single female was 1,128, and the average 
number was 1,014. 

In the cages, under artificial conditions, if 
comb was not supplied for the female, she 
would deposit her eggs in any rough place 
detected by her ovipositor. In many instances 
the females would refuse to oviposit on cap- 
pings which were furnished in some of the 
cages, but would go around the base of the 
lamp globe in which they were confined and 
fill every crevice with eggs. Sometimes these 
eggs would be fastened on the outside of the 
glass, and in such cases the globe would be 
fastened to its resting place. 

The average time consumed in depositing 
the full quota of eggs varies with the brood. 
In the first brood it is nine days, but in the 
second only seven days. During the last part 
of the egg-laying period the female appears 
to be in a great hurry, and during the last 
few days she oviposits during the day as well 
as during the night, at times stopping to rest. 
If disturbed during the resting periods, she 
vigorously resumes her egg-laying. The fe- 
males usually die while ovipositing, and the 
last three or four eggs are barely extruded 



from the ovipositor. If a female is being 
killed or injured, she will attempt to oviposit 
even after she is unable to walk. 

The females will deposit their eggs even 
when they have not had the opportunity to 
mate. In all cases where the sexes were not 
properly paired, the females would finally 
oviposit, the period of oviposition being, how- 
ever, much shorter than the natural one. 
Altho many females which did not mate were 
confined in cages, and altho they deposited 
eggs, none of these unfertilized eggs ever 
hatched. It seems a fairly safe conclusion 
that parthenogenesis does not occur with this 
species. 

THE EGG. 

The egg (Plate II, b), is elliptical, meas- 
uring about one-fiftieth of an inch (.48 mm.) 
in length and .43 in width. The shell is 
pearly white in color and slightly roughened 
by wavy lines running across it diagonally 
at regular intervals. If the egg is not depos- 
ited on dark comb it is very difficult to see, 
and even then experience is necessary to de- 
tect all of the eggs present. 

The embryonic development of the egg has 
not been studied, but a few observations have 
been made upon the incubation period. Dur- 
ing this period the egg gradually changes 
from a white to a yellow color. About four 
days before hatching, the developing larva 
becomes visible as a dark ring inside of the 
shell. The perfectly formed larva can be 
distinctly seen for at least 12 hours before 
the shell bursts. During this time the larva 
is engaged in cutting an opening in the shell 
and its final emergence from the egg is made 
thru a ragged hole in the top. After the 
larva is out of the shell it appears white and 
clear. 

The egg stage of the first brood averages 
twelve days and of the second only ten days. 

THE LARV^. 

The larvae (''worms") when first hatched 
are white in color and very small, only one- 
eighth of an inch (3 mm.) in length. After 
emerging from the shell they are quiet for a 
short time while they are apparently drying 
and stretching in preparation for their work 
of destruction. Soon they become very active, 
but only upon close examination can they be 
seen hurrying over the comb in their attempt 
to gain an entrance before being detected by 
the bees. During this short period of one or 
two hours they are at the mercy of their ene- 
mies. Within a short time after hatching, 
the first meal is taken, and this consists of 
scales of wax which they loosen from the 
comb in their attempts to gain an entrance. 
The entrance is made at the top of the cell- 
wall between the cells. 

The entrance is extended by the larva? into 
tunnels directed toward the bottom of the 
cells. Their presence is now noticeable, for 
in their work the bits of chewed wax not 
used for food are pushed back of them and 



MOTH MILLER 



541 




Plate ITT. — Above, cages used in studying the development of the bee motli ; at center, 
work of wax worm, or larva, on comb foundation ; below, mass of cocoons, one of which 
shows larvae repairing damaged cocoon. — Texas Agricultural Bulletin No. loS. 



542 



MOTH MILLE] 






PLATE IV. — Characteristic work of the wax worm on empty comb. — Texas Agricultural 
BuUetin No. 158. 



MOTH MILLER 



543 



out of the tunnel, making the surface of the 
comb appear rough and poorly kept. This 
tunnel affords protection and food for the 
larva? and also leads to their desired feeding 
place, the center of the comb. Usually four 
days are consumed in reaching this point. 

When the center of the comb is reached, 
the larvse leave their tunnels and wander over 
the bottom of the cells or, in the case of 
comb containing honey, tunnel along the mid- 
rib from cell to cell. If disturbed, they seek 
their tunnels for protection. At first only 
small holes are eaten thru the bottoms of the 
cells, thus affording a passagevray from cell 
to cell thru the center of the comb, so that, 
if disturbed, they can pass into passages of 
silk spun by the larvas in their attempt to 
escape. In two or three days these openings 
are enlarged and outlined by threads of silk 
spun by the larvae in their travels from cell to 
cell. These threads soon become numerous 
enough to form a silken gallery, which gives 
almost complete protection from the bees or 
other enemies. From this central gallery the 
feeding is extended out a-long the bottoms of 
the cells or the middle of the comb. The silk 
is spun wherever the larvge go, so that very 
soon the bottoms of the cells are replaced by 
a layer of silk thread covered with excrement 
of the larvae and particles of chewed wax. 
This condition is shown in Plate IV. 

After the midrib has been eaten, the larvae 
start on the walls of the cells, the ones 
furthest away from the light being the first 
that are destroyed. As this feeding con- 
tinues out along the ceU-waUs, the threads 
of silk are extended to cover the new feed- 
ing-ground, and not only serve to protect the 
larvae, but also act as a scaffold to support 
the damaged cells. Soon the center of the 
comb appears as a mass of tangled refuse 
and discarded wax. This condition is also 
shown at Plate IV. The feeding continues 
until the walls are entirely eaten, but the top 
of the cells is never eaten, perhaps because 
this would expose them to outside influences 
and enemies. An example of this is shown at 
Plate IV, lower photo. The area of feeding 
is gradually extended from the point of in- 
festation to include finally the entire comb. 
If the comb does not furnish sufficient food 
for the larvffi that are present, they will begin 
to feed in the refuse under the comb in which 
there is considerable wax in small pieces. In 
this they construct such a large amount of 
web that they are absolutely protected from 
enemies. 

The length of the larval period for the first 
brood is 45 days, or about six and one-half 
weeks. In the second brood this period is 
shortened to 35 days, or five weeks. 

The full-grown larva, shown at Plate II, 
c, is about three-fourths of an inch (18 mm.) 
in length. The body is large and the head 
is small and pointed. The general color of 
the body is a dirty gray, with the first seg- 
ment brown on top and a broad line across it. 
The head is brown in color, with a light 
V-shaped line on top, this ''V" opening to- 
ward the front of the head. 



Having completed its growth, the larva 
seeks a place in which to pupate, tho some- 
times the end of the feeding gallery may be 
enlarged and closed to serve as a cocoon. The 
cocoon may also be spun in the refuse under 
the comb and this' mass of webs affords an ex- 
cellent protection to the pupa. The most com- 
mon place is in some crack or corner about 
the hive, as shown in Plate V, below, or be- 
tween the frames and the hive or in the ''bee 
space" at the end of the top-bars, as is 
shown in Plate VI, right. The larva prefers 
to get into a place which it can chew in order 
that a cavity may be constructed and the 
cocoon thus be better protected. 

Having prepared for the location of the 
cocoon, the larva begins to spin the silk 
thread about itself, starting just above the 
head and working backwards more than the 
length of the body. A thin layer of silk 
is spun in the general shape of the cocoon; 
and this framework is covered with fine silk 
from the inside. The larva is able to reverse 
itself within the cocoon, which it does many 
times during its construction. The outer 
layer, upon hardening, becomes very tough 
and even like parchment, while the inner 
layer remains soft and fluffy. Cocoons, both 
whole and broken open, are shown at Plate 
III, below, and in Plate VI, left. The aver- 
age time consumed in the construction of the 
cocoon was two and one-fourth days in the 
case of the larv^ observed in our cages. 

THE PUPA. 

As the cocoon nears completion, the larva 
becomes very sluggish and the body shortens. 
The last act of the larva is to make an in- 
cision in the cocoon near the head end which 
provides for an easy emergence of the moth 
at maturity. The average time elapsing from 
the completion of the cocoon to the formation 
of the pupa was three and three-fourths days 
in the cages of the experiments. 

The change to the pupa takes place during 
the night. The newly formed pupa is white. 
At the end of the first 24 hours it turns to a 
straw color, very light at first, deepening slow- 
ly. By the end of the fourth day the pupa is 
light brown and this color gradually deepens, 
so that by the end of the pupal period the 
insect is a dark brown, (Plate II, d.) The 
male pupae average 14 millimeters (about two- 
thirds of an inch) in length and the female 
pupae are fully 16 millimeters in length. A 
row of spines arises just back of the head 
and extends to the fifth abdominal segment; 
the body line is somewhat curved downward. 
The time from the formation of the pupa to 
the emergence of the moth was seven and 
three-fourths days in the cage experiments. 

The total time from the starting of the 
cocoon to the emergence of the moth aver- 
ages two weeks. 

LIFE HISTORY. 

From the work which we have done in try- 
ing to identify the different broods, or gener- 
ations, of this insect, it appears that there are 



544 



MOTH MILLER 




Plate V. — Above, comb and foundation destroyed by wax worm ; below, characteristic 
appearance of cocoons inside of beehive. — Texas Agricultural Bulletin No. 158. 



MOTH MILLER 



545 



three broods in the extreme southern part of 
the United States. The third brood is not 
nearly as large as the first two, due to the 
fact that some of the second brood of larvge 
do not pupate until late fall. There is a de- 
cided overlapping of the generations, which 
makes it difficult to determine the exact num- 
ber of broods a year. At almost any time, 
from early spring until December, examina- 
tion of a colony of bees is likely to reveal 
this insect in all stages. It is often assumed 
that the life history is short and that there 
are several generations each year. 

In well-protected hives the development may 
continue thruout the year without interruption. 
Usually the winter is passed with about one- 
third of the insects in the pupal stage and 
the remainder in the larval stage. Warm 
spells during the winter cause some of the 
moths to emerge from their cocoons; in the 
laboratory many moths emerged when the tem- 
perature was maintained constantly at 60 de- 
grees F. It is not unusual to see moths on 
the windows of the honey-house, trying to es- 
cape, during the warm spells in December and 
January. Their presence may be accounted 
for on the supposition that they have just 
emerged from their cocoons or they may have 
been in hibernation as adults and become ac- 
tive with the rise in temperature. Such moths 
do not reproduce in localities where freezing 
temperatures are frequent. Even the most 
vigorous moths cannot withstand a freezing 
temperature for more than three days. Moths 
in well-protected places can survive an out- 
side temperature as low as 26 degrees F. for 
as long as five days. The moths are never 
active during the day when the temperature 
is below 50 degrees F., so at such times re- 
production does not take place. 

NATURAL ENEMIES. 

Of the natural enemies of the bee moth, 
the most important is the honeybee itself, 
rt is a well-established fact that if the colony 
be kept strong, healthy, and with a vigorous 
queen, it will defend itself against the bee 
moth. This is particularly true in the case 
of ' ' Italian ' ' bees. ' ' In the Ohio Cultivator 
for 1849, page 185, Micajah T. Johnson says: 
'One thing is certain: if the bees, from any 
cause, should lose their queen, and not have 
means in their power of raising another, the 
miller and the worms soon take possession. I 
believe no hive is destroyed by worms while 
an efficient queen remains in it. ' This seems 
to be the earliest published notice of this im- 
portant fact by an American observer."* 

This fact is of vital importance in the fight 
against the bee moth, for if the pest can be 
kept from its favorite food, control measures 
are made much easier. The fact that the bees 
under natural conditions are able to defend 
themselves should leave the problem of con- 
trol to such means as will destroy the 
pest in places other than the hives. Ee- 

* Langstroth on the Hive and Honeybee, by Chas. 
Dadant, p. 469. 

18 



cently it has been found advantageous to in- 
troduce Italian blood into the colony, as the 
workers of this race seem to be more efficient 
fighters of the bee moth. In most cases this 
is sufficient for the control of the pest in the 
colonies, but it must be remembered that the 
colony cannot be kept under close observation 
and maintained at full strength unless domi- 
ciled in a frame hive. 

A small red ant, Solenopsis sp.,-}- has been 
found to be an enemy of the bee moth, as 
many of our cage experiments were destroyed 
by this ant killing the moths and larvae. The 
attack is made on the moths during the day 
or when they are at rest. Usually the ants 
crawl under the wings of the moth and begin 
the attack upon the abdomen. There is no 
apparent struggle on the part of the moth, 
for close examination is necessary to deter- 
mine that the moth is dead and not resting. 
The abdomen seems to be all that is desired, 
and this is carried away in small pieces to the 
nest of the ants. This same species of ant 
also destroyed moths which had recently been 
prepared for exhibits. At such times only the 
abdomen Avas taken by the ants. In their at- 
tacks on the larvae the ants entered the cages 
and crawled over the comb and wax in search 
of their prey; and if any larvee were exposed 
they were attacked. The larger larvae are 
more frequently attacked, as they are less ac- 
tive and usually feed in more exposed places 
than do the smaller ones. Unless the larvae 
were well protected by webs in the refuse, 
they were destroyed by the ants. Apparently 
there are days and even parts of days when 
the ants are most active in their destruction. 
Never were the ants present in sufficient num- 
bers to attempt tracing them to their nests. 
No observations have been made upon this ant 
in or about the apiary, and, while it proved 
very destructive under artificial conditions, 
the moths and larvae might be better able to 
protect themselves under natural conditions. 

Three hymenopterous parasites have been 
recorded from the bee moth. One is a chalcid, 
Eupelmus cereanus, found by Roudani in 
Italy; another is Bracon brevicornis, which 
was found by Marshall in France, and a third 
species, Apenteles lateralis, was recently 
found by A. Conte in France.* This last 
species was found near Lyons, where it spread 
very rapidly. It is apparently of considerable 
importance since it has also been reported to 
attack the larvae of several other moths in 
England and Germany. The adult parasite 
is about one-sixth of an inch (4 mm.) in 
length, very lively, and avoids light; the 
body is black and the wings are transparent, 
with black specks. The larvae of the bee moth 
are attacked while quite young and never at- 
tain a large size. A single parasite develops 
in each larva. The bees are said to pay no 
attention to the presence of the parasite, so 
that it can easily enter the hive in search of 



t Determined bj' Mr. Wilmon Newell. 

* "A Hymenopterous Parasite of the Bee-moth," 
A Conte (Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, 154 pp. 
41, 42). 



546 



MOTH MILLER 




MOTH MILLER 



547 



the bee moth larvae. It was artificially intro- 
duced into hives by Conte with very satis- 
factory results. 

ARTIFICIAL CONTROL. 

Unfortunately, the only natural enemy of 
the bee moth that is present to any great 
extent is the honey bee itself. In the ab- 
sence of any other natural enemies of im- 
portance, the measures of artificial control 
must be made all the more effective if the 
beekeeper is to free his apiary of the pest. 
If the moths are driven from the hives by 
strong colonies of Italianized bees, they will 
surely seek scraps of comb and wax about 
the ground and stored comb and honey in 
the honey-house. It seems quite likely that 
in such cases the eggs are deposited as near 
to the comb as possible, as along the cracks 
between the supers, and the larvae, after 
hatching, find their way to the comb thru 
crevices much smaller than the moth could 
enter. 

One of the best methods of artificial con- 
trol, and one upon which many beekeepers 
depend, is fumigation of combs and honey. 
Gas is able to penetrate material that it is 
not possible to treat in any other manner. 
The fumigation process is not difficult, for, 
when once started, no further attention is 
necessary until the treatment is complete. It 
is not necessary to watch the entire process. 
Stored material, such as comb honey and 
empty combs, should be examined from time 
to time, and at the first evidence of the wax 
worm they should be fumigated. Stored ma- 
terial of this kind should be examined at least 
once every week during the summer and once 
every month during the winter season, so as 
to detect the infestation at the start. 

FUMIGATION. 

In the present investigation two materials 
have been used in the fumigating experiments. 
These were selected because almost every bee- 
keeper is acquainted with them and they can 
be obtained in practically every locality at a 
reasonable price. They are sulphur and car- 
bon bisulphide, or ''high life.'' 

SULPHUR. 

Dry powdered sulphur, or ''flowers of sul- 
phur," is a light -yellowish powder, with 
which every one is familiar. When sulphur 
is burned it unites with the oxygen of the 
air and forms a poisonous gas known as 
' ' sulphur dioxide. ' ' This gas is quite effec- 
tive in killing some kinds of insects, includ- 
ing the wax worm. A common method of 
burning the sulphur is to place it on a pan of 
red-hot coals and immediately tier up the in- 
fested supers over the burning sulphur. The 
bottom super should not contain any infested 
material, and the pile should be covered as 
quickly as possible. A number of experiments 
were made with sulphur for fumigating combs 
containing the wax worms. The results of 



these experiments are given in the following 
table : 

Table I. — Eesults of Fumigating Infested 
Combs with Sulphur Dioxide. 



Larvae. 
Larvae. 



.% oz One hour. 



.Killed 



72 oz. 



-One hour Killed^ 



Larvae % oz One hour Killed* 

The larvae which were used for these ex- 
periments were ten to twenty days old, and 
in every case they were well protected by 
the webs and refuse. 

From the experiments with sulphur dioxide 
it is evident that only extremely large doses 
will affect the eggs of the bee moth — so 
large, in fact, that such fumigation would not 
be practical. 

The larvEe which were used in the experi- 
ments were of different ages and some were 
better protected than others. When the larvae 
are not very well protected they are quite sus- 
ceptible to the gas, but the larger larvae, 
which are often enclosed in a mass of webs, 
are not killed except when extremely large 
doses of sulphur are used. 

These results seem to indicate that the sul- 
phur fumes are not ordinarily penetrating 
enough to affect the eggs, and only when the 
larvae are young and not weU protected will 
the gas affect them. While the method is 
simple, there are minor details upon which 
the success of the operation depends. The 
sulphur must be burned at a high tempera- 
ture in order to generate the most effective 
gas. While the method is generally effective 
under proper conditions, it cannot be recom- 
mended in preference to fumigation with car- 
bon bisulphide. 

CARBON BISULPHIDE ("HIGH LIFE"). 

The commercial bisulphide is an oily liquid, 
very volatile and exceedingly foul-smelling. 
It is cold to the touch; and because of its 
rapid evaporation it produces a freezing sen- 
sation when dropped on the skin. When ex- 
posed to the air at ordinary temperatures the 
bisulphide changes to a gas quite rapidly, and 
this gas, or vapor, is a little more than two 
and one-half times as heavy as air. This is 
a point to be remembered in its use, since it 
goes first to the bottom of whatever it is con- 
fined in. When mixed with air it becomes 
highly inflammable and sometimes explosive. 
Such a mixture of air and bisulphide gas may 
be exploded by even a spark, such as might be 
made by hitting a nail with a hammer. The 
liquid, on evaporation, leaves a residue of im- 
purities. Its rate of evaporation is in propor- 
tion to the temperature and the area of the 
exposed surface. Its efiiciency is greatest 
with rapid evaporation, and this is secured in 
relatively warm weather, but artificial heat 
must never be used to hasten its change into 
gas. Carbon bisulphide is obtainable from 
practically every druggist. 

* Eggs which were present on these combs were not 
killed by the sulphur dioxide as larvae were found 
hatching a few days after the fumigation. 



548 



MOTH MILLER 




Plate VII. — Appearance of infested hive with cover removed, showing cocoons broken 
open and the larvae inside of them. — Texas Agricultural Bulletin No. 158. 



MOVING BEES 



549 




Rack made in California, especially for hauling bees. 



When carbon bisulphide is to be used for 
fumigation of infested material, the greatest 
precaution should be used to keep all fire, such 
as lights, cigarets, etc., away from the liquid 
and where it is being used. For this reason it 
is well to take the material that is to be 
fumigated to some place out of doors and at 
least a hundred feet away from any building. 
The infested material should be placed in 
supers or hive-bodies if possible. These are 
piled as high as is convenient and all cracks 
between the supers made as nearly gas-proof 
as possible. Especially should the bottom be 
tight. A good plan is to place an inverted 
hive cover on the ground, lay a piece of can- 
vas over it^ and then tier up the supers on 
this. After the pile has been completed, an 
empty super should be put on top. In this 
should be placed a large shallow pan into 
which the bisulphide is to be poured. When 
all is in readiness, pour the bisulphide into 
the pan and immediately put a hive cover on 
the top of the tier to confine the gas. This 
operation is best performed in the evening, 
and the pile of supers should be left intact 
until the following morning. When the su- 
pers are taken down the confined gas will 
escape from them immediately, even before they 
can be carried, separately, into a building. 

MOVING BEES. — Young bees, when 
they first start out, or old ones on the first 
flight of the season after a winter's con- 
finement, hover in the air about the hive 
entrance, take a careful survey of sur- 
roundings, making wider and wider circles, 
each time taking in new objects by which 



they may familiarize themselves with the 
home. When the location is once carefully 
marked they will go back and forth with- 
out taking any note of distinguishing ob- 
jects. But when the hive is moved only a 
few feet there is apparent consternation 
and confusion. 

One cannot, therefore, move his bees a 
few feet or a quarter of a mile without 
having the great majority of them go back 
to the old spot unless treated by the plans 
here described. Some strains of black bees 
when moved will find their hives. See 
" Black Bees," under head of Races of 
Bees. The bees lost perish, or possibly 
get into some other hive near their old 
location, with the result that there is a 
fight, and many bees killed. 

If one desires to move his bees, and 
wishes to take them at least a mile and a 
half or two miles away, the problem is 
quite easy, for then they will stay wherever 
they are placed. As soon as they are lib- 
erated in their new position they will mark 
the location as thoroly and carefully as 
when taking their first flight. After that 
they will go to and from the same spot as 
if it had always been their home. 

But to move bees from the front to the 
back yard, or from a fourth to half a mile, 
is not so easy. They are familiar with the 



550 



MOVING BEES 




Wagonload of 91 nuclei en route to the Basswood yard. A low-wheel wide-tired wagon is just right for 
loading and unloading, and for carrying bees from one yard to the other. The wide tires make it possible to 
get over soft sod when the ground is wet. 



whole range of flight within a mile of the 
old stand; and when they go over their 
old hunting-ground, so to speak, instead of 
returning to the hive from which they have 
just come they will return to the old loca- 
tion. How, then, shall we make them stay 
where placed? One way, and the very best 
one, is to wait till fall or winter. After 
they have quit flying for the season, move 
them to the spot desired. If they are con- 
fined a week or two weeks by cold weather, 
or longer, they Avill mark their new loca- 
tion and go back to it as their regular and 
permanent home. It will be better still if 
they can be confined for several months in 
the cellar; then when put out in the spring, 
they should be placed in the new 
location ; for it is well known that cellared 
bees can be placed anywhere the following 
spring without reference to their old 
stands. Wherever they are placed they 
will mark their location, and that must be 
their fixed position for the season. 

But suppose it is the midst of summer, 
and for some reason the bees must be 
moved a few rods from their old location. 
Perhaps complaint is made that the bees in 



the front yard are interfering with passers- 
by, and to avoid trouble it seems desirable 
to move them to the back yard. In an 
emergency of this kind the following plan 
may be used : 

Tack wire cloth over the entrances, carry 
the hives down cellar, and keep them there 
for at least five days, and longer if they 
appear to be quiet. While the bees are in 
the cellar, change the surroundings in the 
front yard or in the old location as much 
as possible. After the bees have served 
out their allotted time of confinement, put 
them in the back yard in the same order as 
before if it can be done conveniently. While 
some of the bees may, perhaps, go back, 
the great majority will stay in their new 
location. Those that do return should be 
given a frame of brood in a hive ; and when 
they have clustered on it they should be 
taken to the new location and dumped in 
front of the entrance to the hive. If the 
bees are confined during cool or rainy 
weather, when they cannot fly, there will be 
no loss of honey that might be gathered 
from the field. While the bees are confined 
in the cellar a sharp watch should be kept 



MOVING BEES 



551 




The auto truck with bees or supplies runs right into the apiary. No danger of stings causing runaways. 



on them to see that they do not suffocate; 
and, if practicable, the whole top of the 
hive should be covered with wire screen. 

There is still another method ; and wher- 
ever it is practicable to carry it out it is 
better than carrying them into the cellar; 
that is, move the bees to a point a mile and 
a half or two miles from the old location. 
Let them stay there two or three weeks, 
then move them back. But this involves 
considerable labor, so that the average per- 
son would not think it practicable. 

Another plan that has been spoken of 
very favorably, and possibly may be better 
than any of the others mentioned hereto- 
fore except the plan of moving to an out- 
yard and then moving back again, is this: 
In the cool of the morning, at a time of 
year when no honey is or has been coming 
in, colonies may be moved a few feet or a 
few rods with very little trouble. The 
hives are put on a wheelbarrow early in 
the morning, and after smoking at the 
entrance are trundled as roughly as possible 
clear over to the new location, for it is im- 
portant that the bees get a general shaking- 
up in moving. If the frames are self- 
spacing there will be no damage done to 
the combs nor to the bees. The hive is set 
down on its new stand, when it is given a 
little more smoke. Any number of colonies 



can be moved in this way; but the moving 
should be done at once, and the old location 
should be changed in appearance as much 
as possible. Very few bees will go back 
when so treated. The author has tried it 
in a limited way, and found that it works 
admirably. The bees should not be moved 
a short distance when a honey flow is on or 
has been on for two or three days. When 
they have been going regularly to the fields 
for a number of days they get their loca- 
tion well fixed, and it is almost impossible 
to move them short distances at such times 
without a general returning of field bees to 
the old stands. A correspondent reported 
that he attempted to move bees to a neigh- 
boring lot when the honey flow was on, 
and he says he never saw bees crosser in 
his life. When, therefore, a neighbor com- 
plains that the bees are interfering with 
public traffic along the highway, and they 
must be moved at once, one must take into 
consideration whether there is a honey flow 
on. If so, an explanation should be made 
that moving bees at such times will only 
make the trouble complained of much 
worse. See Bees as Nuisance ; also Apiary. 
We have tried another plan that has 
given good results ; but this, like the other, 
must not be attempted when a honey flow 
is on. Move the hive a few inches a day, 



552 



MOVING BEES 




Moving bees 

and each time make a bigger jump than 
the one preceding. After the bees have 
been moved in this way from two to five 
times they learn to expect a change in loca- 
tion, and therefore will hunt out their 
hive wherever it may be. Sometimes in 
such moving it is advisable to put up a 
board against the entrance just after mov- 
ing, in order to arrest the attention of the 
bees when they come out. This forces 
them to mark their location anew. 

Ordinarily, as a matter of convenience, 
the bees should be moved in the cool of 
the morning, when no honey flow is on, 
giving the bees as much of a shake-up as 
possible, but of course not violent enough 
to break the combs. 

HOW TO MOVE BEES A DISTANCE 
OF SEVERAL MILES. 

The remarks that have been made here- 
tofore apply to moving bees only a short 
distance; but when they are to be carried 
a considerable distance, and jolted over 
rough roads, they require more ventilation 
than can usually be afforded by an ordi- 
nary entrance. If they are shut up during 
the middle of the day, those in the field are 
liable to be lost. Ordinarily they should be 
confined at night or in the early morning 
— better at night unless the weather is hot. 

If the colony is very strong, a hive 
with a comb of brood should be left on the 
old stand, when the owner can start a 



nucleus very conveniently with the return- 
ing bees. 

Many beekeepers fasten the bottoms to 
their hives permanently, so all that is nec- 
essary in such cases is to secure the cover 
and put a wire-cloth screen over the en- 
trance. If very warm a screen should also 
be used over the top. A very good plan 
during cool weather is shown in the next 
engraving, consisting of two cords or ropes. 

One rope is drawn around as tight as 




Fastening bottom-board and cover. 

possible at one end, and the other is put on 
the other end. The cords are then drawn 
together at the top in such a way as to 
produce a strong tension. 

Another plan, somewhat similar, is to 
use one cord or rope. It is drawn around 
the hive, and tied loosely. A stick is then 
slipped into the cord and given a half- 
twist in such a way as to draw the loop up 
very tight. 

But by far the most satisfactory plan, 
certainly the safest, and the authors adopt 



MOVING BEES 



553 




Removing the staples. 

it in their moving, is that of using a spe- 
cial staple (obtained at the hive factories) 
shown in the accompanying illustrations. 
One leg of the staple is driven into the 
bottom-board, and the other into the hive 
body. Two staples on each side will be 
sufficient to hold the bottom-board. The 



cover is fastened in the same way. The 
staples are very easily removed with a 
screwdriver at least a foot long, if they are 
not driven down too tight. The tool is 
shoved under one side, close to a leg of the 
staple, and given a quarter twist; then 
it is moved over to the other side, and 
twisted again. When the staple is raised 
high enough so the screwdriver can get 
under and give it a good pry it can be 
easily removed. 

PREVENTING BEES FROM SMOTHERING. 

In the early part of the season, in the 
spring or fall, or any time when the weather 
is cool, it is not necessary to have any more 
ventilation than will be secured with an or- 





Under way. 



dinary entrance covered with wire cloth. 
As the weather warms up, additional air 
will have to be provided. Sometimes this 
can be accomplished by taking pieces of 
section stuff % in. thick, and placing one 
at each of the four corners between the 
hive and cover. The latter should be se- 
cured by ropes or staples, as previously 
shown. This makes a crack all around % 
inch wide, but not quite wide enough to let 
bees thru. 

A far safer and better arrangement is to 
use wire screen in place of the covers. A 
wooden frame 1^ or 2 inches deep should 
be made of % lumber, the same length and 
width as the hive. A piece of wire cloth 
large enough to cover it is tacked on, and 
over the marginal edges are nailed strips 
of wood % inch wide and V2 of an inch 
thick. The purpose of the i/2-inch strip is 
twofold — to help hold the wire cloth in 
place and raise the next hive that may 
be piled on top crosswise at least one-half 
inch above wire cloth. 



554 



MOVING BEES 




Fig. 7. — Tacking on the entrance screen. These screens hold their posi- 
tions by friction, and do not need to be tacked until just before hives are 
loaded. A wide piece of galvanized wire cloth is bent in the shape of a long V 
or wedge, with a right-angle bend half an inch from one of the edges. The 
point of the V or wedge is pushed in until the right-angle bend comes flush 
with the front of the hive, the other edge lying flat on the alighting-board, 
thus affording plenty of surface for tacking. This plan gives much more sur- 
face than a plain vertical screen, and the bees cannot crowd down, shutting off 
the air at the bottom. 

The screen frame is held on by the use 
of crate staples as shown on the previous 
page. They 'are quickly applied, and easily 
removed with a screwdriver. It is always 
advisable to use wire screens in moving 
bees during hot weather. It is hardly safe 
to depend on the ventilation at the en- 
trance or thru narrow %-inch slots be- 
tween the covers and hives. 

When hives of bees are loaded on to a 
wagon or truck they should be placed in 
such a way that ventilation thru the top 
screen will not be shut off. In the case of screens on top. 
an ordinary hayrack the hives may be 
spread out over a large surface in the 
bottom of the wagon and over the rack. 
In this way it will not be necessary to pile 
one hive on top of another. 



hives apart, the bees in 
all except the top tier 
of hives would smother. 
The most satisfactory 
entrance-closer is a 
piece of wire cloth, the 
length of which is the 
inside width of the hive, 
and bent in the form 
shown in the illustra- 
tion on previous page. 
This is easily placed 
in the entrance of the 
hive by tacking the up- 
per right-angled piece 
against the upper part 
of the entrance. 

The main feature of 
this is that it holds its 
place without any tacks, 
altho one or two are 
needed to prevent its 
jolting loose when on 
the automobile truck or 
wagon. Moreover, the 
angle that projects into 
the entrance increases 
the amount- of ventila- 
tion just in proportion 
as more wire cloth is 
used. 
Where hives are old and rickety, with 
many cracks, it is advisable to put them in 
burlap sacks of suitable size. Smoke should 
be blown into the entrance, then the hive 
should be tilted up in front and the sack 
slipped over the hive, cover and all, and tied 
at the top. This saves the use of entrance- 
closers or hive screens. The plan can some- 
times be employed to advantage in the 
case of good hives, but it is advisable al- 
ways to move at night, as the sacks do not 
give quite the ventilation of the open hive 



LOADING ON AUTO TRUCK. 

When using an automobile truck, where 
hives have to be piled on top of each other, 
an open framework of 2 x 4's should be 
placed between the several tiers of hives. 
Without some scheme of keeping the 



MOVING BEES BY TRUCK OR V^AGON V^ITHOUT 
SHUTTING THEM IN THE HIVE. 

This can be done very often without the 
necessity of using wire screens at the top, 
nor even entrance screens. Before the 
hives are loaded, smoke is blown into the 
entrances to prevent rushing out and 
stinging when the hive is disturbed. Just 
before the start is made, the entrances are 
smoked again. The subsequent jolting over 
the roads, so far from making the bees 



MOVING BEES 



555 




Ford runabout converted into a light truck. 



Ugly, quiets them. If the weather is ex- 
ceedingly warm the bees will crowd out 
and cluster round the front of the hive 
rather than smother to death. 

The objection to this plan is that some 
bees get out all over the hives. For this 
reason it should not be used with an ordi- 
nar}^ horse-drawn wagon. It has the fur- 
ther disadvantage that there will be a lot 
of flying bees around the hives, some of 
which will be lost as the truck moves for- 
ward. But when one is not provided with 
screens of any sort he can very often pick 
the bees up, put them on the auto truck, 
and land them at the outyard without any 
further trouble. 

WHEN TO LOAD BEES. 

No bees should be loaded on a wagon or 
truck during the middle hours of the day, 
since many field bees would be lost. They 
should be loaded very late in the day or 
early in the morning while all the field 
bees are in. The hives may be made ready 
at night, and the bees may be moved 
any time the following day, altho on ac- 
count of rising temperature they should be 
started as soon as possible. In warm 
weather it is better to move at night after 
all the bees are in. 



AUTOMOBILE TRUCKS OR HORSE-DRAWN 
WAGONS. 

In this day and age, on account of the 
danger from stings the self-propelled wag- 
ons are to be preferred. They will make a 
trip to an outyard and back in about a 
fifth of the time; and when bees are re- 
moved to an outyard on a warm day quick 
moving is far better than slow moving with 
a team. Moreover, speed develops air cur- 
rents that are highly important in moving. 
Ordinarily it takes a team of horses nearly 
half a day to get to a yard four or five 
miles and back, and that spoils the whole 
forenoon or afternoon, A motor truck, on 
the other hand, in the same time can make 
three or four such trips. 

For the author's apiaries a light Ford is 
used with a small wagon-box on the 
rear to make trips to the yards. This will 
easily carry two men and 12 hive bodies 
with empty combs, or half that number 
when the combs are filled with honey. This 
wagon-box is just right to carry tools and 
appliances, including hives, so that for 
ordinary outyard work one can make quick 
trips and carry back and forth all he prac- 
tically needs. A light Ford truck will do 
general out-apiary work at about one- 
fourth the cost of a larger machine capable 



556 



MOVING BEES 



of carrying a ton and moving correspond- 
ingly slower. Our experience shows that 
the small machine will make a run to out- 
j-ards for from five to seven cents a mile, 
while the larger ones cannot do it for less 
than ten cents. This includes wear and 
tear, depreciation and interest. Where one 
is engaged extensively in the business he 
can afford a light motor truck and a large 
one beside. But as a general thing a small 
machine will do 95 per cent of the moving, 
and the other 5 per cent can be moved on 
hired machines of large capacity. 

The illustration shows a light two-pas- 
senger Ford with a light wagon-box, which 
can be secured at one-third or one-half 
price of a larger truck costing two or 
three times as much to operate per mile. 
Moreover, the Ford can be operated by 
any one on account of its simple gear shift, 
while the large two-ton trucks requiring 
the use of sliding gears are complicated. 

SHIPPING BEES LONG DISTANCES BY EXPRESS. 

During warm weather it is advisable to 
have the shipping boxes or hives with wire 
screen at bottom as well as top. The ex- 
press agents are usually careless, and, in 
spite of instructions to the contrary, will 
leave bees out in the hot sun or in a small 
express room with all kinds of packages 
piled on top. • For that reason additional 
ventilation should be provided. Provision 




The illustrations herewith show packages 
of bees in colonies and nuclei put up as 
they should be for shipment. If unspaced 
frames are used they should be secured by 
notched cleats as shown. 




On top of every shipment of bees there 
should be a label cautioning agents against 
leaving the bees out in the hot sun or piling 
anything on top of them, thus shutting off 
the ventilation ; that bees are perishable 
property, and should be moved without de- 
lay, and that on arrival at destination the 
owner should be informed by telephone or 
messenger. 

SHIPPING BEES WITHOUT COMBS. 

Under Beginning with Bees the 
combless packages of bees are illustrated 
and described. The cages should be pro- 




The Dovetailed hive prepared for shipping bees. 

should be made to protect the bottom 
screen and insure ventilation at all times. 



Empty three-frame nucleus shippinar boxes. Note 
that the boxes are made of light thin stuff, and 
screened top and bottom. 

vided with a large amount of ventilation; 
and when two or more cages are sent by 
express they should be crated apart so as 
to provide ventilation. When only one 
crate is sent the cleats should project in 
such a way as to make it impossible to 



MUSTARD 



557 



shove the package close up to something 
else and thus shut off the ventilation. 

Quite an extensive business is carried on 
in shipping bees in one, two, three, and 
five-frame nuclei. The illustrations show 
a light shipping box, the sides and top of 
which are made of good strong lumber 
only 3-16 inch thick. The ends are %. 
The bottom is covered with wire cloth, 
then two cleats are nailed across the ends 
to raise the nucleus off the flioor. For the 
sake of convenience the wire cloth is se- 




Three- frame nucleus shipping boxes filled with bees. 
The screen tops (with the convenient cross rail for a 
handle) are secured to the nucleus box proper with two 
screws at each end. Such boxes are very handy for 
moving bees, either for shipping or carrying from one 
part of the yard to the other. They are also very 
handy for carrying combs. 

cured on the special cover shown above, 
which, when set in place, leaves a space of 
an inch between the cover proper and the 
wire cloth. The thin board over the wire 
cloth protects it from the direct rays of 
the sun, and from sharp projections of any 
object. It also affords a convenient place 
to attach the address, and to put on the 
caution, "With Great Care." See Ship- 
ping Bees. 

Bees go at a rate and a half by express, 
hence it is very necessary that the packages 
be as light as possible ; and for that reason 
the combs should hold no more honey than 
just enough to carry them thru to their 
destination. Xeatly printed directions on 
the outside explain stimulative feeding so 



that a nucleus may be made into a strong 
colony. See Begixxixg with Bees. 

MUSTARD {Brassica arvensis (L.) 
Ktze.). — Wild mustard, or charlock, be- 
longs to the same family {Cruci ferae) as 
the turnip, cabbage, radish, and rape, all 
of which secrete nectar while in bloom. 
Introduced from Europe it has become 
naturalized over all the United States, and 
is often very abundant in grain fields, 
where it sometimes presents an almost un- 
broken expanse of yellow. Almost equally 
common is the black mustard {B. nigra 
(L.), Koch), which flourishes everywhere 
in waste places. We have had a good op- 
portunity of testing many of these plants, 
because acres of them are raised for other 
purposes than the honey. It will be a hard 
matter to determine which is best for a 
locality without trying every kind. One 
should find out what market there is for 
seed, and then proceed to raise it as if it 
depended on the seed alone to pay ex- 
penses. Should one secure a good crop of 
honey from it, he will then be so much 
ahead, and there is little chance of any 
great loss. 

The seed should be sown very early in 
the spring, either in shallow drills so far 
apart that the cultivator can be used be- 
tween them, or broadcast. The former 
plan is, of course, the better one for nearly 
all honey plants, but it is more trouble. 
From 6 to 10 lbs. per acre will be needed, 
sown in drills, and from 15 to 20 when 
sown broadcast. If the seed is to be saved 
it should be sown not later than July 1. 

Two kinds of mustard — the English yel- 
low and the Trieste or red — are extensively 
cultivated in the Lompoc Valley, Califor- 
nia. The latter comes from Austria, and 
gets its name from a town in that country 
where it is grown on a large scale. From 
this crop alone in a single year the farmers 
of this valley have realized a quarter of a 
million dollars. The average yield per 
acre is from 800 to 1,000 pounds. The 
average price of seed is 3 cents per pound, 
tho as much as 8 cents has been obtained. 

The cultivation of mustard in the Lom- 
poc Valley, says E. A. Gates, is easy and 
inexpensive ; but it must be grown in rota- 
tion with other crops, as it will not pro- 
duce bountifully two j'ears in succession on' 
the same land. When a majority of the 



558 



MUSTARD 



pods are ripe it is ready for the reaper, 
and should be cut early in the morning or 
late in the afternoon, when there is mois- 
ture in the air to prevent the seed from 
shelling out of the pods. 

The bees work alike on both yellow and 
red, which indicates that there is no differ- 



tendency to candy quickly. It may candy 
in the tank in four or five days, but this 
may be prevented by using a tank with a 
glass top, protected by a wooden shutter, 
which is removable at will, exposing the 
honey to the sunlight. 

When sage is in bloom, bees appear to 




Black mustard. 



ence in the amount of nectar they secrete. 
The period of flowering lasts about a 
month; and where the sowings are made 
at different intervals it can be prolonged 
for a period of ten weeks. The honey is 
mild in flavor and light in color, and com- 
mands the same "price as sage. Tho not as 
heavv-bodied as alfalfa, it has the same 



prefer its nectar to that of mustard. When 
it is not necessary, it has been observed by 
M. H. Mendleson that they will not gather 
from an inferior source. In 1884, he says, 
one colony out of 200 gathered exclusively 
from an abundance of mustard bloom; the 
199 gathered from the sages. This was an 
exceptional case. 



N 



NECTAR. — Strictly speaking nectar is a 
cane sugar {sucrose) gathered from flowers 
by bees. It is thickened and transformed 
by them into honey. (See Hoxey.) Many 
times has honey been analyzed by compe- 
tent chemists, but very seldom has there 
been an attempt to analyze nectar, owing 
to the difficulty of securing a sufficient 
quantity for experimental purposes. 

The only satisfactory experiments of the 
kind which have yet appeared are those of 
Prof. Planta, of the University of Zurich, 
Switzerland, who was not only one of the 
best chemists in Europe, but also a com- 
petent beekeeper besides. 

It will be noted he experimented with 
the nectar of two American plants, Agave 
Americana (century plant) and Bignonia 
radicans (trumpet creeper). The former 
is a prodigious yielder of honey, far ex- 
celling any plant we know of in the North, 
and excelled only by some tropical trees 
such as Protea millifera, Hakeas, and Leu- 
codendron, and perhaps others not yet 
known. It grows in the southwest part of 
the United States, and is common in Mex- 
ico. 

Several translations of Dr. Planta's arti- 
cle on nectar analysis have appeared, and 
we give one which we deem best for our 
purpose. 

In the Zeitschrift fuer Physiologische Che- 
mie, Band X., Heft 3, Dr. A. de Planta de- 
scribes his researches on the chemical com- 
position of some of the nectars in plants. He 
ssys it was a great pleasure for him during 
his researches on the life of bees to have es- 
tablished the relation which exists between 
nectar and honey, nectar serving for the prep- 
aration of honey. There was a great diffi- 
culty in getting a sufficient quantity of nec- 
tar, as plants yield it usually in small quan- 
tities, but there are some exceptions. Among 
these are Protea mellifera, Hoya carnosa, and 
Tacoma radicans, or trumpet creeper, which 
contains such large quantities of nectar that 
it is easily collected. Thunberg says in his 
''Flora Carpensis" of Protea mellifera (Zuy- 
kerbosches, Zuykerboom, Tulpboom) that it 
flowers in autumn j that is to say, in March 



and the following months. The flowers are 
often half filled with watery honey which fur- 
nishes an excellent syrup after it has been 
filtered to rid it of insects and impurities, 
and slightly evaporated by gentle heat. 

This syrup is an article of commerce at 
Cape Town. Two bottles of it were produced, 
the specific gravities being 1.375 and 1.372. 
It has a slight acid reaction, but contained no 
albuminoids or nitrogenous matter. It con- 
tained 73.17 per cent solids, 10.08 being glu- 
cose and 1.31 per cent cane sugar. By glucose 
is meant a mixture of crystallizable grape 
sugar (dextrose) and uncrystallizable grape 
sugar (levulose), both having a similar chem- 
ical composition. This glucose may already 
be formed in the nectar by the action of the 
ferments it contains upon the cane sugar, 
transforming it into glucose; and this inver- 
sion can be continued in new honeys, owing to 
the action (which he had already demon- 
strated in 1879) of the saliva of bees which 
also transforms cane sugar into glucose. 

Grape sugar from the syrup was also ob- 
tained in a crystallized form. No trace of 
formic acid could be detected in the syrup, 
tho quantities of pollen were found in suspen- 
sion, determined by Professor C. Cramer to 
be that of Protea mellifera, testifying to its 
genuineness. 

Wishing to compare this with fresh nectar, 
he succeeded, after great difficulty, in getting 
three bottles. The specific gravity was 1.078, 
1.079, and 1.077. These contained 17.66 per 
cent of solids, of which 17.06 was grape su- 
gar. They contained no cane sugar. There 
was not the least trace of formic acid. A 
comparison of the two shows that the differ- 
ence was due only to the extra quantity of 
water contained in the fresh nectar. 

Besides these he also examined the nectars 
of Hoya carnosa and Bignonia radicans, both 
in the fresh and evaporated states. The fol- 
lowing table gives the results: 

Sugar Cane Grape 

Nectar of sugar sugar 

Protea mellifera, fresh 17.06 17.06 

Protea mellifera, dry 96.60 96.60 

Hoya carnosa, fresh 40.64 35.65 4.99 

Hoya carnosa, dry 99.68 87.44 12.24 

Bignonia radicans, fresh 15.27 .43 14.84 

Bignonia radicans, dry 99.85 2.85 97.00 

Dr. de Planta has also made aqueous ex- 
tracts of various flowers, among others those 
of Ehododendron hirsutum and Onobrychig 
sativa. In order to obtain 1 gram of sugar 
(equal to 1.3 grams of honey) the bees must 



560 



NUCLEUS 



visit at least 2,120 flowers of Khododendron 
hirsutum and 5,530 of sainfoin (Onobrychis 
sativa). 

As honey is almost entirely formed from 
nectar, he gives the following table, com- 
paring the quantity of water he has found 
in nectars and also in old and new honeys: 









-Water : 


In 


Nectar 




Nectar 


Old 
honey 


New 
honey 


Protea mellifera, 




82.34 






Hoya carnosa, 




59.^3 






Bignonia radicans 




84.70 






Fritillaria imperalis, 




93.40 






Honey from 










Department of Landes 




19.09 




Senegal, 






15.59 




Melipona, 






18.84 




Canton Grisons (alt. 


600 


m.). 


18.61 


21.74 


Sainfoin 






19.44 




Canton Grisons (alt. 


1,395 m.). 


17.52 


20.41 


Canton Grisons (high Alps), 




21.68 


Buckwheat, 








33.36 


Acacia from Ingoldstadt, 






20.29 



Whereas the nectars vary between 59 and 
93 per cent, the quantity of water contained 
in old honey varies only between 17 and 21 
per cent, and that in new honeys 20 to 21 
per cent, with the sole exception of buck- 
wheat honey, in which he found 33 per cent. 

From these observations he thinks that the 
bees throw off a considerable quantity of the 
water while it is in their stomachs. He does 
not admit that it is evaporated entirely in the 
cells, for the analyses he has made of honey 
newly deposited in the cells show that it al- 
ready reaches them considerably concentrated. 
The following.table shows the relative propor- 
tions of sugar contained in different honeys: 







Quantity 


A — Old honeys f rom— 


Present 


formed by 
inversion 


Department of Landes 


87.00 


1.00 


Senegal 


85.40 


3.70 


Canton Grisons 






(alt. 600 m.) 


80.60 


2.70 


Sainfoin 


88.70 


0.00 


Canton Grisons 






(alt. 1,395 m.) 


84.10 


0.50 


B — New honeys from 






Canton Grisons 






(Alpine region) 


81.60 


10.60 


(alt. 600 m.) 


81.60 


9.30 


(Alpine region) 


87.20 


0.80 



Altho most of the nectars contain a con- 
siderable quantity of cane sugar it is found 
in very few of the honeys of the Alps. Some 
honeys contain a little, while in others it is 
entirely absent. It is clear that, during the 
formation of honey, the cane sugar in the nec- 
tar is converted into grape sugar by the saliva 
of the bees, which contains a ferment endowed 
with this property (see his researches on this 
subject in Deutsche Bienenzeitung, 1879, No, 
12). 



Another difference between honey and nec- 
tar consists in the former containing nitro- 
genous substances and formic acid. Mullen- 
hof has shown how this last is deposited in 
the honey, and E. Erlenmayer has proved its 
antiseptic properties. — British Bee Journal. 

Probably all nectars do not analyze 
alike; but Dr. Planta's analysis will be 
found, until we get something better, suffi- 
ciently near an average to satisfy all prac- 
tical requirements. 

It will be observed Dr. Planta attributes 
the inversion of nectar to the saliva of the 
bees. It seems on the face of this to be 
only a "guess," and yet it has been repeated 
ever since by many writers on the honey- 
bee. We know inversion is taking place 
even while the nectar is still in the corolla 
of the flower, and it occurs long after the 
honey has been made and deposited, for 
new honey contains quite a large per- 
centage of sucrose (sugar) whereas old 
honey contains little or none. We are very 
sure this change is caused by minute micro- 
organisms similar to those in soft sugar or 
rum. For this reason the composition of 
honey is quite variable — so much so as to 
baffle many chemists in making a true 
standard by which to judge honey. Old 
honey, therefore, is actually superior to 
new, for the process of inversion is com- 
plete. If kept in a dry place it also con- 
tains less water, and, besides, loses th(^ 
ethereal essential oils or essences of the 
flowers from which it was gathered; there- 
fore nectar collected even from poisonou-^ 
plants may become quite innocuous if al- 
lowed sufficient time to ripen. See Honey. 

NUCLEUS.— This word, when applied 
to bee culture, means just what the name 
signifies — a small colony of bees. It may 
mean a hundred bees with a queen, and as 
such it is called a small baby nucleus ; but, 
as shown in Queen-rearing^ so small a 
number will not hang together. Reference 
will be made to this later. The term "baby 
nucleus" more properly means a larger force 
— anywhere from five hundred to a thou- 
sand bees with a queen — a force large 
enough to set up housekeeping in real ear- 
nest. Usually these babies are put on min- 
iature frames in miniature hives. See Baby 
Nuclei under the head of Queen-rearing. 

Generally speaking, the word " nucleus " 
signifies one or two full-size^ fr^mgs of 



NUCLEUS 



561 



bees, either in a full-sized hive or one just 
large enough to hold two frames and no 
more. When it has five or six frames of 
bees and brood it is usually called a light 
or a weak colony. 

These small aggregations of bees must 
be built up to full-sized colonies in order 
to make them useful for honey produc- 
tion ; for it requires a strong colony of not 
less than eight or ten frames in size to pro- 
duce honey, and a two-story colony of bees 
and brood at the beginning of the flow is 
much better. While a two- or three-frame 
nucleus will furnish a little extracted honey, 
the amount that it will produce in compari- 
son to a large colony is relatively small. 
Or, to put it another way, five two-frame 
nuclei will not begin to produce as much 
honey as one ten-frame colony. How to 
build up these nuclei into colonies so they 
will be of some use is fully described under 
the head of Building up Colonies, and 
Increase. 

Nuclei are used for one of two purposes 
— for making increase and for the mating 
of queens. It is a waste of time and bee 
force to have virgins mate from a fuU col- 
ony. While cells should be raised in such 
colonies, the queens should be mated in 
miniature hives having anywhere from five 
hundred up to one thousand bees. For 
particulars regarding this phase of the 
subject, see Queen-rearing. 

Nuclei may also be useful for the pur- 
pose of instruction. A beginner can handle 
a light force of bees much more freely than 
a big, powerful colony. The small babies 
or the two-frame nuclei can be manipulated 
by the average ABC scholar very readily. 
Queens can be introduced much more easily 
than to the large stocks. As the nucleus 
grows in size, the beginner, who is con- 
stantly watching them, grows in experience ; 
and by the time the colony reaches the full 
size he is perfectlj' capable of handling 
them, provided, of course, he has read arti- 
cles on A B C OF Beekeeping ; Manipula- 
tion OF Colonies; Stings; and Robbing. 

baby nuclei require watchful care. 



found he could mate queens from very small 
nuclei. Sometimes he used a single section 
of honey, placed it in a little box, and gave 
it about a hundred bees and a cell or a vir- 
gin. He had a large number of these in 
use, and found it possible to mate his 
queens, using only a very small number of 
bees. While he succeeded, and we succeeded 
with them, we found, as did practically all 
others, that these little babies of 100 bees 
were too fickle ; that many times, when the 
virgin went out to mate, all of her bees 
would follow her. They were constantly 
swarming out — so much so that it was 
found to be much more practicable to use 
at least five hundred bees, and, better, a 
thousand. A hundred does not make up a 
strong household, and the bees know it. 
Thej^ know that something is wrong, and so 
they swarm out on the least provocation. 

Moreover, it was discovered that these 
little babies of a hundred bees are robbed 
out. The powerful colonies in the vicinity 
made their lives miserable. Even contract- 
ing the entrance to a passage large enough 
for only one bee was not found to be suffi- 
cient ; and the poor little chaps had to give 
way to the superior numbers of their ene- 
mies, with the result that their homes were 
despoiled and the nucleus broken up. 

A pound of bees consisting of approxi- 
mately five thousand makes a very nice 
nucleus. As mentioned under Beginning 
with Bees and Moving Bees, the selling 
of bees in pound packages without combs is 
getting to be quite an industry. When bees 
die in the spring, a pound of bees, or two 
or three pounds, as the case may be, will 
give a new lease of life to a nucleus that is 
all but gone, but having a good queen. A 
little later in the season, the beginner can 
take half a pound of bees, and by feeding 
have a good colony at very small expense 
by fall. (See Feeding and Feeders.) In- 
deed, the expert can do much better if he 
starts early enough. The author once took 
five half-pound packages of bees, each with 
an untested queen, in July, and built them 
up to fine colonies by November. See In- 
crease, Building up Colonies, and Be- 
ginning with Bees. 



At the very outset mention was made of 
the fact that baby nuclei of only a hundred 
bees are not practicable. Some years ago. 
the late E. L. Pratt of Swarthmore, Pa., 



FORMING NUCLEI FOR INCREASE. 

As already explained, dividing colonies 
into nuclei for the sake of increasing the 
number of hives with bees in, is a mistake 



562 



NUCLEUS 



if honey is the object. But after the main 
honey flow, increase can be made by split- 
ting up the colonies into units of two and 
three frames, supplying each with a cell, 
virgin, or laying queen. The process ap- 
pears to be much simpler than it really is. 
The question often comes up in the mind 
of a beginner, " What can be easier than to 
take a ten-frame colony and divide it into 
five two-frame nuclei on as many hive- 
stands ? " If the bees moved from the par- 
ent stand would stay where placed, the 
problem would be very much easier. Un- 
fortunately the old field bees, especially 
right after a honey flow, will go back to the 
parent stand, leaving nothing but the young 
bees to take care of the brood, which, 
in a great many cases, is neglected and 
dies. This is not all. Robbers, ever pres- 
ent, will be ready to invade the entrances 
of these deserted nuclei with just a few 
young bees; and before Mr. Beginner 
knows it he has a perfect uproar, and the 
loss of some thousands of bees, and per- 
haps trouble with the neighbors on account 
of robbers smelling around the entire 
neighborhood after they have wrought 
havoc with the nuclei. See Robbixg, sub- 
head " Robbing of Xuclei." 

If the beginner buys a colony of bees 
from some farmer or beekeeper two or 
three miles away he can bring it home and 
make the divisions before the bees mark 
their location, and the bees of each nucleus 
will stay where they are placed. This will 
effect an equal division, and everything will 
be easy, provided, of course, that the en- 
trances are contracted and the beginner 
uses ordinary caution. At the time the 
nuclei are formed, each should be supplied 
with a cell, virgin, or a laying queen. If 
it is desired to make increase rapidly, the 
nuclei will make greater progress when 
supplied with laying queens. If it is de- 
sired to let each nucleus raise its own 
queen, precaution should be taken to see 
that eggs or very young larvae are in each 
nucleus; but it should be understood that 
the progress will be very much slower, and 
that queens reared in nuclei are never the 
equal of those reared in strong colonies. 

In many cases the colony or colonies to 
be divided have grown so strong the bee- 
keeper desires to make increase and to 
keep down swarming at the same time. 
How shall he do it and avoid having many 



bees going back? This can be accomplished 
after forming the nuclei by putting wire 
cloth over the entrances, and keeping them 
closed for three or four days. In the mean 
time, if the nuclei are not already shaded 
and the weather is hot it would be well to 
put a shade-board over the hives to prevent 
any danger of suffocation. At the end of 
the third or fourth day the wire cloth can 
be removed. "We do not advise this shut- 
ting-in practice for strong nuclei. 

Usually it is better not to make too great 
a division after the first of July or August. 
If the beginner splits his colonies up into 
halves, the problem will be very much sim- 
pler. In that case he should remove about 
two-thirds of the bees, all sealed brood as 
far as possible, and the old queen, to the 
new location, leaving the unsealed brood 
and about a third of the bees on the old 
stand. The latter should be given a cell or 
virgin. Most of the flying bees will return 
to the old home, making the division some- 
where near equal, with the chances that the 
old hive will have the larger force of bees 
in 24 hours. But the split-off, or nucleus, 
on the other stand, will have all the sealed 
brood and hatching brood, and will soon be 
more than able to match forces with the 
other colony. The old queen, which will 
act as an attraction to hold the bees in the 
parent colony, will soon supply it with 
eggs and young larvae as fast as the bees 
can take care of it or as fast as the brood 
hatches out. 

In a similar way three colonies can^De 
made out of one; but most of the sealed 
brood and most of the bees should be given 
to the nuclei on new stands, always keeping 
in mind that most of the flying bees will 
return to the old stand. If, however, the 
entrances are kept closed for three or four 
days there will not be so much returning. 
Of course, the nucleus on the old stand will 
not need to have its entrance closed. If it 
is discovered that one of the nuclei, or both 
of them, are short of bees, a frame or two 
of bees from some other colony can be 
shaken in front of the entrances of the 
nuclei on new stands. When doing this, it 
may be advisable to cage the queen for a 
day or two. 

If the nuclei are formed immediately 
after the honey flow, all the old bees will go 
back to the old stand; but if two or three 
weeks or a month elapses, during which lit' 



NUCLEUS 



563 



tie or no honey has been gathered, there 
will be very much less returning. 

The beginner should take this fact into 
account when he forms his nuclei, and in a 
day or two afterward he should see that 
there are bees enough in each division so 
that the young brood at least is not neg- 
lected. This is the reason why the advice is 
given to put the sealed brood on the new 
stand and the unsealed brood on the old 
stand. For a few days, or until the brood 
hatches out of the new stands, some of the 
young brood may be neglected; and this is 
a point that should be carefully taken into 
account. 

The Alexander plan of increase, as given 
under Increase^ explains how nuclei can 
be formed on another plan for the purpose 
of securing honey as well as increase. 

Under the head of Feeding and Feed- 
ers^ subhead Feeding to Stimulate, will be 
given full particulars on how to feed up 
these nuclei if there is no nectar in the 
fields. The Boardman one-hole feeder 
should be used for the purpose, and the 
entrances should be kept contracted down 
to the space so that only two or three bees 
can pass at a time. If the division is made 
on the basis of five nuclei out of one full 
colony, the respective entrances should be 
closed down to an opening that will permit 
only one bee to pass at a time. 

As soon as the nuclei begin to prosper, 
an extra comb may be added on the outside. 

If the nuclei are formed in the first place 
as early as the first of June, when they are 
built up to about five-frame strength they 
can be divided again, and built up again to 
a strong colony by November, altho in most 
localities cold weather will come along by 
October 15. In the Southern States one 
can keep on dividing, as already explained, 
much later. 

In 1892, on the principles already out- 
lined, the writer, without any special effort, 
increased an apiary from ten colonies, some 
of which were almost nuclei, to 85 good 
colonies, and obtained about 2,000 lbs. of 
honey. These were not fed, but depended 
entirely on nectar gathered from the fields, 
for the season was a good one. Colonies 
were divided in the latter part of May, and 
given frames of foundation and laying 
queens. They were given every possible 
advantage, and by fall we had 85 nice colo- 



nies with plenty of winter stores gathered 
from fall bloom. 

SOMERFORD METHOD OF FORMING NUCLEI. 

W. W. Somerford described a method of 
forming nuclei that has worked very satis- 
factorily, especially when the work is done 
at outyards. While it involves some of the 
principles already described, it is enough 
different to warrant giving it a place here. 

To begin with, in all your fancy stock re- 
move the queens or cage them, after getting 
the brood-nest well filled with brood (the 
more brood the better — 8 or 10 frames in a 
hive if possible). Wait ten days after re- 
moving the queen, when the bees will gener- 
ally have cells on each and every comb, and 
be in a broody or listless condition, waiting 
for cells to hatch. Divide and remove the 
frames quietljV giving each new hive two 
frames of brooo^nd all adhering bees, and 
one good frame of honey, using it for a 
division-board (and, by the way, such division- 
boards are to my notion the best in the 
world) ; put the two frames of brood and 
bees next to the wall of the hive, and let the 
honey-frame be the third from the side of 
hive. Be sure to see that you have at least 
one good ripe-looking cell in each new hive, or 
division, and don't forget the frame of honey. 
As soon as each division is made, stop the 
entrance of the hive by stuffing it full of 
green moss. If you haven 't any green moss, 
use green grass or leaves, and be sure to stuff 
them in tight — as tight as tho you never in- 
tended the bees should gnaw out, and be sure 
there are no cracks or holes that a single bee 
could get out at; for if there are, your divi- 
sion will be ruined by aU, or nearly all, the 
bees that can fly leaving it. Each parent col- 
ony should make four or five good divisions 
that will make booming colonies in 40 or 50 
days, and I have had them the best in the 
apiary in less time. Leave or loose the old 
queen (if not too old) on the old stand, and 
the bees from it will work straight ahead, as 
they don 't have to be confined to make them 
stay at home. 

Don't be uneasy about the divisions that 
are stopped up, unless you failed to stuff the 
entrances well, for they will not smother, but 
busy themselves gnawing at the moss or grass 
for two or three days, possibly four or five, 
if you have done an extra good job at stuffing 
the entrance. At the end of that time you 
will find they have all gnawed out so as to se- 
cure egress and ingress. Then you can move 
enough of the grass or moss to give them a 
clean entrance, 1% or 2 inches wide; and by 
looking into them you will be astonished at 
the quantity of bees you have in each hive 
(and they, too, well satisfied), having con- 
sumed so much time in gnawing out that the 
queen had time to hatch and kill off her rivals 
and be ready for the wedding trip by the time 
the entrance is cleared. So,, instead of, in a 
week's time, having a worthless weak division 



564 



mJCLEUS 



with a chilled inferior queen, as is the case in 
the old-style way of dividing, where nine- 
tenths of the bees return to the old hive, you 
have a strong vigorous queen and a nice little 
satisfied swarm of bees, ready for business in 
the way of pulling foundation before they are 
three weeks old. 

I have succeeded with 19 out of 20 divisions 
made in the above way, when I did not even 
see them until the third week, after dividing 
as above; and for the average beekeeper who 
has out-apiaries I think there is no better way 
in the Avorld to make increase. 

In the above method of increasing, you 
have no queens to buy, no robbers to bother 
with, and but little time lost, as an expert can 
make 20 divisions an hour. 

Navasota, Tex. 

In the first paragraph, Mr. Somerford 
mentions removing or caging the queen. It 



should be explained that usually any queen 
can be caged in her own hive for weeks at 
a time, and her bees will take care of her 
thru the wire cloth. If a queen is removed 
entirely it is implied that she is to be caged 
in another hive, or introduced. She may, 
however, be put in a cage supplied with 
queen-cage candy, and kept for a week or 
ten days in a warm room. But there would 
be danger of losing her, as she might die, 
because, under artificial conditions, she can- 
not get the " balanced rations " that she 
needs to keep up her bodily functions. 

Another plan of making two colonies out 
of one is given under the head of Increase. 
For full consideration of the subject of 
Baby Nuclei^ see Queex-reartng. 




A portion of Mr. Stewart's apiary, Contra Costa County, Calif. 



o 




|i Si ;.j ni!un?f:n!;F"j|S{Jf~;~n?'*"555Sn?l!n""'"" 



Ordinary observatory hive for showing a single comb and a set of sections a? they 
appear in a regular hive. This form of glass hive is often on display in grocery windows 
where honey is for sale, or at fairs and expositions to illustrate the relation of combs to 
sections. 



OBSERVATORY HIVES.— The origin 
of hives with windows or transparent sides 
is lost in the mists of antiquity. In very 
ancient times pieces of transparent sub- 
stances such as horn, isinglass, mica, etc., 
were let into the sides of the hives that the 
work of the bees might be observed. Such 
windows, however, afforded but meager op- 
portunity for studying the behavior of the 
bees in the hive. The first approach to the 
modern type of observatory hive was in- 
vented by W. Mew of Easlington, Glouces- 
tershire, England, about 1650. This ap- 
pears to have been but little more than a 
hive with glass windows. At about the 
same time, John Thorley of Oxon, Eng- 
land, put bees in a bell glass and used bell 
glasses as surplus chambers on his hives. 



No practical advance was made from this 
until about 1730, when Reaumur the emi- 
nent French naturalist established a swarm 
between two panes of glass. These panes 
were so far apart that the bees could build 
two combs between them, hence much of 
the work of the bees and queen was hidden. 
Bonnet the Swiss naturalist recommended 
a hive with " doors " only so far apart as 
to permit the bees to build one comb be- 
tween them; and Huber, about 1790, 
adopted this suggestion, and the result was 
the wonderful advance which he and his 
faithful assistants, his wife and his serv- 
ant Burnens, made in the knowledge of bee 
life. From that time until the present, lit- 
tle change has been made in observatory 
hives, except in so far as the use of mov- 



566 



OBSERVATORY HIVES 



able-comb hives changed the methods of 
stocking them. 

The usual type of observatory' hive con- 
sists of a single-comb hive with glass pan- 
els. Sometimes there is a row of sections 
on top to show the relative position of the 
sections to the brood-nest while they are 
being filled by bees in the regular way. Of 
course it would not be possible to produce 
section honey in a single-frame nucleus; 
but when an observatory hive with sections 
is displaj^ed in a window where honey is on 
sale, it not only attracts prospective buyers 
but it educates them, in that it shows a part 
of the brood-nest with the bees and the 
brood, and the sections of honey just as 
they are on the hive. It advertises honey 
as nothing else does. Great crowds congre- 
gate on the street watching the bees on the 
comb " making honey." 

The bees are usually left in the window 
for about a week. By that time they will 
need to be renewed or they will soon die; 
and by that time, also, the most of the peo- 
ple in the vicinity will have seen it. 

Experience shows that this display hive 
of bees will immediately increase the sales 
of honey, both comb and extracted, and 
grocers who have had it are loud in their 
requests to have bees put in their windows 
— especially if their neighbor across the 
street has them in his window. 

The singlp-comb hives can be studied to 
good advantage in the home or in the 
school. In either case they are placed on a 
shelf on a level with the window sill so that 
the entrance wiU pass under the window 
sash. The space on each side is closed with 
a stick. The bees will set up house-keeping, 
go to the fields, and enter upon their ordi- 
nary work as tho there were no one on 
hand to see why and how they do it. 

Sometimes an observatory hive can be 
placed some ten or twelve feet from the 
window or side of the building. In that 
case, a tube connects the hive to a hole thru 
the side of the building. Strange as it may 
seem, the bees will learn to go thru this 
long tube to the outside. At the San Fran- 
cisco Exposition in 1915, an observatory 
hive was arranged in this way, and the bees 
used this long tube entrance the entire sea- 
son. This, of course, made it unnecessary 
to replace the bees every so often. 

Where nature study is being taught in 
schools these observatory hives are used to 



a considerable extent; and very often bee- 
keeepers themselves who desire to become 
more intimately acquainted with the habits 
of the bee find pleasure and profit in keep- 
ing one of these hives up next to the win- 
dow of the living-room. 

When the bees come in with fresh loads 
of pollen or new honey, they show the 
usual signs of rejoicing by shaking their 
bodies, apparently to attract attention, and 
thus induce other bees to find the treasures 
that they have brought home. A great 
many other interesting things can be dis- 
covered with one of these hives where the 
comb is parallel with the glass panel. But 
what transpires in the cells and behind the 
cappings cannot be determined with this 
kind of glass hive. 

Arthur C. Miller of Providence, R. I., an 
ardent student of bee culture, and one who 
has watched the bees for many hours at a 
time, discovered a plan by which he can see 
the bees at work and the larvae spinning 
their cocoons as well as if he had X-ray 
eyes. 

It was his desire to see what the bees 
were doing in the cells; and one day when 
a small burr of comb was found built 
against the glass, and a bee seen at work in 
it the idea was conceived of fixing in an 
observatory hive a small comb or several of 
them, so that a whole row of cells was par- 
allel to the glass. It is not necessary to de- 
scribe the many and crude attempts before 
success w^as achieved, but at last a stage 
was reached where a row of combs was 
fixed between two panes of glass about 
four inches apart, and a small colony estab- 
lished therein. 

The hive was placed indoors before a 
window, the bees passing in and out be- 
neath the partly raised sash. The little 
colony started at work nicely, and soon 
honey and pollen were being stored in the 
cell against the glass. By accident the 
wooden shutters were left off the hive for 
two or three days, and when it was ob- 
served at the end of that time the bees were 
found at work in a perfectly normal man- 
ner and no running over the glass was 
noticeable. Obviously, the shutters were 
not necessary, and their abandonment 
seemed to mark a distinct advance. A cold 
storm which occurred shortly after nearly 
destroyed the colony, and the shutters were 
again used. Matters improved, and the 



OBSERVATORY HIVES 



567 



colony gained until another storm put them 
back again despite the shutters. Investiga- 
tion showed a sharp draft thru the hive 
from the entrance to the sundry ventilators. 
These were closed, but the entrance did not 
furnish sufficient air, and other troubles 
appeared. Then followed long experiment- 
ing with ventilation until at last a relative- 
ly large area at the bottom of the sides of 



•-^ 



Miller's observatory hive. 

the hive was opened for ventilation, and 
screened to confine the bees. This was all 
below the combs, and the bees could have 
as much or as little air up among them as 
their instincts dictated. That was a suc- 
cess, but it developed another trouble, for 
every time the door of the room was 
opened or closed, or if the wind was strong 
toward the window, the bees were blown 
out of or into the entrance in a most 
troublesome way. A short passage or tun- 
nel considerably larger than the hive en- 
trance and having a wirecloth top was put 
between the entrance and window opening, 
and that trouble stopped. 

This was not all done in one hive or in 
one season, but extended over several years. 
The colony would seem thrifty for a time, 
then it would meet with some reverse, 
and it would often take a season or two to 
find the cause of the trouble. 

There came a day when eggs were seen 
in cells next to the glass, and in due time 
they hatched and the larv^ were fed and 
grew until they touched the glass, then the 
bees pulled them out. The shutters were 
tried but with not much advance. Then 



" storm sash " in the form of an extra pane 
of glass on each side were applied and the 
hive was a success. A quarter of an inch 
confined air space was left between the 
panes. 

From then on, the bees used the cells 
next to the glass as readily as the others. 
Almost every action was observable; the 
bees could be seen every way except face to 
face. Another hive was made and stocked 
and a piece of comb was put in which was 
less than half a comb, for it was only the 
cell walls from one surface of the comb. 
The glass wall of the hive was to — and did 
— form its new base. The bees used it as 
readily as the other combs, and the queen 
laid in it and bees were raised in it. The 
book of nature had been opened at a new 
page. Thereafter the development of the 
hive was a matter of detail. As now made 
it has a base about six inches wide and 
deep enough for a grooved feeder block to 
be slid into it under the floor of the hive. 
Access to this feeder is obtained thru sev- 
eral holes bored in the floor and guarded 
with excluder metal to keep the queen from 
wandering in. A similar guard is adjust- 
able at the hive entrance to prevent the 






Miller's observatory hive. 

loss of a swarm if the colony has to be left 
to itself for an extended period, for if 
thrifty it soon becomes overcrowded. The 
uprights are approximately three inches 
wide and grooved for four panes of glass, 
the inner panes being about one inch apart 
and the outer ones a quarter of an inch 
from the others. Panes fifteen inches long 
by ten inches wide have been found to be 
a very satisfactory size. The uprights are 



568 



OBSERVATORY HIVES 




A close' view, of comb built against the glass of the Miller observatory hive. This form of hive enables the 
observer to see the bees at work in the cells, the hatching of the egg, and the development of the larvae. 



fastened to two horizontal pieces extending 
across the base. These latter pieces each 
have a groove one-half inch above the 
floor. Into these grooves are slid two strips 
of glass to close the space at the bottom 
between each pair of panes. Between these 
strips and the raised sides of the base, 
strips of wire cloth are put and furnish the 
ventilating area. Galvanized wire cloth of 
fine mesh has proved preferable to ordinary 
painted wire cloth. The woodwork of the 
hive and the wire cloth is painted a dead 
black, both inside and out. This gives a 
sharp contrast with the combs, and is ad- 
vantageous when taking photographs. The 
outside of the hive may be finished in nat- 
ural wood, but the inside of uprights and 
under side of top should be dull black. 

The distance between the inner panes 
has been varied from half an inch to three 
inches. The former is too close and the 



latter unnecessarily wide. An inch to an 
inch and a quarter is best, and then no bee 
can completely escape observation. 

To stock this type of observatory hive 
is a bit troublesome. The two panes of one 
side of the hive are removed and the hive 
is laid on its side in a box prepared for the 
purpose, the "tunnel" of the hive connecting 
with an entrance in the side of the box. If 
this box arrangement is not used, trouble 
will be experienced by bees clustering on 
the outside of the ventilators. A sheet of 
new comb has previously been given to a 
colony; and as soon as it has larvae one to 
three days old it is ready for use. It is cut 
vertically into strips just a little narrower 
than the space between the inner panes 
These strips are then laid in the hive, 
spacing them about an inch and a half 
from center to center. It is desirable that 
comb containing some honey be used also, 



OBSERVATORY HIVES 



and if there is not any honey in the upper 
part of the brood-comb, a strip or two of 
comb containing honey should be cut from 
some other sheet. If cells with the ends 
against the glass are also desii^ed, a little 
more delicate work is necessary. 

From a new dry comb a strip somewhat 
wider than needed is cut, then with a hot 
knife the cells are cut from the base. These 
baseless cells are very delicate and must be 
cut to the required dimensions with the hot 
knife. They are then lifted on a cool knife 
or piece of cardboard and slid into posi- 
tion in the hive. No gluing or waxing is 
needed, for the bees will do that perfectly. 

The other pair of panes are next care- 
fully slid into place. If any of the strips 
were cut too wide the glass will hit and 
move them and cause a lot of trouble, but 
otherwise the operation is easy. The en- 
trance guard is lifted, a queen put in and 
the guard replaced, and the cover put on 
the box. On a wide board in front of the 
entrance are now shaken the bees from two 
combs taken from any hive. The older bees 
will go home, the others will crawl into the 
hive. They go in better if the hive is dark ; 
hence the putting of the cover on the box; 
but it may be opened from time to time to 
watch matters. If they are a little slow to 
enter they may be hurried by a gentle puff 
of smoke now and then, but on the whole 
it is better to let them take their time. 

This operation is preferably done near 
the close of the day, and at a time when 
nectar is being secured, then robbing is not 
troublesome. 

The hive is left in its horizontal position 
for a couple of days, the box being shaded 
from the direct rays of the sun. If it is 
found that not enough bees are in the hive 
to fill the spaces fairly between the strips 
of comb, more may be shaken in front at 
any time. In about two days all of the 
combs will be seen to be attached to the 
upper one of the inner panes. By the time 
this is noted, it may be certain that the 
combs are likewise attached to the lower 
one of the inner panes. The hive may now 
be taken from the box, set in an upright 
position and taken away. 

MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION. 

As soon as the hive is in its place syrup 
should be given in the feeder and feeding 



continued for several days, for the little 
colony has virtually no field force, and will 
soon exhaust the honey in the combs. Also 
the feeding will stimulate wax production 
and enable the bees to complete the combs. 
During a heavy honey flow these little colo- 
nies will gain stores, but in a light flow 
their field force is too small and help may 
be needed in the shape of syrup or honey 
in the feeder. 

By coloring syrup (using a candy color) 
it is easy to see just where it is put first 
and more or less of it moved afterward. 
An ounce of deeply colored syrup is enough 
to use at a time for this experiment. 

If feeding is necessary in cold weather, 
use a hot syrup, nearly filling the feeder 
(a half-pint). It will warm the hive and 
arouse the bees, and as soon as the syrup 
cools sufficiently they will take it. Use for 
this purpose a syrup made of two parts 
sugar and one of water. If the weather is 
very cold, close the hive and remove it to 
a warm room, keeping it there until the 
bees have taken up all or most of the 
syrup. If, however, the combs were packed 
with stores before settled cold weather, and 
the room temperature keeps between 35 de- 
grees, and 60 degrees F. as the extremes, the 
bees will not need feeding until spring. 

If the hive becomes over-populous, it 
should be removed at night to some other 
window and in its place should be put any 
convenient box containing a piece of comb 
with unsealed brood, or a caged queen. The 
next morning the field force will start out 
as usual, but will return to the old location 
where the brood or queen will hold them. 
As soon as the population of the observa- 
tory hive seems to be reduced enough, its 
entrance should be closed to prevent the 
escape of more bees. Within two or three 
hours the box on the old location may be 
closed and taken away and the hive put 
back and the entrance opened. The re- 
moved bees may be destroyed or kept con- 
fined for a few days, and then at nightfall 
be dumped into some hive in the yard. 

If the colony in the observatory hive 
becomes weak, it is most easily strength- 
ened by turning in a lot of young bees. An 
easy way to do this is to shake into a box 
the bees from a comb from some thrifty 
colony in the apiary, and cover the box 
with a piece of wire cloth. Carry it to the 
observatory hive and fix it so the edge of 



570 



ORANGE 



the box is close to the opening to the tun- 
nel. Remove the wire cloth over the box 
and the bees will soon enter the hive. 

The same manner of weakening and 
strengthening may be followed with the 
prevailing types of observatory hives, but 
it is often easier with them to remove the 
comb and bees and restock the hives com- 
pletely. 

The new type of observatory hive is good 
for about two years without renewing the 
comb, but by that time the comb becomes 
dark and opaque and the glass more or less 
coated with wax lumps, propolis, cocoons, 
etc. Therefore it has proved more satisfac- 
tory to restock the hive every j^ear. 

Bees winter nicely in these little hives 
provided the temperature of the room does 
not go to freezing nor stay below 40 de- 
grees F. very long at a time. A room tem- 
perature up to 65 degrees or even 70 de- 
grees does not cause trouble in the winter, 
provided the hive entrance is wide open. A 
few bees may venture to go out ; but by the 
time they reach the outer end of the tunnel 
they meet the cold air and turn back. A 
window facing south is the best for winter ; 
but any exposure will do for summer, tho 
one not facing the prevailing winds is to 
be preferred. 

All types of observatory hives should 
have the ventilating space solely at the 
bottom of sides or ends, and with double 
glasses with a confined air space between 
them. Extra space into which the bees 
may spread and yet not build comb is 
greatly to be desired, particularly in single- 
comb hives. This and ideal ventilating 
conditions are secured by having the floor 
wider than the hive and having such exten- 
sion covered by wire cloth spaced half an 
inch above it. 

ORANGE {Citrus Aurantium L.).— The 
orange is a native of southeastern Asia, 
whence its cultivation has extended since 
the tenth century thruout the warmer re- 
gions of both worlds. It is believed that 
the Arabs carried it into Africa and Spain, 
and that the early Spanish settlers intro- 
duced it into Florida. Later colonists found 
large groves of wild orange trees. It has 
been estimated that there are in this State 
10,000 square miles adapted to orange cul- 
ture. There also belong to the genus Citrus 
the grapefruit {C. Decumana), the lemon 



{C. Limotiium), and the lime (C. Limetta) 
and the mandarin or tangerine {C, nohilis). 
All the species are evergreen trees or shrubs. 
Most of them have fragrant white flowers, 
tho those of the lemon are purplish. 

The cultivation of the orange and other 
citrus fruits is confined in Florida chiefly 
to the southern half of the peninsula, altho 
when given special care and protection dur- 
ing cold winters they will flourish as far 
north as Jacksonville. The date of the be- 
ginning and the length of the period of 
blooming vary greatly according to the 
variety of the fruit, the extent of cool 
weather in winter and early spring, and 
differences in rainfall and soil. For in- 
stance, in the middle of the State flowers 
have been seen on the round orange as 
early as Feb. 6 ; but in 1912 the first bloom 
did not appear until Mar. 15. On an aver- 
age Feb. 20 is the date on which blossoms 
begin to appear in this section. The spring 
of 1915 was unusually cold and rainy, and 
the flowers did not open until about the 
first of March, and did not yield nectar 
well until the end of the month, when the 
bloom became very abundant. Usually nec- 
tar is not gathered later than April 10 ; but 
this year a hive on scales showed a gain of 
three pounds on April 20, and the fiow did 
not cease entirely until a few days later. 
The trees remain in blossom for about four 
weeks, if the weather is not too hot and 
dry. As a rule the later the bloom appears, 
the shorter the time that it lasts. Cool and 
frosty weather will prolong it unless the 
frost is so severe, as in 1911, that it injures 
the blossoms, when it brings the flow 
speedily to a close. The average surplus in 
a good year is about 40 pounds. The best 
hive in the apiary at DeLand in 1914 
stored 200 pounds, and in 1915, 150. At 
Plant City, about 100 miles south of 
DeLand, in 1915 there was an average of 
not more than 10 pounds per colony — the 
poorest record since 1904. 

An orange grove in full bloom, display- 
ing innumerable white blossoms among the 
dark-green leaves and exhaling a sweet fra- 
grance that can be perceived for a quarter 
of a mile in all directions, is beautiful be- 
yond description. The bloom is as sensi- 
tive to weather conditions as is that of the 
mangrove. Either very hot and dry weather, 
or sudden changes to cold and wet weather, 
will lessen the flow. In 1915 at DeLand the 



ORANGE 



571 



How varied more, according to E. G. Bald- 
win, than he had ever noticed in any previous 
season. One day the scales would show a 
gain of 11 pounds, the next day it would 
drop to four or five, then seven, then 
eleven, then four again. A warm damp 
day, with sun and cloud alternating, seems 
to be most favorable for the secretion of 
nectar. Then it can be seen in the early 
morning shining in the white blossoms, and 
the bees are heavily laden thruout the entire 
day. Because of the uncertainty of the 
secretion of nectar, orange trees can not be 
counted on for honey 
oftener, on an average, 
than one year in three. 

The honey is light 
amber, clear and crys- 
talline, without the 
thick opaque appear- 
ance sometimes ob- 
served in even clear am- 
ber palmetto honey. It 
has a body heavier than 
cabbage palmetto, but 
not as heavy as scrub- 
palmetto honey. The 
flavor and aroma, which 
preserve the fragrance 
of the blossom, are de- 
lightful, and can not be 
duplicated in any other 
honey. E. R. Root once 
said of this honey : "We 
are inclined to think the 
flavor is a little finer 
than anything of the 
kind we have ever 
tasted." 

W. S. Hart, Hawks 
Park, Fla., also de- 
clares that " pure orange honey is unex- 
celled in color, body, and fiavor; but it is 
scarce, and always will be." Altho shipped 
from California by the carload, pure or- 
ange honey is not easy to get in Florida for 
the reason that there is only a limited area 
where the trees are sufficiently abundant to 
yield a surplus unmixed with nectar from 
any other source. There must be thousands 
of trees within an area six miles in diame- 
ter, and little else in bloom at the same 
time. A little admixture of wild cherry or 
andromeda will spoil the pure article and 
give it a dark tint and a pungent taste. 
While there are many orange groves in 



Florida they are so widely scattered that 
there are not many good orange-honey lo- 
calities. Probably Volusia County has more 
sections where pure orange honey can be 
obtained than any other single county in 
Florida, unless possibly it be Manatee 
County on the west coast. There are also 
extensive groves which are attractive and 
promising at Wauchula, De Soto Co. ; Or- 
lando, Orange Co.; and at Eustis, Pal- 
metto, Bradentown, and De Land. 

The orange is also extensively cultivated 
in California, Louisiana, and Texas. About 




Orange blossom. 

40 miles below New Orleans on the western 
bank of the Mississippi River there are 
many miles of almost continuous orange 
groves. The first orange trees were planted 
in this section more than 100 years ago. In 
recent years thousands of orange trees have 
been planted in the coast country of Texas, 
bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, which it 
is expected will presently become an im- 
portant source of orange honey. 

The orange was introduced into Califor- 
nia by the early Catholic missionaries, and 
today it many times over surpasses Florida 
in the production of citrus fruits. The 
citrus belt includes the southern portion of 



572 



OUT-APIARIES 



the State, especially the counties of River- 
side and Orange, and extends northward to 
the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. 
As with many other honey plants, the secre- 
tion of nectar varies in different localities 
and is greatly influenced by weather condi- 
tions. In the cool regions near the coast 
there is little nectar. Fog also often inter- 
feres with the flight of the bees so that 
there may be very few days which are ideal 
for field work. Near the foothills it is 
occasionally very cold; and an apiary at 
jin elevation of a few hundred feet has been 
snowed under for a few hours while in the 
valley below the orange trees were also 
white — but with flowers, not snow. At 
Redlands the weather is very warm and 
there is little fog, with the result that four 
years out of five, orange bloom yields a fair 
crop, in proof of which may be cited the 
experience of a beekeeper who states that 
he has shipped one or more carloads of 
pure orange honey every year except 1904. 
Yet even here the weather is sometimes so 
cool that tons of nectar are lost because the 
bees are forced to remain in the hives. 
Even in fair weather the flowers have been 
known to yield only a scanty supply of 
nectar. But when the conditions are suit- 
able there is probably no other honey plant 
in the United States which secretes nectar 
so copiously. At times the clothing of 
pickers and pruners is wet by the dripping 
nectar, and the horses and harness require 
washing at the close of a day's cultivating 
among the trees; while even the ground is 
dampened by the many falling drops. 

In southern California the trees are in 
bloom during the last of March and thru- 
out April, or about six weeks. The period 
of blooming varies greatly — sometimes be- 
ing much later than usual. It would be for 
the advantage of apiarists if the honey 
flow was later, for while it aids in building 
up the colonies, the latter are often not 
sufficiently strong to bring in all the nectar, 
or the cold compels them to remain inactive. 
With large colonies and clear warm weather 
the nectar comes in very rapidly. At Red- 
lands a hive on scales showed a gain of 119 
pounds in 17 days from April 7 to 23. The 
honey was secured in about five hours of 
each day from 11 to 4 o'clock. During the 
morning the bees brought in pollen from 
various flowers, but before noon they were 
all at work on the orange bloom. A sur- 



plus of from 60 to 120 pounds per colony 
is obtained. The nectar is frequently very 
thin when first gathered, and naturally after 
irrigation is thinner for a few days; but 
toward the end of the flow, if the weather 
is warm, it becomes much thicker. 

The very heavy water-white honey is un- 
surpassed in flavor; but as it usually crys- 
tallizes in a few months many dealers pre- 
fer to buy sage honey. It is very easy to 
obtain orange honey pure, for sage does 
not blossom until the weather is warmer. 
At Pomona the land for miles is entirely 
occupied by groves, and it is difficult to 
obtain room for an apiary. Here after the 
honey flow is over the bees bring in nothing 
for the rest of the season except a dribble 
of dark honey from pepper and hoarhound. 
Taking it all in all, the orange is the most 
dependable source in southern California. 

A large acreage in California is devoted 
to the cultivation of the lemon and grape 
fruit, but these trees do not yield nectar as 
freely as does the orange. The other citrus 
trees are not common. 

In the hope of maintaining a more even 
temperature in both summer and winter a 
six-acre lemon grove at Corona, Calif., was 
covered with tobacco-cloth, a strong kind 
of mosquito netting. This netting was 
stretched over wire, and was supported by 
posts about 16 feet tall. Two colonies of 
bees were placed in the grove and given 
sections of drawn comb ; but they died out 
entirely in a few months from close con- 
finement and lack of pollen. The stronger 
in a short time filled 12 or 15 sections with 
lemon honey. The color of this honey was 
verj^ light and the fiavor excellent, with 
none of the tartness of the fruit. Under 
these conditions the manager estimated that 
the crop of lemons was increased fourfold. 
Unfortunately, a heavy wind wrecked the 
structure, and when removed the trees drop- 
ped to their previous rate of production. 

OUT-APIARIES.— Within late years this 
term has been used to apply to a bee-yard 
remote or distant from the home yard by 
some two or three miles. It is a well-known 
fact, that only a limited number of colonies, 
comparatively^, can be supported in any one 
locality, different places being able to sup- 
port widely different numbers of colonies, 



OUT-APIARIES 



573 



NUMBER OF COLONIES IN AN APIARY. 

The number of colonies of bees that can 
be profitably kept in one locality is limited 
by the amount of pasturage. Of late j'ears 
quite a number of beekeepers have estab- 
lished one or more out-apiaries, for the 
sake of keeping more bees than the home 
pasturage would support. Just how many 
bees can be supported in a single locality 
has probably never been ascertained, and 
it is just as probable that it never will be. 
One field may support five times as many 
as another, and the same field may support 
five times as many this year as last. Most 
beekeepers, however, think it inadvisable 
to keep more than 75 to 100 colonies in one 
apiary, while a few think their locations 
so good that 200 or more can be profitably 
kept together. As many as 500, and in one 
case even 700, have been kept in one yard. 
These cases are very rare, however, as it is 
seldom that bee pasturage will be strong 
enough to support so many. The man who 
has only a few more colonies than he thinks 
best to keep in one apiary may find it bet- 
ter to have his bees just a little crowded at 
home before he goes to the extra expense of 
an out-apiary. Indeed, it depends somewhat 
upon the man, whether, having been suc- 
cessful with one apiary, he will find any 
profit in the second. But having gone so 
far as to have one or more apiaries away 
from home, it is not best for him to have 
any crowding in the least. If 100 colonies 
will do well in each apiary, the probability 
is that 75 will do better ; and while there is 
unoccupied territory all about him he had 
better keep on the safe side and have so 
few in each place as to feel sure of not 
overstocking. His own convenience should 
have much to do in deciding. For instance, 
if he has, in all, 300 colonies, and thinks 
that 100 can find enough to do in a place, 
but can get thru the work of only 75 in a 
day, then he will keep the 300 in 4 apiaries 
of 75 each, rather than in 3 apiaries of 100 
each. For it will make one less trip to 
have in each apiary just what he will do in 
a day's work. If he can do 50 in a day, 
then he may just as well have 100 in two 
apiaries as in one, for in either case he 
must make two trips to get thru with them. 

As a general thing, most localities will 
not support to the best advantage over 
fifty colonies to the yard. In a series of 



outyards owned by the authors we find it 
an advantage to have not more than 30 to 
40, altho there are some seasons when a 
larger number could be operated to advan- 
tage. 

The number of hives per apiary will de- 
pend very much on the amount of available 
forage for the bees. A locality that has 
large acreages of alsike, some red clover, as 
well as white clover, will support twice as 
many colonies as one where there is only 
white clover. The presence of considerable 
sweet clover will help materially. 

In western territory where alfalfa is 
grown, the number of stocks will depend on 
the number of acres grown as well as on 
the time when the alfalfa is cut. Some 
ranchmen cut their alfalfa earlier than oth- 
ers. Some grow alfalfa for seed. Where 
seed is raised, a much larger number of col- 
onies can be handled to advantage. 

It is almost impossible to give a definite 
number per apiary. One may have to ex- 
periment to determine how many he can 
keep. In an eastern locality if there have 
been earlj' spring rains and there is a con- 
siderable amount of alsike, sweet, and 
white clover, and especially if there is some 
basswood, 75 colonies to the yard could be 
operated to advantage. If there is only 
white clover available, probably not over 30 
could be placed. In that case the farmers 
should be urged to put in alsike. If they 
can be induced to give it a trial on the 
basis of the beekeeper furnishing the seed 
at half price, they will probably continue 
to use it year in and year out, with the re- 
sult that the locality will be measurably im- 
proved. (See ''Alsike" under Clover.) 
As a rule it is better to have too few colo- 
nies than too many to the yard; and it 
should always be borne in mind that strong, 
powerful colonies will gather relatively 
more than the weak or medium. See Build- 
ing Up Colonies. 

In these days of automobiles, by which 
one can cover three or four yards in the 
afternoon, it is not so necessary as it was 
in the olden days of the slower horse and 
wagon to have so large a number of colo- 
nies per yard. For that reason, if for no 
other, it is safer to err on the smaller 
number. 

Some yards will show up nuich better 
than others year after year. In that case 



574 



OUT-APIARIES 



a larger number can be placed in such 
yards. 

DISTANCE BETWEEN APIARIES^ AND LOCATION 
THEREOF. 

A location for an out-apiary must, of 
course, be far enough distant from the 
home apiary not to interfere much; but 
just how far is best, it is not easy to de- 
cide. Perhaps, all things considered, a 
good distance is something like three miles 
apart. As the area of flight is a circle, the 
ideal plan of locating out-apiaries so as to 
occupy fully all adjoining territory is to 
put them in hexagonal form, in which case 
a circle of six will surround the home 
apiary. 

In the diagram, A represents the home 
apiary, and B, C, D, E, F, G, the out- 
apiaries, at equal distances from A and 
from each other. If more than seven are 
needed then a second series may be started, 
as at K, M, L, indicated by the letters. The 
circles representing the area of flight from 




each apiary are seen to overlap each other; 
but this is at the outer parts, where the 
ground is more sparsely occupied, and the 
doubling on the same ground is compen- 
sated by the convenience of the shorter dis- 
tance to go from one apiary to another. 
But this ideal plan, altho a good thing to 
work from as a basis, is not likely ever to 
be fully carried out. Many reasons will 
make it desirable to vary. The roads may 
run in such directions as to make a differ- 
ence ; no good place may be found for any 
apiary, at some of the points. It may be 



remarked that the area of flight is not al- 
ways a circle. An apiary placed in a valley 
between two ranges of hills might have an 
oblong area, the bees perhaps flying twice 
as far along the line of the valley as in the 
other direction. When an apiary is on a 
hill overlooking a valley bees will fly fur- 
ther than when on a level. (See Flight 
OF Bees.) If only a single out-apiary is 
to be planted, it is probably best to go in 
the direction of the best pasturage — a thing 
not always easy to determine. Sometimes 
one location proves to be better than an- 
other, year after year, altho no apparent 
reason for it can be seen. It may even be 
worth while to vary a location a mile or 
more for the sake of having it where pleas- 
ant people live. But one can do much 
toward making the people pleasant by be- 
ing pleasant himself. As little trouble as 
possible should be made, and one should be 
still more careful than at home to avoid 
everything that may incite robbing, for 
robbing begets cross bees on the place. 

Since the days of the automobile and the 
automobile truck it is feasible to locate 
beeyards much further apart than was 
practicable under the old plan of horse 
and buggy or team. While it is true that 
bees often do not fly more than a mile, and 
sometimes not over half a mile, it is equally 
true that some seasons they will go five 
miles in the same location. As already 
stated, the general lay of the land, the con- 
dition of the roads, etc., will determine to 
a great extent the location of the outyard. 
As far as possible, apiaries should be lo- 
cated just off from stone or brick roads. 
They should also be placed in sight of some 
dwelling house. While this is not absolute- 
ly essential, yet the fact remains that thieves 
are less inclined to meddle with the bees 
when the apiary is in sight of some dwell- 
ing house. 

It is desirable to have the apiary located 
where there are suitable windbreaks. (See 
Apiary and Wintering.) This is especial- 
ly important if the bees are wintered on 
their summer stands; for good wintering 
cannot ordinarily be secured outdoors when 
the hives, no matter how well packed, are 
exposed to piercing winds. Some years 
ago the late Edwin France had an article 
on the location of out-apiaries. As he was 
a very successful producer, as is also his 
son N. E. France, who followed him, it has 



OUT-APIARIES 



575 



been thought best to reproduce what he 

says : 

I have taken pains to make a correct dia- 
gram of the territory that we occupy with 
our bees; and I must say that I was surprised 
myself when I saw the exact position of each 
yard. They are clustered together more than 
I had supposed. The accompanying diagram 
will show how they stand, and I will give some 
facts and figures that will make quite an in- 
teresting study about setting out out-apiaries 
and overstocking our pasture. Of course, it 
is impossible to locate a set of out-apiaries 
just so far from the home apiary, in a circle, 
each one in its proper place, just as nicely as 




we could make it on paper. We have to take 
such places as we can get, and many of the 
places that we can get won't do at all, for 
some reason or other; and when you have six 
or eight yards planted you will be likely to 
find, as in our case, some of them badly 
crowded — too much so for profit. 

The circles in the diagram are three miles 
each, or li^ miles from center to outside, 
which is a very short distance for a bee to go 
in search of honey. If the bees fly three or 
four miles^ as I think they do in poor seasons, 
it is plain to see how it works in a poor sea- 
son. The outside apiaries may be getting a 
fair living, while the inside yards are nearly 
starving. In first-class seasons, when honey is 
plentiful everywhere, and very few bees go 
over one mile, there is enough for all. I here 
give the number of colonies this year of al- 
most total failure, the honey taken, and the 
amount of feeding this fall to put the colonies 
in trim for winter. 

Atkinson yard. Colonies, spring count 100 

Cravin yard. Colonies, spring count 90 

Kliebenstein yard. Colonies, spring count I 96 

Waters yard. Colonies, spring count 88 

Jones yard. Colonies, spring count 80 

Gunlauch yard. Colonies, spring count 90 

Home yard. Colonies, spring count 105 



3125 



No increase to speak of. 



Total 



Honey extracted, per yard: 

Atkinson yard 190 

Cravin j'ard 2O8 

Kliebenstein yard 740 

Waters yard 497 

Jones yard qqq 

Gunlauch yard 350 

Home yard 540 

Total 

Fed back, per yard : 

Atkinson yard OOO 

Cravin yard 336 

Kliebenstein yard 000 

Waters yard ooO 

Jones yard 210 

Gunlauch yard 486 

Home yard 900 



Total 1932 

Surplus after feeding 1193 

Now, notice the Kliebenstein yard, how it is 
located away by itself, as, for instance, from 
other yards. It has a great advantage; and 
then there is plenty of basswood all around it. 
It has no bees belonging to other parties on 
its territory. It gave the most honey, no feed- 
ing, and is in the best condition of any yard 
for winter stores. 

We will now notice the Atkinson yard. It 
is pretty well hemmed in on the north and 
east sides by the other yards, but has an un- 
limited field on the west, of good pasture. 
We took but little honey there, but it is in 
good condition for winter, without feeding. 

Now, away over on the east side we have 
the Waters yard. It is two miles from bass- 
wood, but a splendid white-clover range — 
plenty of basswood two miles north and east. 
This yard gave some honey, and required no 
feeding for winter. 

Then there are the Cravin and the Gun- 
lauch yards, each 90 colonies in spring, only 
iy2 miles apart — too close, with very little 
basswood north of them. Both of these yards 
were fed more honey than we took from them. 
There were a few acres of buckwheat near 
them that helped them a little. The Jones 
yard did fairly well, considering its surround- 
ings. It had the least number of bees, an 
abundance of basswood near, and then had 
eleven acres of buckwheat just over the fence. 

We will now notice the home yard. There 
were 105 colonies. The Jones yard is rather 
too close. Then there is an apiary of 20 colo- 
nies a little over half a mile east, at a point 
marked Beihls; another apiary l^^ miles 
east, 30 colonies marked Nails; another apiary 
southeast, marked W, about 40 colonies; an- 
other apiary still further to the east, and a 
little to the north, marked W, about 40 colo- 
nies. So you see the home yard territory is 
overstocked the worst of all, and had to be 
fed 360 lbs. more than was taken from them. 
The home yard has the best clover field of 
any, but basswood is scarce within two miles. 
In looking at the diagram, one not acquainted 
with the ground would naturally ask, "Why 
don't you use that open space southeast of 
the home yard?" It is all prairie land. Corn 
and oats don't yield much honey. 



576 



OUT- API ARIES 



We will now just look back to the record of 
a year of plenty, 1886, and see how the yards 
averaged up then. 

COLONIES^ SPRING OF 1886. 

Atkinson yard, 72 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 106 

Cravin j'ard 80 cols. ; average lbs per col., 106^ 

Kliebenstein yard 60 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 109 

Waters yard 72 col. ; average lbs. per col., 107 

Gunlauch yard 50 cols.; average lbs. per col., 100 1/^ 

Home yard 61 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 117 
Jones yard not planted then. 

FOR 1883. 

Four yards, average for the whole : 105 lbs. 

Number of colonies, 35, 48, 33, 60. 

FOR 1884. 

Atkinson yard, 51 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 107 

Cravin j'ard, 41 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 113 

Kliebenstein yard, 51 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 109 

Waters yard, 41 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 130 

Gunlauch yard, 41 col. ; average lbs. per col., IO6V2 

Home yard, 61 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 113^4 

FOR 1885. 

Atkinson yard 56 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 90 

Cravin yard 53 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 74 

Kliebenstein yard, 46 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 62 

Waters yard 57 cols. ; average lbs. per col., 57 

Gunlauch yard 46 cols.; average lbs. per col., 77% 

Home yard 62 cols.; average lbs. per col., 71i/^ 

In 1887 we kept no record. It was a very poor 
season, and we got but little honey. 

The year 1888 was a very poor one also. 

Cols, in spring Average per col. 

Atkinson yard, 76 23 

Cravin yard, 75 _20 

Kliebenstein yard, 67 _31 

Waters yard, 69 32 

Gunlauch yard, 77 21% 

Home yard, 66 37% 

FOR 1889. 

Cols, in spring Average per col. 

Atkinson yard, 72 40 

Waters yard 79 40 

Kliebenstein j'ard, 87 63 

Gunlauch yard, 79 47 

Cravin yard, 78 49 

Whig yard, 52 ^ 40 

Home yard, 84 52 

Now, friends, you have the figures and the 
map of the ground that our bees are on. 
Study it for yourselves. But if you plant 
out-apiaries, don't put them less than five 
miles apart if you can help it. If you are 
going to keep help at the separate yards, to 
run the bees, six miles apart is near enough; 
then, if the pasture is good, you can keep 
from 100 to 150 colonies in each place. If 
you go from home with your help every day, 
then you want to gauge the number of colo- 
nies so as to work one whole yard in one day; 
or if you have but three or four apiaries in 
all, you will have time to work two days in 
each. But don't go over the roads for less 
than a full day's work when you get there; 
and remember, when you are locating an 



apiary, that, when you are hitched up and on 
the road, one or two miles further travel will 
pay you better than to crowd your pasture. 
Don 't overstock your ground. 

Platteville, Wis. E. France. 

Soon after the appearance of Mr. France's 
diagram, there appeared in Gleanings an- 
other article from C. P. Dadant. It sub- 
stantiates what Mr. France has said, and 
shows the relation that apiaries bear to 
each other along the banks of the Missis- 
sippi. 

The very interesting article of Mr. France, 
on out-apiaries, has induced us to give you our 
experience in this matter, not because we can 
throw any more light on the question, but be- 
cause our practice, which extends back to 
1871, in the matter of out-apiaries confirms 
the views of both Mr. France and Dr. Miller, 
and will add weight to their statements. 



J^ORlh 




South 



The Dadant system of out-apiaries along the Mississippi 
River. 



OUT-APIARIES 



577 



Under ordinary circumstances it is not ad- 
visable to place apiaries nearer than four 
miles apart; but Dr. Miller is undoubtedly 
right when he says that the configuration of 
the land has a great deal to do with the 
greater or lesser distance that bees travel in 
certain directions. 

In the diagram (opposite page) you will per- 
ceive that these apiaries are all located on 
land sloping toward the Mississippi River, and 
are separated from one another by creeks, and 
groves of timber land. The Grubb apiary is 
owned by D. W. McDaniels, who has had 
charge of our apiaries also for a few years 
past. Of all these apiaries, the Sherwood is 
the best in the product of both spring and fall 
crops, altho there are seasons like the past 
when the fall crop fails there altogether. 

The Villemain apiary has the poorest loca- 
tion, to all appearances ; but it is located near 
the only basswood grove there is in the coun- 
try, and has also quite a fall pasture from 
blossoms that grow on the islands near it. 
But what will you think of the Sack apiary, 
which is located a little over two miles south 
of the Lamet apiary, with another apiary 
close to the latter, but not shown on the dia- 
gram, and only one mile and a quarter north 
of another apiary of 60 colonies, owned by 
A. Dougherty? Yet this Sack apiary gives us 
the best average of honey of all, excepting the 
Sherwood apiary. The reason of it is, that 
the pasturage is all west of it on the river 
bottoms, and very abundant. It is probable 
that the bees in this apiary go as far west as 
the river, about three miles, while they per- 
haps do not travel over a mile east on the 
bluffs. Their course north and south, in the 
direction of those other apiaries, is over a 
hilly country covered more or less with tim- 
ber which makes their flight more diflScult. 

The two small circles in the northern part 
of the diagram show the spots where we had 
apiaries formerly, and which, you will per- 
ceive, were further away from home than the 
present. At that time the Sherwood apiary 
did not exist, nor did the Grubb apiary; and 
yet we must say that we can see no difference 
in the yield of the home apiary. We are satis- 
fied that the Grubb bees go east, the Sherwood 
bees and the home bees northeast, for their 
crop. When we say the bees go in a certain 
direction, we do not mean all the bees, but 
the greater part of them. We can give you 
one convincing instance of the correctness of 
this opinion. 

By glancing at the diagram you will notice 
that the home apiary is just about a mile and 
a half from the north point of an island in 
the river. In certain seasons the islands are 
covered with water in June; and after the 
waters recede they become covered with lux- 
uriant vegetation, and the yield of honey from 
them is very large. In one of these seasons 
we found a colony, belonging to a neighbor, 
located half way between us and the river, 
harvesting a large yield of honey from this 
source, while our bees harvested nothing. Is 
it not evident that our bees had not gone that 
19 



far? Yet we have seen them two miles and 
more from home in another direction, 

Hamilton, 111. C. P. Dadant. 



In 1890, and also 1897, the author visited 
a number of extensive apiarists in the 
States of New York and Vermont. Among 
others called upon was P. H. Elwood, who 
occupies a territory for his system of out- 
apiaries not many miles from that former- 
ly occupied by Mr. Quinby. Mr. Elwood 
runs about 1,000 colonies in a series of 
eight or ten out-apiaries, and they are lo- 
cated in the valleys in the midst of those 
New- York State hills. These hills are 
from 500 to 1,000 feet high, and are cov- 
ered with basswoods and clover. The former, 
scattered over the hills from top to bottom, 
prolong the duration of the honey flow very 
considerably. Instead of there being only 
ten days or two weeks of basswood, it 
sometimes lasts a whole month. The first 
basswoods to blossom are at the foot of the 
hills; and as the season advances, those 
higher up come in bloom; so the flow does 
not entirely cease until the trees at the 
very top of the hills have gone out of 
bloom. Beekeepers who are situated in 
such a country, or in swamp land, are in 
the best localities for honey. It might be 
well to observe in this connection, that 
these hills form excellent windbreaks for 
apiaries in the valleys. In Vermont, a 
colder climate, this feature cuts quite a fig- 
ure. J. E. Crane's apiaries were located 
among the hills, in some cases on the sides 
of the mountains; but, unlike Mr. Elwood, 
he had no basswood there. 

RENT FOR OUT-APIARIES. 

The agreement between the beekeeper 
and his landlord, for rent, is as varied as 
the cases that occur. Some pay a fixed 
sum, five to twenty-five dollars per year; 
some pay ten cents per colony; others 
agree to pay a per cent of the crop ; some 
make a bargain to pay so much for every 
swarm hived by some one of the landlord's 
family, and so on, while some cannot get 
the landlord to agree to take any rent 
whatever. In this latter case it is only 
right to make sure that the landlord has a 
good supply of honey for his family to use 
during the coming j^ear. In any case, be 
sure to do a little better than is expected. 



578 



OUT-APIARIES 



HAULING BEES AND BEE SUPPLIES TO 
OUTYARDS. 

Out-apiary management demands some 
sort of conveyance, not only to carry the 
beeman and his helpers to and from the 
outyards, but to haul the bees and the sup- 
plies. Formerly a horse and buggy or a 
team and wagon were used exclusively for 
the purpose ; but the rate of travel was so 
very slow that the time lost on the road 
was considerable of an item. With a horse- 
driven vehicle it is not practicable to han- 
dle more than one or two outyards in one 
forenoon or afternoon, and generally about 
half the time is spent on the road. If a 
beeman's time is worth in the height of 
the season one dollar an hour, and his 
helper half that, and if the time of the 
team is worth $5.00 a day, it makes the 
net cost $2.00 an hour. 

AUTOMOBILE FOR OUT-APIARIES. 

On the other hand, an automobile will 
make the trip to the yards in one-fifth or 
one-seventh of the time. A safe average 
running speed is about 15 miles an hour, 
altho on good roads one can run as high as 
20 or even 25 miles. It costs anywhere 
from 5 to 20 cents* a mile to operate an 
automobile if depreciation of the machine 
itself, wear and tear, tires, gasoline, and oil 
are included. But even on this basis the 
automobile is considerably cheaper, pro- 
vided, of course, there is a series of not less 
than three or four outyards, or, better, five 
or six. The self-propelled vehicle makes it 
possible to have yards further apart; and 
this makes it feasible to have a lesser num- 
ber of colonies to the yard, and a larger 
average yield. If a yard is overstocked it 
will not, of course, give as large an average 
per colony. 

It is not necessary to buy an expensive 
truck. An ordinary light machine selling 
for less than $600 with a wagon-box on the 
back will handle practically 95 per cent of 
the out-apiary work provided there are not 
more than four or five yards. For very 
heavy hauling, a big truck can usually be 
hired at an expense of about 20 cents a 
mile, including driver ; and this will be far 



cheaper than for the beekeeper to own the 
machine. Or a trailer can be hitched on 
the light machine and carry 750 lbs. in 
addition to 500 or 750 lbs. on the truck 
itself. The automobile without a trailer 
can carry 750 lbs. to the trip, and thus do 
practically all the work, even to hauling 
the bees home in the fall, altho there is an 




Ford and trailer. 
A two-wheel trailer, if rightly designed, will carry 
from 700 to 1,000 pounds. In some places one can be 
rented for $1.50 a day. Its cost will run all the way 
from $50 to $150. It is a very common practice in 
California for beekeepers to move their bees with a 
two-wheel trailer. 

increasing tendency on the part of out- 
apiary beekeepers to winter their bees at 
outyards in large quadruple winter cases. 
(See Wintering Outdoors.) In that 
case the small machine can do all the haul- 
ing provided the owner manages to take a 
light load at each trip, both going and 
coming. 




* A Ford will run for from 3 to 5 cents as against 
a ton automobile truck at 15 to 20 cents per mile. 



This is a better trailer and costs about $150. It 
will handle easily at one load 50 colonies, or one ton 
of weight. For moving bees it is always best to have 
a strongly built machine. 

If there is a series of eight or ten yards 
one can well afford to have a light machine 
to carry the men to and from the yards, 
and a trailer capable of carrying 750 lbs. 



OUT-APIARIES 



579 



more,* altho it is surprising to see how 
much work can be accomplished with a 
Ford alone. 

The illustration of a Ford truck under 
the head of Moving Bees shows a little 
machine that the author has been using at 
his outyards with considerable success. We 
have actually loaded on to it at a time 
twelve to fifteen colonies, and two or three 
trips will carry a whole yard of bees from 
one point to another. Twenty-five empty 
hives and supers with combs can be piled 
up and roped on to the machine; for so 
long as the weight is kept down to about 
750 lbs. one may pile on to it as much as 
he can get on. 

The upkeep of an automobile costing less 
than $600 is about a third of the cost of 
operating the larger machines costing 
$1,200 or more. The former use small tires, 
and, what is of great importance, the first 
cost is much lower. Beekeepers should un- 
derstand that the main expense of operat- 
ing an automobile is depreciation, which 
cannot be figured at less than 33 per cent 
the first year; 25 for the next, and 10 per 
cent for each succeeding year. The depre- 
ciation is the largest item; and as the cost 
of the low-priced machine is less than half 
the ordinary machines, the depreciation is 
correspondingly less. 

But there is another item to be consid- 
ered. The little high-speed engine in the 
small machine will give about twice the 
mileage per gallon of gasoline of the heavier 
machines, and this is no inconsiderable 
item. 

By lengthening the wagon-box a much 
larger bulk of hives can be carried at a 
load; and, generally speaking, the author 
would advise having the wagon-box stick 
out at the rear at least two feet or more, 
because a great deal of the stuff carried to 
the outyard is bulky but not heavy. But 
when the wagon-box is enlarged, precau- 
tion should be taken not to put on a load of 
more than 750 lbs. While the chassis of a 
light machine will carry 1,000 lbs., such a 
load is rather hard on the tires, and it is 
advisable to make an extra trip rather than 
trying to do the whole job in one load. 



* E. L. Hoffman, Zanesville, Minn., handles 1,000 
colonies with one assistant, a Ford, and a trailer. He 
secures big crops of honey, and with his Ford he sells 
and delivers his crop in his locality. The Ford with 
trailer is used very commonly in California and other 
States. 



A large heavy automobile trucK costing 
from $1,000 to $1,500 with a maximum 
speed of only 15 to 20 miles an hour is an 
expensive and wasteful proposition for the 
average beekeeper. What he needs is some- 
thing that will make quick trips at a mini- 
mum expense. 

Whatever the kind of hive used, some 
plan must be adopted for fastening in the 
bees, so that they may have abundance of 
ventilation while being hauled. As, how- 
ever, the hauling is done in spring and fall, 
less ventilation is needed than during hot 
weather. The ordinary entrance, say 14 
inches by %, covered by wire cloth, will 
answer, as that gives a ventilating surface 
of about 5 inches, altho. more would be 
much better. (See Moving Bees.) Of 
course, the bees should all be shut in when 
not fiying, and in spring it is a good plan 
to shut up in the evening all that are to be 
hauled the next day. In the fall the weather 
may be such that bees will not fly at any 
time in the day, otherwise one must get to 
the out-apiary early enough in the morning 
to shut in all the bees he will haul that day. 
If one is to take bees to an out-apiary in 
the spring, the sooner it is done the better, 
as pasturage is then apt to be rather scarce 
at best. Where bees are to be brought 
home in the fall to be cellared, they may as 
well be brought just as soon as heavy frost 
occurs, or as soon as they stop gathering; 
at least they should be brought early enough 
to have a good fly before going into winter 
quarters. After being unloaded from the 
wagon the bees may be liberated at once by 
blowing a little smoke or dashing in some 
cold water; or, if loaded too late in the 
evening to fly, they may be left till the next 
morning when they will be quietly settled 
down; and if carefully opened, no smoke 
need be used. For full particulars on the 
difficulties in hauling bees see Moving Bees. 

GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF OUT-APIARIES. 

The management of outyards will depend 
very largely on the man, the locality, and 
the general conditions. Sometimes up in 
the mountain country where the roads are 
very poor, and a very large number of 
colonies can be supported per apiary, it is 
more practicable to have a man at each 
yard who camps on the job night and day 
until the main honey flow is over. Of 



580 



OUT-APIARIES 



course, it is not necessary to have a man at 
the yard during the dormant season; but 
when warm weather sets in some one should 
be on hand to build up the colonies and put 
them in proper condition to catch the 
honey flow. 

As a rule, however, a man at each yard 
is too expensive, and it is, therefore, better 
to have one force operate all the yards, 
using an automobile, even if an occasional 
swarm does get away. This plan has the 
advantage that the o^vner of the bees can 
always be present with the men, directing 
the work, thereby securing efficiency and 
at the same time better service. The help- 
ers usually work better when the boss is 
around; and the boss who does not see to 
his own job will soon run himself out of 
business. One who is capable of operating 
a series of outyards is capable of directing 
his men, and usually he is a man who has 
gradually grown into the business, increas- 
ing it from year to year as knowledge and 
experience permit. It follows, therefore, 
that when the owner can keep his eye on 
every colony at every outyard, and direct 
the individual treatment, he gets far better 
results than if he has a hired man out of 
his sight at each outyard. 

The owner of the bees, when he takes his 
helper or helpers, should make his plans 
well in advance before he starts for the 
yard. He should not only know what he is 
going to do, but whether he has the proper 
equipment with him to work out the plans 
for the day or trip. He should go further 
and have his plans matured a week in ad- 
vance so that he can take care of each 
yard at a definite period. He should see 
to it that he has on hand sufficient supplies 
of every description; and if he does not 
have enough equipment at each yard he 
should so arrange his work that he can 
carry what is necessary at each trip ; other- 
wise he will be working at a great disad- 
vantage. 

It is not essential that a helper should 
have experience. The beeman who uses his 
brains can take a comparatively raw man 
or boy and almost double his own capacity 
for work in a day. Our yardman takes 
along with him one or two helpers. 
The helper with smoker opens up the hives 
in advance, so that all is ready when the 
boss makes his inspection. His practiced 
eye will see almost at a glance what treat- 



ment is required, and he will, therefore, 
direct his helper or helpers to bring him 
the necessary equipment to put the colony 
in proper condition. An experienced man 
who has his plans well worked out will be 
able to keep one man bringing him stuff. 
As the men acquire more experience the 
boss simply tells them w^hat to do with a 
colony. In the meantime he studies the 
needs of the next colony. 

A good beeman who is capable of getting 
along with help will be able to take care of 
seven or eight hundred or perhaps a thou- 
sand colonies with one or two men as help- 
ers. When conditions are right, and with 
the proper system, he sometimes may be 
able to handle twice the number with the 
same help. 

Of course it goes without saying that the 
owner or boss should know how to operate 
his automobile. As already pointed out, 
he cannot afford to waste time with a horse 
and buggy, as he will thus kill valuable 
time. 

But perhaps it may be urged that the 
roads are bad and almost unpassable for 
any automobile, and that a horse and buggy 
must therefore be used. But usually a 
Ford with a good driver will go where any 
horse can. 

In this connection it may be said that 
out-apiaries should be located on paved or 
stone roads as far as possible and as close 
to the road as conditions will permit. This 
is quite important during the early part of 
the season when early rains would make an 
ordinary clay road muddy and slippery for 
a machine. Good management, therefore, 
i^equires not only a definite plan for each 
day and each week, but an arrangement of 
outyards along highways that will be pass- 
able during the months of the year when 
bees will ordinarily be handled. 

No beekeeper should go to an outyard 
without a spare inner tube and an outer 
casing, with a boot to provide against blow- 
outs, and patching stuff to make repairs to 
inner tubes. In the rush of the season it is 
the height of folly to get caught on the 
road with a blowout or a puncture without 
means for making repairs. To run on an 
uuinfiated tire is the ruination of the inner 
tube and a damage to the casing. As a 
general thing the author would recommend 
having a Ford equipped with a detachable 
rim. With this extra rim can-ying a tire 



OUT-APIARIES 



581 



already inflated, one can get started in a 
very few minutes. 

An extra box should be provided on the 
running-board of the machine to hold 
smoker, smoker-fuel, hive-tools, bee-brush, 
grass-hook, or anji;hing else that may be 
required at the outyard. These tools will 
be needed on every trip, besides the combs, 
supers, and other equipment that will ordi- 
narily be loaded in the wagon-box for that 
special trip. 

Sometimes it is necessary to take along 
a scythe, and while the boss is making an 
inspection of colonies his helpers can be 
employed in cutting down grass and weeds 
and leveling up the hives. This last item 
may not seem to be essential ; but if a hive 
is on a tilt it will have its combs in the 
section-supers built out of plumb. If the 
season happens to be a good one, and there 
are four or five supers on the hive, a stiff 
wind just before a thunderstorm may blow 
the whole thing over. It is important, 
therefore, to have a good foundation for 
each hive at the yard. 

At every outyard there should be a small 
collapsible building ( See Buildings) . This 
is to hold extra combs, supers, and equip- 
ment; and if the extracting is performed 
with a small hand machine it can be done 
in a building of this sort. 

As given under Extracting^ the author 
advises one large extracting-outfit at the 
home yard, where the work can be done 
inside of a bee-proof building. It is not 
advisable ordinarily to extract at outyards, 
on account of the danger of robbers, and 
because conditions usually are not favorable 
for putting up an extracting-outfit. 

In the case of bee disease it is sometimes 
necessary to extract at the outyard, in order 
to avoid mixing the combs, and danger of 
carrying disease to the home yard. But 
even in that case, if one plans rightly he 
can arrange to take his combs off, load them 
on the machine, carry them home, extract, 
and return. There should be a drip-pan in 
the wagon-box to catch any drip from the 
supers after extracting. And it may be 
advisable to throw a large canvas over the 
load to keep any bees in the home yard 
from getting a taste of the honey. In any 
case the extractor should be thoroly washed 
out after extracting from diseased or sus- 
pected combs. Such work cannot be done 
too carefully. 



wintering out-apiary bees. 

It is the practice of some to haul the 
bees home from the outyard and put them 
in a large cellar; others winter in large 
quadi-uple winter cases at the outyard. 
(See Wintering Outdoors^ subhead 
'* Quadruple Winter Cases.") If there is 
any danger that the bees may be tampered 
with during winter by thieves or boys, it is 
advisable to haul the bees home and winter 
them under the eye of the owner. Usually 
an outyard can be located in sight of some 
house. If the land is rented from the 
owner of the house he will be willing to 
keep a watch on the bees; but as a usual 
thing bees may be left out of doors year in 
and year out Avithout disturbance. 

If the bees at the outyards are well sup- 
plied with stores in the fall, and put into 
double-walled hives or large winter cases, 
they will not require much attention except 
to see that the entrances do not become 
clogged with dead bees, which may happen 
along late in the winter. Usually some 
one near the outyards can be hired to rake 
the dead bees out of the entrances, as it 
may not be practicable for the owner to 
make a visit when roads are bad. 

For building up outyard bees the reader 
is referred to Building up Colonies ; Nu- 
cleus, and Increase. 

failing locations. 

Experience has shown, in many in- 
stances, that a yard which in years gone 
by has furnished tons of honey is now 
practically worthless, or so nearly so that 
the moving of the bees to some more 
favorable location is a necessity. For in- 
stance, four or five years ago an apiary 
furnished an abundance of basswood 
honey ; but the basswoods have all been cut 
off; there is no clover and the field is 
worthless. Again, a locality had once fur- 
nished immense quantities of white clover; 
but intensive agriculture has set in, and 
clover pasturage has given way to immense 
wheat fields. The inroads of civilization 
sometimes cut off the honey resources of a 
locality ; at other times they augment them 
very considerably. There are a few loca- 
tions in Xew York State that formerly gave 
very little honey until the farmers in recent 
years introduced buckwheat to such an 
extent that these are now splendid buck- 



582 



OVERSTOCKING 



wheat countries; and the yield of this 
dark rich honey plays a considerable part 
in the net profits of the season. In Cali- 
fornia some sage locations that were for- 
merly good were ruined by fire. In other 
places in the State the planting of orange 
groves has made these places good for 
bees. 

A SCALE HIVE AT AN OUT-APIARY. 

It is a well-known and established fact, 
that one yard may yield quite a crop of 
honey while another, only a few miles dis- 
tant, requires to be fed. It is highly im- 
portant to be able to tell just what the bees 
are doing at stated periods during the sea- 
son. One beekeeper kept a hive on scales 
at each yard; and every time he visited 
one he consulted the scales. If they indi- 
cated an increase of several pounds, he 
knew the bees in this apiary needed more 
room, and were also liable to swarm; but, 
if they indicated a loss of several pounds, 
he inferred that the whole yard was losing 
likewise, and that some colonies needed to 
be fed. Of course, the hive on the scale 
should contain a fair average colony. In 
many cases it is not always possible to 
visit yards at regular periods, and in that 
case some resident near the apiary can be 
employed to watch the scale, and report by 
postal card or telephone. See Scale 
Hive. 

a caution about entering into the 
out-apiary business. 

While there are many beekeepers who 
have brains and capacity enough to man- 
age a series of out-apiaries, there are also 
more who should never think of going into 
the business. To be a keeper of several 
out-apiaries means great perseverance and 
a good deal of system, besides ability to 
manage not only the bees, but the help 
who are to take care of them. If one 
cannot make 50 or 60 colonies pay in one 
location, he should not delude himself by 
the idea that he can make bees pay by 
establishing a series of out-apiaries. The 
man who can not make a small business 
pay probably will not make a large one do 
so. "When one can manage successfully his 
home apiary, it may be profitable, as soon 
as the increase is sufficient, to take a part 
of it to an outyard. 



OVERSTOCKING.— This means putting 
more colonies in a locality than can be 
supported profitably. Sometimes a local 
beekeeper makes the mistake of putting too 
many bees in a place; but it more often 
happens that another, observing that the 
locality is good, brings in one or more 
yards, thus crowding the territory that was 
already overstocked in the first place. See 
under Apiary, Backlot Beekeeping, 
Farmer Beekeepers^ and Out-apiaries. 

A given locality with only ten colonies 
to gather the nectar in it may show a 
wonderful average per colony — perhaps 
200 or 300 pounds. When the number is 
tripled or quadrupled, the average will be 
cut down a half. The locality should be 
carefully studied, and only that number of 
colonies used which on an average, one 
year with another, will give the largest 
results in honey, with a minimum of labor 
and capital. If 75 hives during an average 
season would furnish an average of 150 
pounds to the hive, then, perhaps, the 
number might be increased to 100 or even 
150. If, on the other hand, the average is 
only 50 lbs. of extracted honey, and there 
are only 50 colonies in the apiary, then, 
clearly, 50 would be all there could be kept 
with profit in that spot; and it could be 
questioned whether or not 35 might not be 
just as profitable, and at the same time 
save a little in the investment and some 
labor in gathering and harvesting the crop. 

But in some locations, notably Califor- 
nia, Colorado, Cuba, and in some portions 
of Florida, one can have as many as 300 
or 400 colonies, and in some rare instances 
500 colonies in one apiary. The late E. 
W. Alexander of Delanson, N. Y., had 
some 700 colonies in one beeyard; but he 
had immense acreages of buckwheat and 
goldenrod. The celebrated Sespe apiary, 
in southern California, owned by Mrs. J. 
F. Mclntyre, has, in one yard, some 600 
hives of bees; but the great mountains on 
either side, the fertile valley, and the great 
abundance of honey flora, make such a 
number possible. See Apiary; also Out- 
apiaries. 

overstocking and priority rights. 

A new phase of overstocking has been 
developed within recent years, bringing up 
a rather difficult and serious problem. In 
good localities such as, for example, the 



OVERSTOCKING 



583 



irrigated regions of Colorado, the keeping 
of bees is mueli more profitable, or at least 
once was, than in some of the less favored 
localities in the Central and Northern 
States of the Union. It has come to pass 
that, in recent years, certain beekeepers, 
learning of the wonderful yields in Cali- 
fornia, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Mon- 
tana, and Arizona, in the irrigated alfalfa 
regions, have started apiaries within less 
than a mile' of some other beekeeper hav- 
ing 100 or 200 colonies in that locality. 
When the new comer establishes another 
apiary of 100 colonies, the place becomes 
overstocked, with the result that beekeeper 
No. 1 has his average per colony cut down 
very materially. There is only a certain 
amount of nectar in the field to be gath- 
ered; and if all the colonies get a propor- 
tionate share, then beekeeper No. 2 prac- 
tically robs beekeeper No. 1 of a large per- 
centage of honey that he would have ob- 
tained had not other bees been brought 
into the locality to divide the spoils. But 
there is no law against such a procedure. 
The only protection that the original squat- 
ter has is the unwritten moral law that is 
observed among the better class of beekeep- 
ers, to the effect that no beekeeper should 
locate an apiary so close to another as to 
rob him of a certain amount of nectar in 
the field which is his by priority of loca- 
tion. In a good many localities, unfortu- 
nately this unwritten moral law is only 
loosely observed. Locations that once af- 
forded an average of 100 or 150 pounds 
per colony now afford only about 50 or 75 
pounds. 

For the other side, on this question of 
priority of right it may be said that the 
first-comer beekeeper has in no sense 
leased, bought, or borrowed the land grow- 
ing the plants from which the nectar is 
secreted; that any and every one has a 
right to the product from the flowers. 
Legally the second comer has just as much 
right to the fi^eld as his neighbor. 

No attempt will be made to define moral 
distinctions which may be involved in this 
question any more than to state that, if a 
beekeeper has, by luck, careful observation, 
or at great expense, discovered a locality 
that yields large amounts of honey, he 
ought to be left in the peaceful enjojTuent 
and free possession of his discovery, to the 
extent that no one else should locate an 



apiary nearer than a mile and a half from 
any of his apiaries; and right here it 
would appear that the principle of the 
golden rule ought to be used to settle aU 
such problems; for it is practically certain 
that beekeeper No. 2, who comes into an 
already occupied field to divide the profits, 
would not regard with very much favoi 
such action on the part of another if hp 
were in the position of the one having 
prior rights. 

In many localities there is a very strong 
sentiment on the part of local beekeepers 
established in good territory against new 
comers putting more bees into a plact 
already overstocked. This sentiment is so 
pronounced and strong that the new man 
is often glad to sell out or move away of 
his own accord. Sometimes he is stubborn, 
and attempts to fight it out; but usually 
he is the loser in the end, because he does 
not know the locality as do the old-estab- 
lished beekeepers, and his yields per colony 
will be considerably less. While the policy 
is not here advocated, local beekeepers 
sometimes agree on the plan of freezing 
out, or, more exactly, starving out, the 
new comer. The latter enters the territory 
with a yard of bees. Immediately the 
old-established beekeeper or beekeepers 
will place around that yard, within a 
quarter of a mile of it or less, a lot more 
bees — enough to overstock the place very 
greatly. The old residents, knowing the 
locality, build up their colonies, and are 
ready for the nectar when it does come in. 
But there is not enough to go around by 
considerable; and the result is, the bees 
will not secure an average of ten pounds 
per colony. But the old resident beekeep- 
ers will secure more than the new comer 
because they know the locality and how to 
meet the conditions. After Mr. Newcomer 
has tried it out one season, and finds he 
cannot make anything, he will move out. 
This freezing-out or starving-out game has 
been worked to a finish in a good many 
places in the West. As a rule the resident 
beekeepers in the locality will agree among 
themselves to divide up the territory and 
put no more bees to the yard than the 
locality will support. This policy prevails 
in many of the orange and sage districts 
of California and the alfalfa districts of 
the West. A good feeling exists, and in 
some places they co-operate among them- 



584 



PALMETTO 



selves to sell their honey, perhaps picking 
out one of their number to visit the big 
markets. Such a policy is much more 
sane than for every one to grab territory 
and compete against his neighbor, with the 
result that no one can make a fair living. 

In one or two localities Mr. Newcomer 
has been met by a shotgun. He is told to 
get out or "take the consequences." As 
such a policy is, of course, indefensible, a 
milder and gentler means should be em- 
ployed. 



As a rule the new comer can find terri- 
tory if he will make some inquiry before 
he attempts to squat his yard or yards. 
By making a personal visit and becoming 
acquainted with the beekeepers in any 
given locality, he can usually make satis- 
factory arrangements, and open territory 
may be assigned if there is any. Some- 
times none is available. In that case, Mr. 
Newcomer should not attempt to crowd in, 
for he may find some one beekeeper who 
will resort to the shotgun argument. 



PALMETTO {Sabal palmetto (Walt.) 
R. & S.). — Also called cabbage palmetto 
and cabbage tree. This is the most pic- 
turesque tree in all Florida. Like all the 
palmettos, the cabbage palmetto belongs 
to the order Palmales and the family Pal- 
maceae. The leaves are fan-shaped, in 
length about five or six feet, in width 
about three or four; color of leaves, bright 
green. The name " cabbage palmetto " is 
from the cabbage that forms the bud at the 
top of the growing trunk, and from which 
all the leaves grow. It grows from 20 to 
30 feet high, at its best even higher, and is 
found in profusion along the east and west 
coasts, and on all river courses and ham- 
mocks thruout the southern half of Flor- 
ida. In general its habitat is the south 
two-thirds of the State, tho it is found 
as far north as Jacksonville. The trunk is 
straight, and, as the tree ages, is bare and 
gray in hue, looking like a weather-beaten 
pineboard. The wood is fibrous, and im- 
pervious to water, resisting decay when 
entirely submerged, tho it quickly decom- 
poses when exposed to dampness and hot 
sun alternately. The sheathing bases of the 
leaf stems are imbricated and form a boot- 
like lacing of bark about the trunk for 
many feet below the top; these, the so- 
called " boots," gradually fall away, leav- 
ing the trunk bare, with slight perpendic- 
ular ridges, showing the fibrous corruga- 
tions, due to the nature of the wood. Its 
blossoming time varies according to local- 



ity. In the extreme south it begins to 
bloom about the first part of July; as late 
as August in northern portions. The blos- 
som stalks shoot out from the bud at the 
top, among the leaf stems, and at first look 
like huge " blacksnake whips," only they 
are greenish brown in hue. These gradu- 
ally unfurl, forming a profusely flowered 
raceme resembling a giant ostrich plume. 
The resemblance to a plume is intensified 
when the racemes open in a mass of green- 
ish-white petals that fill the air with a 
delicate aroma, as pronounced as that of 
apple blossoms. One such raceme, in full 
fiower, is a sight to be long remembered. 

The fiorets are very sensitive to atmos- 
pheric conditions. Too much dampness 
blights, and too dry hot air blasts the deli- 
cate blossoms. As a consequence, it can 
not be counted on as a good yielder oftener 
than one year in three, on an average. 
When it does yield, it is profusely. It 
yielded well in 1907, again in 1909, and 
fairly well in 1912. The roar of the bees 
during a good flow from the cabbage pal- 
metto is like that in locust or basswood 
bloom. The honey is almost water-white, 
clear, and translucent. The aroma is dis- 
tinctive, tho not at all resembling that 
from saw palmetto. In body it is rather 
thin, under normal, never thickening, 
even in cool weather, to a very heavy con- 
sistency. In warm weather it runs almost 
like water. It often froths considerably 
on extracting — just after uncapping, in 



PALMETTO 



585 



fact — tho that all disappears after the 
honey has stood for a few days. It re- 
quires rather careful handling to keep at 
its best. While it does not rank as high as 
the honey from saw palmetto, it would still 
come about fifth or sixth in the entire list 
of honeys from Florida. The flavor is ex- 
tremely mild. It is an excellent honey to 
"blend" with other honeys. In the vicinity 




Cabbage palmetto. 

of Hawks Park, Fla., it blooms almost 
simultaneously with the mangrove, so that 
the two are always secured together, never 
separately, in that section. Further south 
they are secured separately. For example, 
on the southwestern coast there is little 
mangrove, so that the palmetto honey is 
obtained in its purity. The combination 
of this honey and the mangrove, however, 
is, fortunately, a fine one. It won signal 
praise from the father of modern apicul- 
ture, L. L. Langstroth himself. W. S. Hart 
of Hawks Park had sent a sample of the 
blended honeys to Chas. F. Muth of Cin- 
cinnati. Mr. Langstroth later received a 
smaller sample of it from Mr. Muth, and 
wrote him the following interesting letter: 

Friend Muth: — I have delayed giving you 
my opinion of that Florida palmetto honey 
till I got the verdict of others as to its 
merits. In color it is unexceptionable, an'l 
its flavor is very pleasant. I am not sure 



but the majority of consumers will consider 
it the equal if not the superior of white 
clover. Our southern friends are to be con- 
gratulated on being able to supply our mar- 
ket with such a choice article. 

L. L. Langstroth. 
Oxford, 0., Nov. 16, 1882. 

SCRUB PALMETTO. 

The scrub palmetto {Sabal megacarpa 
(Chapm.) Small) is a low shrub with thick- 
set branching leaves that grow from a 
trunk that is long and crooked, erect early, 
later prostrate, and half submerged in 
earth. The branches, like the entire family 
of Palmaceae, grow from a central bud at 
the end of the trunk, and are imbricated 
in the bud. The stems, supporting the 
light-green fan-shaped leaves, are about 
four feet tall on the northern limits, but 
reach six or seven further south, where the 
plant is at its best. In shaded portions or 
damp sections, perhaps, owing partly to 
the soil, the leaves are often bluish in 




Scrub palmetto. 

color. The trunk, when it falls over, sends 
up fresh clusters or clumps of shoots that 
form a new shrub. One trunk may thus 
send up many clumps of leaves resembling 
distinct plants, but really attached to a 
single trunk. 



586 



PARTHENOGENESIS 



The flowers are borne on a branched 
stalk in slender racemes from two to four 
feet long, so that the whole cluster has a 
plume-like appearance. They are cream- 
white, or sometimes greenish, small and 
delicate, resembling the blossoms of the 
lily of the valley, with a very sweet fra- 
grance. They secrete nectar freely. 

The plant grows freely on sandy soil 
over the southern two-thirds of the penin- 
sula of Florida, becoming scarcer toward 
the northern boundaries, and smaller as 
well. It reaches its finest form from a line 
east from Tampa to the coast, southward, 
and flourishes on the Keys. It begins to 
blossom in the vicinity of Fort Myers and 
Miami, about April; further north. May 
is the flowering time. May is the time for 
blossoms about midway of the State. The 
edges of the stems of the leaves show on 
either side serrated points, or teeth, that 
give the name "saw palmetto" to this 
species. But the real saw palmetto ranges 
much further north, even extending into 
the Carolinas, and is the Serenoa serrulata, 
not the Sabal megacarpa. The serrations 
of the saw palmetto are deeper and more 
rasping. On the west coast of Florida, 
from about Tampa, north and south, the 
scrub palmetto extends for miles eastward 
in an unbroken sea of green. On the Sea- 
board Airline Railroad it is possible to ride 
for miles without being out of sight of the 
scrub palmetto that makes such an im- 
pressive sight, seen in such masses. Usu- 
ally pine trees grow scatteringly among 
dense hammocks of the scrub palmetto. 
These form what are commonly called ''the 
flat-woods." On the edges of heavy, damp 
hammocks, where the soil is richer, the 
scrub reaches much greater density, size, 
and vigor. There are still wide areas of 
scrub-palmetto hammocks and flatwoods 
yet unoccupied by any beemen, that offer 
an attractive field for apiculture. There is 
one objection to such areas, however: The 
palmetto is usually the only nectar-secreting 
plant in such territory, and colonies have 
to be watched or they will run out of stores 
in seasons when the palmetto does not 
bloom. But there is no honey plant in 
Florida that is more reliable, year in and 
year out, than the same scrub palmetto. 

The product ranks among the best four 
honeys of the State, and, tho forest fires 
destroy much of the bloom for that year, 



still the sections burned one year produce 
the most honey the second year, so the loss 
is not without some advantage. The honey 
is clear, amber, almost lemon-hued; body 
thick and waxy, and aroma exquisite. Al- 
most all are enthusiastic over such honey, 
once they taste the pure article. In many 
localities it is disguised by the admixture 
of other honeys gathered by the bees either 
during the flow or just prior or subsequent 
to it. Once known, it is always popular 
with consumers. It candies pretty early, 
but not so promptly as orange honey. 0. 
0. Poppleton pronounces it the best honey 
in Florida, with possibly the exception of 
that from white tupelo. See Tupelo. 

PARTHENOGENESIS.— In the great 
majority of cases the sex cells disintegrate 
unless they unite with the products of the 
opposite sex of the same species; but in 
some cases of the animal kingdom cells are 
given off from the ovary, which, without 
fertilization, are able to undergo develop- 
ment. That these cells are true eggs is 
evident from their origin, appearance, be- 
havior, and fate, while the only difference 
between these eggs and eggs requiring fer- 
tilization is that the former are able to 
divide and grow without receiving the 
stimulus given by the male sex cell. To 
this phenomenon .the name " partheno- 
genesis " is applied. 

The word parthenogenesis (virgin de- 
velopment) was flrst used in this sense by 
Professor v. Siebold in his classic paper, 
"Parthenogenesis in Lepidoptera and Bees," 
in 1856. 

However, earlier writers described the 
phenomenon under various other names. 

In 1745 Charles Bonnet described the 
parthenogenetic development of plant lice; 
and Prof. Oscar Hertwig, the great Ger- 
man embryologist, designated this work as 
marking one of the milestones in the his- 
tory of the science of development. 

Just one hundred years later the Rev. 
Johannes Dzierzon of Carlsmarkt, Ger- 
many, put forth the theory that the drone 
or male bee is produced from an egg which 
is not fertilized. This work, published in 
the Eichstadt Bienenzeitung, may well be 
looked on as the starting point of the 
theory of parthenogenesis, since it began a 
very important discussion, and marked the 
origin of a host of works along similar 



PARTRIDGE PEA 



58' 



lines. Dzierzon based his views on the 
following facts observed by him and since 
confirmed by many others : 

1. An unmated queen occasionally lays 
eggs, but these produce only drones. 

2. Workers under certain peculiar cir- 
cumstances lay eggs, but these develop 
only into drones. Worker bees have never 
been known to mate. 

3. Old queens may exhaust their supply 
of spermatozoa received in mating, and 
thereafter produce only drones. As the 
supply diminishes they lay an ever in- 
creasing percentage of drone eggs. See 
Dzierzon Theory. 

While this theory is based on the work 
of Dzierzon, it must not be forgotten that 
its establishment is due in no small part to 
the researches of Professor Leuckart and 
von Siebold of Germany. 

The facts brought out in an examination 
of this work have an important bearing on 
the practical work of the apiary, and it is 
necessary for the queen-breeder, at least, 
to know the application. If, for example, 
a Cyprian queen is mated to an Italian 
drone, the resulting workers are a cross 
between the two races, or Cyprio-Italians. 
Any queens reared from this colony are 
also Cyprio-Italians; but the drones of 
this cross-mated queen are pure Cyprians, 
the Italian drone in the cross having no 
influence on the male offspring of the Cyp- 
rian mother. If, therefore, but one purely 
mated queen is obtained, her daughters 
produce pure di^ones, regardless of mis- 
mating, and the race may be established in 
an apiary. 

The conclusion frequently drawn from 
this theory is that the queen can voluntarily 
control the sex of an egg by withholding or 
allowing its fertilization. It is sometimes 
further held that all eggs in the ovary are 
male, and the sex changed by fertilization. 
These conclusions are not based on obser- 
vation, and proof is entirely lacking. In a 
statement of the theory, therefore, it is 
necessary to stick to facts. 

The Dzierzon theory has been combated 
by many different scientists, more recently 
by Dickel, a German beekeeper with scien- 
tific aspirations. While the theory has 
been somewhat modified by recent work, it 
remains the prevalent view today, and 
Dickel generally receives the condemnation 
so richly deserved. 



Parthenogenesis occurs in many other 
orders of both plants and animals, and a 
comparison of the various results is most 
interesting. Merely to cite some cases for 
comparison: In the bee, only males are 
produced parthenogenetically ; in certain 
lepidoptera, only females are so produced; 
while in plant lice and certain small Crus- 
tacea, both males and females are pro- 
duced from unfertilized eggs. Ants were 
foi-merly supposed to have a parthenoge- 
netic development identical with that seen 
in the honeybee; but more recent work 
makes this doubtful as a general statement. 
The silkworm is occasionally parthenoge- 
netic. 

PARTRIDGE PEA {Cassia Chamae- 
christa L.). — Also called sensitive pea. A 
tough, hardy weed of the pulse family 
{Leguminosae) , gi'owing plentifully in the 
high pine woods of central and northern 
Florida. In summer the ground is yellow 
with it for miles. It is scraggly in form, 
branching low to the ground, and reaching 
a length of two and three feet on good 
ground; limbs tough and woody when 
dried. The yellow flowers are slightly 
clustered, and the petioles bear one or two 
glands at the base, from which the bees 
gather the nectar. We have seldom seen a 
bee on the blossoms proper. The stems are 
brown, and often branch out as low as an 
inch above the ground. As the branches 
grow they widen horizontally, sometimes 
lying almost parallel to the surface of the 
ground. The bloom period is long, lasting 
from July to mid- September. Unless the 
sunmaer rains are too heavy and continu- 
ous, it yields nectar every season. In 
rainy seasons the nectar is washed out of 
the plants before the bees gather it. The 
honey has a pretty hue, being light amber. 
The body is thin, even exceptionally so, 
and the flavor is disappointing. It is far 
inferior to ordinary sorghum. A good tea- 
spoonful of pure resin or turpentine would 
hardly shock the palate more, especially if 
fresh from sampling palmetto or orange 
honey. 

The late H. W. Herlong of Fort White, 
Fla, secured all his surplus from this 
source and chinquapin, which yields a bit- 
ter honey. He produced almost exclusively 
comb honey; and, poor as the flavor is, he 
managed to sell his crops at paying figures. 



588 



PEPPER TREE 



The fine appearance of the capped article 
doubtless was the secret of this. As an 
extracted honey, it is valuable only for 
baker^s use. It is a safe and sure crop in 
its locality, and quantity partly atones for 
lack of quality. 

The partridge pea is also common thru- 
out the other Southern States and extends 
northward to New England. In many dry 
sandy sections of the South it is the chief 
dependence of the beekeeper, making bee- 
keeping possible in most unfavorable local- 
ities. A surplus of 100 pounds per colony 
is obtained. The honey, according to J. J. 
Wilder, is nearly water-white with a fine 
flavor. In the morning the cup-like glands 
on the leaf stems hold large drops of nec- 
tar which shine in the sunlight like dew- 
drops. It is a very reliable yielder for 
more than 100 days. The flowers are 
pollen flowers, devoid of nectar, and vis- 
ited by bumblebees only for pollen. 



PASTURAGE. 

TURAGE. 



See Artificial Pas- 



PATENTS RELATING TO BEE CUL- 
TURE. — Under the head of Inventions 
Relating to Bee Culture is given a list 
of all the useful ideas and inventions, pat- 
ented or otherwise, that have been accepted 
by beekeepers. It is but fair to state that 
there is in u^e today hardly a hive of value 
that is covered by an unexpired patent. 
The field of apicultural invention has been 
so thoroly covered by some 2,500 patents 
on file in the Patent Office that it is prac- 
tically impossible to secure a patent on any 
hive or bee-appliance today that will have 
claims of any value. Even if the patent is 
granted, the claims are generally so loosely 
drawn, and so complicated to avoid con- 
flicting with other patents, that it is worth- 
less. As already pointed out at the close 
of the article on inventions, no patent 
granted today on beehives or bee-feeders 
will be worth anything to the inventor. 
The unpatented hive has so far reached the 
point of utility and perfection that it 
would be practically • impossible to make 
any improvements ; and the improvements, 
if any, would not be fundamental. 

When the field was wide open, as in the 
days of Langstroth, it was possible to 
secure fundamental patents ; but even with 
a fundamental patent Langstroth was 



robbed of the fruits of his brain, and died 
almost penniless, notwithstanding the fact 
that his invention was so useful that it was 
accepted, at the time of his death, practi- 
cally thruout the whole known world, but 
long years after his patent of 1852 had 
expired. 

In the early days of bee culture the 
country was full of patent-right venders 
who sold county or state rights. Some of 
these sharks reaped a harvest in selling 
moth-proof hives. Practically all of these 
patent-right venders sold useless contrap- 
tions, and most of them were men without 
principle — so much so that the business 
of selling out county and state rights has 
come into ill repute. 

PEDDLING HONEY. — See Honey- 
peddling; also Extracted Honey. 

PENNYROYAL {Satureja rigida Bart.). 
Perennial shrubby plants, two or three 
feet tall, growing on sandy barrens and 
pine lands thruout southern Florida. It 
is of little value to the beekeeper north of 
Lake Apopka. The stems branch diffusely 
and bear head-like clusters of light purple- 
2-lipped flowers. In localities it densely 
covers the ground, as near Tampa on the 
west coast and Stewart on the east side. 
The honey flow comes in January, at a 
time unfortunately when the colonies in 
this section are usually weak. During the 
flow they build up rapidly, and fill the 
hives with stores. The honey is excellent 
in quality, light in color, and delicious in 
flavor; but only a small quantity of it is 
placed on the market. While pennyroyal 
is an important honey plant in southern 
Florida, it is not dependable, for in Janu- 
ary there is likely to be unfavorable 
weather which will check the secretion of 
nectar and prevent the flight of the bees. 

PEPPER TREE {Schinus molle L.).— 
From Peru. This is really not a pepper 
tree at all; its flowers and the honey have 
a peppery flavor, and the seeds resemble 
pepper. It is a magniflcent shade tree, and 
in California has been very largely planted. 
The honey is thick and dark, but it serves a 
very useful purpose in helping the bees to 
tide over bad times without feeding. It is 
under a ban now, as it is supposed to har- 
bor injurious insects; but it seems proba- 



POISONOUS HONEY 



589 



ble these pests would still exist even if all 
pepper trees were destroyed. 

PERFORATED ZINC— See Drones. 

PHACELIA {Phacelia tanacetifolia 
Benth.). — Introduced from California into 
Europe, where it has been highly praised 
both as a honey and forage plant. Some, 
however, deny its value as a forage plant, 
and not until 1904 did any Californian 
ever mention it as such. It has blue flowers 
much resembling heliotrope, the beauty of 
which makes it worthy of a place in the 
flower garden, where the bees maj' be 
found on it in great numbers. One season 
in California, M. H. Mendelson extracted 
a carload of phacelia honey, but never 
before nor since has he extracted as much. 
The honey is stated to be amber-colored, 
and pleasantly aromatic in flavor. In his 
list of honey plants of Texas, Scholl men- 
tions two other species of phacelia. 



PICKLED BROOD. 

subhead " Sacbrood." 



■See Foul Brood; 



PLAYSPELLS OF YOUNG BEES. — 

Under the head of Robbing mention is 
made of the playspells of young bees as 
being very similar to the performances of 
robbers as they fly about in front of the 
entrance of the colony they are trying to 
rob. As soon as settled warm weather 
comes on in the spring, especially after a 
few days when the bees have been shut in, 
there will be a very pronounced demonstra- 
tion of hundreds of bees flying around in 
front of the entrances of a number of 
hives. They fly up and down and back 
and forth, some coming out of the en- 
trances, some going in, and all apparently 
having a good time. Some of this behav- 
ior is not unlike robbing. The numbers 
and commotion increase until in front of 
'the strongest colonies there will be seen 
quite a little swarm in the air. The dem- 
onstration Avill keep up for perhaps a few 
minutes and then gradually subside. 

If these playspells occur at a time when 
no nectar is coming in, they sometimes 
cause a little apprehension on the part of 
the owner of the bees. Sometimes these 
frolics are so much like a genuine case of 
robbing that the best experts are puzzled. 
However, there are two important distinc- 



tions : 1. When bees are playing, there are 
no fighting bees, as is the case when rob- 
bing is going on. On the other hand, when 
a colony has been overpowered, robbers 
will perform in front of an entrance like 
a lot of bees at play. They will cavort all 
around in front of the entrance, apparent- 
ly to determine whether the coast is clear 
— that is, whether they can dart in at the 
entrance without opposition. If it is a case 
of robbing, the colony has been overpow- 
ered; and the actions of the robbers are 
for all the world like those at play. 

2. A playspell is of short duration. With 
robbing there is no let-up. If the demon- 
stration of flying bees begins to subside, 
and finalh^ stops altogether, one may rest 
easy. But if the flight keeps up for half 
an hour or more, something is going wrong. 
The entrance should be contracted, and the 
colony should be treated as recommended 
under Robbing. See Drifting. 

POISONED BROOD.— See Fruit Blos- 
soms and Foul Brood. 

POISONOUS HONEY.— There are cases 
on record, apparently authenticated, which 
seem to show that honey gathered from 
flowers of plants that are in themselves 
poisonous is also poisonous either to hu- 
man beings or to the bees themselves, or 
to both. Xenophon tells how, in the mem- 
orable march of the ten thousand Greek 
soldiers to the sea, some of them were 
taken seriously ill after eating poisonous 
honey. The facts are so carefully and 
minutely recorded as to leave no doubt of 
the honey-poisoning. 

The wild honey in one or two of the 
Southern States, in some very isolated lo- 
calities, is reported to produce sickness, 
and in some instances this is so sudden and 
violent that it has given occasion for alarm. 
In certain regions of Virginia, especially 
near Halifax Court-house, mountain laurel 
grows quite extensively in the mountains. 
The bees are very fond of it ; and while it 
does not seem to affect them particularly, 
it is dangerous to human beings, or at least 
is so reported. The plant itself is an ex- 
tremely distressing nai-cotic, varying in ef- 
fects according to the quantity taken into 
the stomach. Dr. Grammer of Halifax 
Court-house reports that, during the late 
civil war, himself and quite a number of 



590 



POLLEN 



comrades were poisoned by eating honey 
from this plant. There was, he says, a 
queer sensation of tingling all over, indis- 
tinct vision, with an empty, dizzy feeling 
about the head, and a horrible nausea that 
could not be relieved by vomiting. This 
lasted for an hour or so, while the effects 
did not wear off for several davs. 




Yellow jessamine. 

The lambkill {Kalmia angustifolia) and 
the mountain laurel {K. lati folia) are 
abundant over large areas, and in the 
mountains of Carolina the mountain laurel 
often presents an unbroken sheet of bloom. 
Tf the honey were deleterious frequent re- 
ports of illness might be expected, but 
nothing of the sort happens. Kalm, the 
Swedish traveler, after whom the genus 
Kalmia is named, says that if domestic 
animals eat the leaves they fall sick or die, 
but that they are harmless to wild animals. 
The belief that the leaves are poisonous 
seems to have extended to the honey. But 
Dr. Bigelow states in his Medical Botany 
that he repeatedly chewed and swallowed 
a green leaf of the largest size, without 
perceiving the least effect in consequence. 
A powder made from leaves recently dried 
in doses from ten to twenty gi'ains pro- 



duced no perceptible effect. The taste of 
the leaves is perfectlj^ mild and mucilagi- 
nous. Dr. Bigelow believed that the nox- 
ious eff'ect of the leaves on young domestic 
animals was due to their indigestible qual- 
ity. The probability is that the honey is 
entirely harmless; the matter should be 
tested, using, of course, proper caution. 

In Georgia and Florida the yellow jessa- 
mine (Gelsemium sempervirens) is very 
abundant, and the bees visit the yellow 
blossoms from February to March. But a 
surplus of jessamine honey seems never to 
be obtained, and it is useful chiefly for 
spring stimulation. According to E. G. 
Baldwin no injurious effect has ever been 
observed, either from the nectar or the 
honey in the hives. 

POLLEN. — The anthers of flowers are 
composed of four sacs, which contain nu- 
merous small dust-like grains called pollen 
or microspores. Pollen is a highly nutri- 
tious food which is eagerly eaten by many 
insects, and is gathered in large quantities 
by bees as food for their brood. A pollen 
grain is protected by an inner and an outer 
coat (in a few species there is but one 
coat), and is filled with a semiliquid in 



F6" 


'jjiF^'^-ty^fj^'W^f 


hf//JtJv M¥ff//irfiffL 


, Q 


. e 


, © 


m 


^ 


^ 




. -%- ■ 


. "^ 


t* 


, K.- 


••• 


/ ''']'•,//.■, ,\,,:'/-,^/r/Ji. .r '^■'/.^, .. }-,,l/>/, .>,/ 




.7 ,*//.,/ A',/ 




:,':::z. ^. 


-' ■■'■'■'//■■"■■' 


f r. ,,:,,., ...^ 


^i^ ir;^.»/>^,.,r.* 



— After Fletcher. 

which float many minute granules. Its 
contents form a complete food, consisting 



POLLEN 



591 



of proteids, substances rich in nitrogen, 
sulphur, and phosphorus; and carbohy- 
drates, or starch, oil, and sugar. Pollen 
thus offers a rich supply of easily obtained 
nourishment to all insects, especially to 
those which are not predaceous. 

Pollen grains vary in size from 1/100 of 
an inch in Iris to 1/3000 of an inch in 
some saxifrages. The number of pollen 
grains is also very variable but is usually 
large. Each anther of the peony has been 
estimated to produce 21,000 grains; and 
if there are 174 stamens to a flower there 
would be 3,651,000 grains. In wisteria 
there are said to be 7000 grains to each 
ovule. The excess of pollen is thus so 
large as to permit of much waste. In 
shape the grains may be globular, ellipsoi- 
dal, polyhedral, or of the form of a dumb- 
bell in the borage family; or in some 
Polygalaceae they have the shape of " a 
wickerwork basket." The outer coat may 
be banded, ribbed, or checkered, and beset 
with sharp teeth, points, spines, prickles, 
or knobs; variation in the sculpturing is, 
indeed, almost endless. The air in the 
numerous little pits and hol- 
lows on the surface of the Trochctniep 
grains protects them from 
contact with water. The projections enable 
them to adhere to insects. While yellow is 
the prevalent color, red, blue, brown, and 
green hues also occur. 

THE BEHAVIOR OF BEES IN COLLECTING 
POLLEN. 

The behavior of bees in collecting pollen 
is of great interest to both beekeepers and 
fruit-growers. Bees are the only insects 
which feed their brood on pollen, to obtain 
which in sufficient quantities they are com- 
pelled to visit a great variety of flowers, 
and incidentally are thus most valuable 
agents in pollination. The small primitive 
bees of the genus Prosopis have nearly 
smooth bodies, and the pollen-brushes on 
the hind legs are so feebly developed that 
they are little better adapted for carrying 
pollen than the wasps. The common ground 
bees of the genera Halictus and Andrena 
show a much greater advance. The body 
is hairy, and the hind legs are entirely 
covered with collecting hairs, which become 
filled with loose, dry pollen grains. A fur- 
ther step in the development of the pollen- 



collecting apparatus of the hind legs was 
the acquisition of the habit of moistening 
the pollen with honey. Among the solitary 
bees, Macropis and the Panurgidae carry 
in this way large balls of damp pollen 
moistened with freshl}^ gathered nectar. 
Finally among the bumblebees and honey- 
bees there occur on the hind legs structures 
called corbicula3 or pollen-baskets in which 
the damp pollen is packed, while the tarsal 
brushes are highly specialized. In honey- 
bees the tibial spurs on the hind legs, used 
by the wasps and solitary bees in digging 
holes in the ground, have been lost because 
no longer useful. 

In another series of bees the Megachili- 
dae, or leaf-cutting bees, the pollen-collect- 
ing hairs form a stiff brush on the under 
side of the abdomen. These hairs slant 
backward and varv in length and color in 



Femur 




Tibi(^ 



Fig. 1. — Left fore leg of a worker bee. — Bulletin No. 
121, Bureau of Entomology. 



the different species. As the bees crawl 
over level-topped flowers, like the sun- 
flower and other species of Compositae, 
which have a large amount of free pollen 
on the surface, the abdominal brush be- 
comes filled with dry pollen. The leaf- 
cutting bees are also very common visitors 
to leguminous flowers, as the vetches and 
clover, which have an apparatus for plac- 
ing pollen on the under side of the bodies 
of insects. This large family of bees has 
become adapted to collect pollen chiefly 
from these two groups of flowers. None 
of the species moisten pollen with honey. 



592 



POLLEN 



--^ernzir^ 



^idi'd 



Cor&/ci//a 




Femur 



Tibia- 



Posierior / 
ea^fe 



Pecfen 



jluncle^^- 



\Planfa ,PollenG)mbs 
' onPlanfa 



inferior 
edge 



Fig. 3. — Outer surface 
of the left hind leg of a 
worker bee. — Bulletin No. 
121, Bureau of Entomol- 
ogy. 



The behavior of the honeybee ill collect- 
ing pollen has been carefully investigated 
and described by Casteel. ("Behavior of 
the Honeybee in Collecting Pollen," D. B. 
Casteel, Bur. Ent., Bull. 121.) Honeybees 
collect pollen from flowers by the aid of 
the mouth parts, the three pairs of legs, 
and the dense coat of long plumose hairs. 
The feather-like structure of the hairs en- 
ables them better to retain the pollen which 
falls upon them. The mouth parts are 
especially serviceable in the case of small 
flowers, or of those which produce little 
polW. The mandibles are actively used in 
biting and scraping the anthers and free- 




FiG. 4. — Inner surface 
of the left hind leg of a 
worker bee. — Bulletin No. 
121, Bureau of Entomol- 
ogy- 



ing the pollen, which is brushed up by the 
Maxillae and slender tongue. All the pol- 
len gathered by the mouth parts is very 
thoroly moistened with nectar or honey 
which comes from the mouth. It is, in- 
deed, so wet that in its transfer to the 
pollen-baskets the hair on the breast and 
the brushes of the legs becomes so damp 
that it easily moistens the dry pollen swept 
from the bee's body. 

The leg of a bee is composed of nine 
segments: The coxa, by which it is at- 
tached to the body; the trochanter, femur 
or thigh, tibia or shin, and the five tarsi. 
The first tarsal segment, or metatarsus, is 



POLLEN 



593 



as long as the four tarsal segments to- 
gether. This segment of the fore-legs is 
called the palma (palm), and of the middle 
and hind legs the planta (sole). The inner 
side of the metatarsal segments of all three 
pairs of legs bears a dense brush of un- 
branched hairs, which on the plantae of 
the hind legs has become modified into a 
regular series of transverse combs. The 
palmar brushes of the fore-legs take away 
the mass of wet pollen from the mouth 
parts, and collect the dry pollen from the 
pubescence on the head. 

The metatarsal brushes of the middle 
legs receive the pollen from the first pair 



The hind legs are very highly specialized 
for carrying the pollen masses. The tibia 
is dilated at its lower extremity and the 
metatarsal segments (plantae) are much 
thinner and wider than the corresponding 
segments of the fore and middle legs. The 
pollen-basket or corbicula is a longitudinal 
groove on the outer side of the tibia. It is 
broadest at the lower end and is nearly 
surrounded by a salient rim. On the front 
edge of the tibia there is a fringe of hairs 
overarching the pollen-basket, and on the 
hind edge a row of hairs slanting back- 
ward. The floor of the basket is nearly 
smooth except for a few small spines near 




Fig. 6. — A bee upon the wing, showing the position of the middle legs when they toiicli 
and pat down the pollen masses. A very slight amount of pollen reaches the corbiculce tliru 
this movement. — Bulletin No. 121, Bureau of Entomology. 



of legs and transfer it to the plantar 
brushes of the hind legs. This transfer is 
effected by drawing each of the middle 
legs between the plantae of the hind legs. 
In this way the pollen on each middle leg 
is scraped off on the pollen combs of each 
opposite hind leg. The middle legs also 
brush off the pollen entangled in the 
hair on the thorax, which is moistened 
by coming in contact with the wet pollen 
from the mouth parts. The middle legs 
are further used to pat down and compact 
the growing pollen mass in the pollen- 
baskets. 



the entrance. The moistened pollen is held 
in position largely by its adhesiveness. The 
lower end of the tibia, except the articula- 
tion, is truncated, slightly concave, and 
fringed along its inner margin, with 15 to 
21 stiff spines, inclined backward, called 
the pecten. Immediately below the flat- 
tened end of the tibia on the upper edge of 
the planta is the auricle. This ear-shaped 
structure is concave and covered with short 
spines. ^ Its inner edge, when the leg is 
straightened, slips along the spines of the 
pecten, while its outer edge Avhich is fringed 
with hairs projects into the entrance of the 



594 



POLLEN 



pollen-basket. The end of the tibia and the 
auricle have the appearance of a pair of 
jaws or pincers ; and in the older works on 
bee culture are erroneously described as 
being used for taking scales of wax from 
the wax-pockets. The inner side of the 
planta, or metatarsus, is covered with about 
eleven transverse rows of stiff spines which 
serve as pollen combs. The spines of the 
lowest comb are the largest and are used 



by Casteel, the hind legs hang downward 
beneath the abdomen, and the- plantar 
combs are in contact for most of their 
length. If pollen is to be loaded into the 
left pollen-basket the right planta is drawn 
upward, scraping against the pecten of the 
left leg. A small portion of the pollen 
will be left on the spines and the end of the 
tibia. The left leg is then flexed, pushing 
the auricle against the flat end of the tibia. 




the baskPt « ^nv^, f wf i""^ *5^ ^'^* ^J"^ ^^-'u""^. *?'^''" ^^^^ *« ^'^«^^^ the manner in which pollen enters 
flolerf^nrl" h«H flmvr,-nMf^ -^^^ ^IT ^ bee which IS just beginning to collect. It had crawled over a few 
tCSkPt rnvpH. J nvl fi^ %' "^^^'-^ five seconds at the time of capture. The pollen mass lies at the entrance of 
snrinf frL thTfll°/"/il^ ^""^ ^^'^f ^^'"ch he a ong this margin and the seven or eight short stiff spines which 
contalt wi?h the onJ InJ h 't^'^T^^ immediately above its lower edge. As yet the pollen has not come in 
tended 7h!^ Wo.-^l .T^ hair which rises from the floor and arches above the entrance. The planta is ex- 
Sta'iffleJd r«^^fr,o*ft^""'^V ^n./T'-''"*\? '^^^^^^^ ^^^'' ^*^^^' ^^^^^^^ ^^e increase of pollen. The 
Sle nrp,f nn'nf i^T^ ^^^ auricle. The hairs which extend outward and upward from the lateral edge of the 
the bask?et ^^TrpnrP^^^^^^ and outer surface of the smaU pollen mass, retaining it and guiding it upward into 
the basket, ^^c, 6?, jepresentjhghtlylajter stages in the successive processes by which additional pollen enters the 



basket.— Bulletin No. 121, Bureau 'of Entomology. 

for picking up wax scales. This highly 
specialized apparatus receives the pollen 
and loads it into the pollen-baskets. See 
illustrations. 

Most of the pollen on the plantar combs 
of the hind legs is received from the middle 
legs as has been described, but a portion of 
it is swept from the abdomen. During the 
act of loading the pollen into the corbiculge, 
which has been described in much detail 



squeezing out a thin layer of pollen. The 
spines of the pecten prevent this layer of 
pollen from escaping on the inner side, 
but on the outer side there is a way open 
to the pollen-basket. In a similar way pol- 
len is transferred from the plantar combs 
of the left leg to the right pollen-basket. 
The movements alternate very rapidly, the 
legs rising and falling with a pump-like 
motion. As the amount of pollen loaded 



POLLEN 



595 




Bees with masses of pollen on their legs. 



at each stroke is very small a great many 
strokes are required. 

The pollen at first lies at the extreme 
lower end of the pollen-basket, but as suc- 
cessive layers are added it is gradually 
pushed upward. If pollen from different 
species of flowers and of different colors, 
which occasionally happens, is collected, 
the mass will have a stratified appearance. 
The shape of the pollen mass is largely 
determined by the hairs which fringe the 
sides of the basket. The hairs on the front 
edge, which curve inward, prevent it from 
projecting far forward; while the hairs on 
the posterior edge, inclined outward, per- 
mit it to extend backward far outside of 
the tibia. Casteel found it possible to 
manipulate the legs of a recently killed bee 
with a pair of forceps, and artificially load 
the pollen-baskets with thin layers of pollen 
as has been described. It was formerly be- 
lieved that in loading the pollen-baskets the 
hind legs were crossed, and the plantar 
combs scraped over the edges of the baskets 
and the fringes of hair. On trial it is 
found that this method yields wholly dif- 
ferent results. 

Chemical analysis shows that the liquid 
with which the pollen is moistened is chiefly 
honey or nectar recently gathered. In pollen 
taken directly from the anthers of com the 
sugar content was 11 per cent, while in 
pollen from the pollen-baskets the sugar 
content was 28 per cent, showing that a 



large amount of sugar had been added. 
Since the pollen from the corbiculae con- 
tains three times as much reducing sugar 
as sucrose it is indicated that the liquid 
added is honey (largely a reducing sugar) 
rather than nectar which contains more 
sucrose. 

Honeybees make their collecting trips 
more frequently in the morning than in the 
latter part of the day. Young bees return- 
ing with their first loads are said to show 
great excitement, while the older bees move 
about leisurely. After a suitable cell has 
been selected, which may take some time, 
the bee grasps, according to Casteel, one 
edge with its fore-legs, while the apical 
end of the abdomen rests on the other side 
of the cell. The hind legs hang free within 
the cell, the pollen masses about even with 
its margin. The pollen masses are then 
forcibly thrust out of the baskets by tho 
plantae of the middle legs. The bee then 
usually departs, leaving to another worker 
the packing of the pollen in the cell. The 
pellets are broken up and pressed down- 
ward, and sugar and perhaps some other 
liquid is added to preserve them. 

Xecessity of Pollen for Brood-re aeixg. 

Both the solitan' and the social bees re- 
quire pollen for brood-rearinsr, and would 
speedilj^ perish if deprived of it. Alone 
among insects the existence of this grour> 



596 



POLLEN 



depends on an ample supply of pollen. 
AVhile a colony of honeybees cannot pro- 
duce brood without pollen, the adult bees 
themselves do not appear to use it as food, 
since they will live only as long as the hive 
contains honey, and, when that is con- 
sumed, they will die of starvation, altho 
there may be an abundance of pollen in 
the combs. The less specialized solitary 
bees, however, belonging to the genera 
Prosopis, Halictus and Andrena, have been 
observed to feed on both pollen and nec- 
tar. There are also highly specialized 
genera of beetles and flies, which, like the 
honeybee, live wholly on nectar, while the 
more primitive species consume both kinds 
of floral food. If honeybees are confined 
and fed only on sugar syrup they will live 



Substitutes for Pollen. 
In the absence of flowers honeybees will 
gather many other substances as substi- 
tutes for pollen. In early spring they 
often may be seen in large numbers re- 
sorting to sawdust heaps, and collecting 
flne particles of wood, which contain a cer- 
tain amount of nitrogenous matter. They 
also gather at times the spores of fungi, 
which are very similar in composition to 
pollen grains. In Michigan they have been 
reported as gathering loads of fine black 
earth from the swamps, and they have been 
known to collect even coal dust. The owner 
of a cheese factory states that one day bees 
were observed hovering over the shelves in 
the cheese-room, and, as their numbers in- 
creased, they were found to be packing on 




Masses of pollen taken from 



5 of bees. These were photographed with 
show the relative size. 



thimble to 



for a long time, build comb, and, since 
they void no excrement, will not require a 
flight in the open air, but they will rear no 
brood. Pollen is a necessity for the life of 
the colony, and it is for this reason that 
honeybees are equipped with the elaborate 
apparatus described above, and gather it 
so diligently from spring till fall. In stor- 
ing pollen preference is given to the cells 
immediately surrounding the brood. In 
very late fall it is common to find large 
quantities of pollen packed firmly in 
cells but not protected in any way; in 
other cases it is covered with honey and 
the cell capped over. To provide suffi- 
cient pollen is a vital problem to both bees 
and beekeepers. 



their legs the fine dust that had accumu- 
lated from handling the cheese. Micro- 
scopic examination showed this dust was 
embryo cheese-mites, so that the bees had 
actually been using animal food as pollen, 
and living animals at that. 

At times also when there is a scarcity of 
pollen bees will raid barns, stables and 
chicken-houses to obtain bran or meal. 
There have been numerous reports of their 
invading the premises of farmers, stinging 
the cattle and driving them out of the sta- 
bles and causing general annoyance. This 
difficulty may be remedied easily by sup- 
plying them with a quantity of rye meal. 
As it has been known for many years that 
in springtime bees will use the flour or 




Pollen masses on legs of bees. — Photo by E. F. Bigelow. Several show side hairs (like stakes on a hay-wagon) 

to hold the load. 



598 



POLLEN 



meal of different kinds of grain, many bee- 
keepers believe that they can feed substi- 
tutes for pollen to advantage. Usually 
they resort to rye meal, cottonseed meal, 
wheat flour, oatmeal, or pea meal, and 
sometimes to strange mixtures of eggs, 
milk, and sugar. Rye meal is a favorite 
spring feed, and cottonseed meal has been 
strongly advocated. If it is desired to feed 
the meal inside the hive, flour candy is 
used. This is made by mixing one part of 
rye meal with three parts sugar and a little 
water, and cooking it until it will sugar. 
It is then vigorously stirred and poured 
into greased pans. It is difficult to make, 
may cause brood-rearing at the wrong time, 
and is probably of no benefit. The dry 
meal is placed in shallow pans, protected 
from the rain and wind, and if a little dry 
pollen saved from the tassels of corn the 
preceding season is scattered over it, the 
bees will soon begin carrying it into the 
hives very eagerly. Care should be taken 
to prevent the packing of the combs with 
it to the exclusion of pollen later in the 
season. 

There is no doubt but that these substi- 
tutes will stimulate brood-rearing, for in 
colonies in which there were healthy queens 
but no pollen, eggs, or brood, three days 
after rye meal had been fed, there was a 
large number of eggs in the cells. The 
fact that brood-rearing can thus be stimu- 
lated has led many beekeepers to jump to 
the conclusion that the use of pollen sub- 
stitutes must be desirable. But careful ob- 
servation of the effects of feeding pollen 
substitutes, especially in regions where 
there are pollen famines, seems to show 
thnt they are not only not beneficial, but 
are positively injurious. In the tupelo sec- 
tion of Florida, along the Apalachicola 
River there is plenty of pollen until about 
June 15, but after this date there is little 
or none for nearly 90 days, or until Sep- 
tember, for the tupelo furnishes very little. 
The colonies become very weak and the 
queens cease laying, but two prominent 
beekeepers in this section report that they 
never feed meal. It is the practice of one 
beekeeper after the flow from tupelo is 
over to move his apiary southward to a 
locality where pollen is more abundant, 
and where it remains for the balance of the 
year. In Australia pollen famines are as 
regular as the seasons themselves. There 



is a " critical period " in midsummer, when 
the pollen fails, the queen ceases to lay 
eggs, and the brood dies of starvation. 
This shortage is due to the failure of the 
gum-trees, or Eucalypti, to produce much 
pollen. So small is the supply that colo- 
nies working on yellow gum dwindle down 
to mere handfuls, altho there is a fine crop 
of honey. Beuhne says that he has used all 
kinds of substitutes in large quantities; 
but, altho, hives were well filled with brood, 
the bees thus raised were lacking in vitality 
and were short-lived. He has never been 
able to obtain a strong force of field bees. 
In Connecticut Latham states that as the 
result of years of observation he believes 
that the ground grainy do more harm than 
good. One season strong colonies were fed 
freely with cottonseed meal; but when 
opened a month later they showed clearly 
the futility of feeding substitutes, for they 
not only showed no advance but were actu- 
ally weaker in bee strength. Out-apiaries 
which never received any meal invariably 
contained stronger colonies than the home 
apiary which was fed. Feeding meal in 
early spring apparently causes the bees to 
fly out and waste away in cold weather, 
when they had better remain quiet, and 
retards building up later on; injures their 
digestive powers; while the weak bees and 
brood thus obtained lessen in the end 
rather than add to the strength of the 
colony. In the course of centuries bees 
have become adapted to the use of pollen, 
and it is not surprising that neither the 
nurse bees nor the larvae can digest meal 
equally as well. 

Discarding the feeding of pollen substi- 
tutes as of no benefit, or injurious, the only 
practical method in rnost instances of meet- 
ing a dearth of pollen would seem to be the 
giving of combs of pollen. It is often as 
important for beekeepers to reserve sur- 
plus combs of pollen as it is combs of 
honey. Not infrequently, especially in lo- 
calities where pollen is very abundant, 
combs largely filled with pollen can be re- 
moved from the hive without apparent dis- 
advantage. Bees without queens are said 
also to store large quantities of pollen. Such 
combs stored in a dry room would keep for 
a long time, and, introduced into the hive 
as required, would often make a great dif- 
ference in the season's results. 



POLLINATION OF FLOWERS " 



599 



POLLEN IX SECTION BOXES AND COMB HONEY. 

The author does not mean to convey the 
idea that we should be satisfied with pollen 
in our honey, for a very good and useful 
thing is sometimes a very bad one, if out of 
place. When pollen or meal is brought 
into the hive, it is taken at once very near 
the brood; in fact, it is placed in the comb 
next to it, if possible. When opening hives 
in the spring, we find pollen scattered all 
thru the brood-combs to some extent; but 
the two combs next the two outside brood- 
combs are often a solid mass of poUen. 
Should a few stormy days intervene, how- 
ever, this will disappear so quickly that one 
who has not witnessed the rapidity with 
which it is used in brood-rearing would not 
know how to account for it. When it is 
gone, of course the brood-rearing must 
cease, altho the queen may continue to lay. 
The amount of brood that can be reared by 
keeping a stock supplied with pollen arti- 
ficially, during such unfavorable weather, 
is a very important item where rapid in- 
crease of stock is desired. 

Some of those who use shallow hives 
have complained that pollen would go up 
into the sections. It has been claimed by 
the users of shallow frames that this can be 
usually obviated bj' putting a comb of pol- 
len in the brood-nest.* The presence of 
this below will usually induce the storage 
of more pollen in the same place, leaving 
the sections clear for the storage of honey 
only. The same principle will apply, of 
course, to deeper hives; but it is very sel- 
dom that pollen will be found in the sec- 
tions where the brood-nest is as deep as the 
Langstroth. It is where there is less depth 
that there is danger. 



QUEEN-EXCLUDING HONEY-BOAEDS DO 
NECESSAEILY EXCLUDE POLLEN, 



NOT 



It is said that the strips of perforated 
zinc in the slatted honey-board will largely 
prevent the storage of pollen above. From 
what experience we have had, we are in- 
clined to think the zinc wiU discourage it 
to some extent; but if contraction be car- 
ried too far, the bees will put the pollen 
where they please, zinc or no zinc. 

For a further consideration of this sub- 
ject see Fruit Blossoms, 



POLLINATION OF FLOWERS. — Be- 
fore we consider the wonderful little 
schemes by means of which flowers are 
pollinated, we should become acquainted 
with the names of the different organs or 
parts of the flower. In the accompanying 
illustration we have a flgure of what is 
known as an hermaphrodite flower — that 
is, one containing both stamens and pistils. 
Many of the specimens shown deviate from 
a perfect flower. If some common flower, 
as a rose or buttercup, is selected for ex- 
amination, it will be seen to consist of nu- 
merous small thread-like organs surrounded 




A mRMr.uru .. nmmmmmm 



/* Srii/.'7'in . 7}. JY/z/f 

.',J jti,^lje;)>f :itJ.'knj e-.it.- 



I seriously question this. — C. C. M. 



— Ajier Fletcher. 

by two whorls of leaves. The outer circle 
of leaves is green, and forms the calyx, or 
cup, each leaf of which is called a sepal. 
The office of the calyx is to protect the 
inner and more delicate organs, especially 
in the bud, when the calyx alone is visible. 
The second circle of leaves is large and 
bright-colored — red, white, or yellow in the 
rose, and yellow in the buttercup ; this is 
the corolla, or little crown, and each leaf is 
known as a petal. The brilliant hues of 
the corolla are designed to attract the at- 
tention of insects. Within the corolla are 
the stamens, composed of slender stems, 
and the filaments, bearing the four-celled 
anthers, which contain fine gi'ains of pow- 
der known as poUen. In the center of the 
flower stand the pistils. Usually a pistil 



600 



POLLINATION OF FLOWERS 



consists of three parts — the ovary, style, 
and stigma; but the style is sometimes 
wanting. The base of the pistil is the 
ovary, and is a capsule containing the 
nascent, unfertilized ovules; the style is 
a porous stalk rising from the ovary, and 
bearing at its upper end a glutinous recep- 
tive surface called the stigma. Pollination 
is the transference of pollen from the an- 
thers to the stigma. If the pollen is from 
the same flower it is self-pollination; but 
if from a different flower of the same spe- 
cies it is cross-pollination. Cross-pollina- 
tion between the flowers of different species 
is hybridization. 

Soon after a grain of pollen has lodged 
on the stigma, if the proper conditions ex- 
ist, it sends out a slender tube which grows 
down thru the porous style, by which it is 
nourished, until it comes to one of the 
ovules in the ovary. It enters the ovule by 
a little orifice (micropyle, meaning little 
gate), and there passes from the end of the 
tube a male cell or germ, which unites with 
an egg cell in the ovule — this is fertiliza- 
tion. Fertilization does not always occur 
immediately after pollination ; for instance, 
the flowers of witch-hazel are pollinated in 
the fall, but fertilization does not occur 
until the following spring. It would be 
well to bear in mind these botanical terms 
in the descriptions which follow, in order 
to understand how beautiful and perfect is 
the design in nature in bringing about 
cross-pollination. 

Before we consider a few of the mutual 
relations of flowers and insects for the pur- 
pose of ensuring cross-pollination, some- 
thing should be said about the importance 
of crossing, both in the animal and vege- 
table kingdom. The effects of self-fertili- 
zation and cross-fertilization were first 
clearly pointed out by Charles Darwin. He 
was experimenting with two beds of toad- 
flax, or butter-and-eggs {Linaria vulgaris), 
one set being the offspring of self-fertiliza- 
tion and the other of cross-fertilization. 
The plants had been raised for the purpose 
of studying heredity, and not the results of 
cross-breeding. To his astonishment he ob- 
served that the plants which were the result 
of cross-breeding were far more vigorous 
than the others. He temporarily abandoned 
all his other investigations and devoted 
himself to making numerous experiments 



in interbreeding, and to acquiring informa- 
tion as to the practical experience of horti- 
culturists and breeders of animals. 

As the result of his inquiries he laid 
down the general law that no species of 
animal or plant can fertilize itself thru 
numberless generations, and that an occa- 
sional cross is indispensable. The evil ef- 
fects of interbreeding had, indeed, long 
been known in a general way, and are even 
instinctively recognized by barbarous races. 
The deterioration goes on so slowly at flrst 
that it is not easily discovered; but finally 
results in loss of size, vigor, and fertility, 
and may be accompanied by deformity. 
The good effects of intercrossing are imme- 
diately manifest. When plants were crossed, 
their offspring were larger in size, grew 
more vigorously, bloomed a little earlier, 
and yielded more seed than their parents. 
The two parent plants, or animals, must 
not, however, be exactly alike. Since then, 
says Dr. Fletcher, endless observations 
have confirmed the accuracy of Darwin's 
law, and it has been found that, in the vast 
majority of plants, special appliances ex- 
ist which will secure more or less frequent 
intercrossing. 

A summary of the more important ways 
in which self-pollination and consequently 
self-fertilization are prevented in plants is 
given in the following table. 

A. SEPARATION OF STAMENS AND PISTILS BY 

SPACE. 

1. Stamens and pistils in different flowers, 
but on the same plant. 

2. Stamens and pistils in different flowers 
and on different plants. 

3. Stamens longer than the pistils, or pistils 
longer than the stamens. 

4. Stamens bent away from the pistils, or 
pistils bent away from the stamens. 

B. SEPAPtATION OF STAMENS AND PISTILS BY 

TIME. 



1. Anthers mature before the stigmas. 

2. Stigmas mature before the anthers. 



C. MECHANICAL SEPARATION OF THE STAMENS 
AND PISTILS. 

1. Absolute separation. Anthers or pollen 
masses held in a fixed position, and never set 
free unless the flower is visited by insects. 

2. Partial separation. Self-pollination may 
occur during the latter part of the blooming 
period. 



POLLINATION OF FLOWERS 



601 



D. PHYSIOLOGICAL SEPARATION OF THE STAMENS 
AND PISTILS. 

1. Stamens aborted in some flowers, pistils 
in others. 

2. Pollen from a different flower prepotent 
over pollen from the same flower. 

3. Pollen from the same flower is sterile or 
impotent on the stigma. 

But while there is wide pro\'ision for 
cross-poUination among flowers, they very 
generally retain the power of self-pollina- 
tion, so that, in the event of the failure of 
cross-pollination, before the period of 
blooming closes self-pollination may occur. 

The more common ways are as follows: 

a. The stamens lengthen, contract, or bend 
so that the anthers touch, or drop pollen on 
the stigmas. 

b. The pistils lengthen, contract, or bend 
so that the stigmas receive pollen from the 
anthers. 

c. If lobed, the lobes of the stigma roll back 
so that they touch the anthers. 

d. The filaments and styles become twisted 
together. 

e. The corolla in wilting closes, causing the 
stigmas to be polhnated. 

f. Self-pollination caused by the growth or 
movement of the petals. 

g. Change in the position of the flower 
caused by the curving of the flower-stalk. 

But while there are many plants in which 
self-pollination is a secondary' result, there 
are also many which are regularly self- 
pollinated,and, consequently, self -fertilized. 
When the flowers expand, the anthers rest 
directly against the stigma, which thus nec- 
essarily receives the pollen. Many plants 
produce, besides conspicuous flowers, small 
green flowers, which never open, and which 
(tho invariably self -fertilized,) are very 
fertile. Many of these self -fertilized plants 
are very common, very vigorous and fer- 
tile, and extend over a large portion of the 
earth, as the chickweed, shepherd's-purse, 
and doorweed. They prove conclusively 
that, tho nature may abhor perpetual 
self-fertilization, she does not abhor self- 
fertilization. On the contrary, it is a most 
valuable principle which is carefully pre- 
served, and upon which the plant world is 
largely dependent. The contrivances, says 
Kemer, to bring about self-fertilization, 
are no less numerous than those which 
favor cross-pollination. "That flowers 
should be adapted at different times to 
two such diverse purposes as cross and 



self-pollination is one of the marvels of 
floral construction." 

These facts have led certain botanists to 
question Darwin's conclusions as to the evil 
results of continual self-fertilization, and 
to assert that the good effects of inter- 
crossing are only a temporary stimulant 
and are not permanent. In only about five 
cases did Darwin carry his experiments 
beyond the third generation. In the opin- 
ion of Henslow, self-fertilized plants are 
best fitted to survive in the struggle for 
life. To sum up, he says they are very 
numerous, increase very rapidly, are very 
vigorous, fiourish in the most neglected 
ground, and, being independent of insects, 
are best able to establish themselves in 
foreign countries, and are, therefore, of 
world-wide distribution. 

It should, however, be noted that the 
forms which are continually self -fertilized 
are admittedly degraded or retrogressive 
species, or at least are not advancing in 
development. Like certain groups of ani- 
mals thej^ are adapted to certain places or 
conditions in nature where they appear 
able to maintain themselves indefinitely. 
But for races of plants which are rapidly 
evolving, cross-fertilization appears to be 
essential. Darwin showed that, when the 
offspring of cross-fertilization were brought 
into competition with the offspring of self- 
fertilization, the former always gained the 
mastery and survived. It would, therefore, 
appear that intercrossing in an advancing 
race of plants would be indispensable in 
enabling it to overcome its competitors. 

Flowers according to the ways in which 
they are pollinated are divided into three 
groups. 

Flowers poUinated by the wind {Anem- 
ophilae, wind-lovers). 

Flowers pollinated by water {Hydro - 
pMlae, water-lovers). 

Flowers pollinated by animals {Zoidio- 
pMlae, animal-lovers). 

Flowers pollinated by animals may again 
be subdivided into : 

Snail-pollinated flowers (MaJacophilae). 

Bat - pollinated fiowers (Chiroptero- 
philae). 

Bird-pollinated flowers {Ornithophilae). 

Insect-pollinated flowers {Entomophi- 
lae). 

Flowers pollinated by insects are divided 
into: 



602 



POLLINATION OF FLOWERS 



Flowers visited by miscellaneous insects, 
fly-flowers, moth-flowers, butterfly-flowers, 
bee-flowers, bumblebee-flowers, wasp-flow- 
ers, ichneumon-fly flowers. 

Flowers may be divided into pollen flow- 
ers and nectar flowers according- as they 
contain nectar or only pollen ; or they may 
be divided into flowers with the nectar fully 
exposed, partly concealed, or deeply con- 
cealed. 

Flowers pollinated by the ivind. — If in- 
dividuals and not species are considered, 
there are more plants pollinated by the 
wind than in any other way. The cone 
trees (Coniferae) are all wind-pollinated. 
Vast forests, covering many millions of 
acres, of pines, spruce, cedar, larch, and flr 
occur in the north-temperate zone of the 
Old and New World. Pollen is produced 
in enormous quantities. Sometimes it rises 
in clouds, and is mistaken for smoke; the 
air is filled with mjrriads of grains which 
powder the foliage of the trees and even 
the ground. The so-called " showers of 
sulphur" are the falling pollen grains of 
the cone trees. 

In all the Coniferae the stamens and ovules 
are in different cones. Cross-pollination is 
here, therefore, an invariable rule, and fur- 
nishes a strong argument in favor of inter- 
crossing. There is no stigma, style, nor 
ovary; but the ovules are unprotected, 
except by the scales of the cone, and the 
pollen comes directly in contact with them, 
instead of being deposited upon a stigma; 
hence the name gymnosperms, or naked 
seeds. The young cones are often very 
handsome, and are colored red or purple, 
or the scales, as in the fir, may be a very 
delicate shade of green. 

Wind-pollination existed long before in- 
sect-pollination, for fossil cone trees are 
found in the rocks long before there is any 
evidence of the existence of the true flower- 
ing plants. The wind offers an excellent 
medium for intercrossing. It levies no toll 
for its services, and it is seldom that there 
is not sufiScient air stirring to carry pollen. 
In the pines the grains of pollen are pro- 
vided with little wings. A gentle breeze is 
much better than a strong wind, which 
sweeps the pollen away too quickly and too 
forcibly. When the weather is stormy (and 
this is often the case when the wind is 
high) the anthers do not open; and if they 



have already dehisced they close again to 
protect the pollen. 

It is better not to apply the name flower 
to the cones of the Coniferae. It is true 
that Asa Gray and the older botanists often 
speak of " the flowers " of the fir and pine ; 
but botanists are not agreed as to what 
constitutes, among the gymnosperms, a 
flower and what an inflorescence, or flower- 
cluster. There is, moreover, no stigma, 
style, or ovary, but the ovules are borne on 
an open leaf or scale called a carpel. The 
word "flower" should, therefore, be re- 
stricted to the higher flowering plants or 
angiosperms. 

The grasses, sedges, and rushes are also 
all pollinated by the wind with the excep- 
tion of a few cases of self-pollination. In 




Ragweed and corn, showing the two kinds of blossoms 
on one stalk. 



all parts of the world grass clothes the 
land ; " should its harvest fail for a single 
year famine would depopulate the earth." 
Who would even attempt to estimate the 
countless hosts of flowers'? Many species 
bloom at dawn, when the sun is just rising 
above the horizon, when, their anthers 
loaded with pollen, they exhibit an attrac- 
tiveness very different from their appear- 
ance at noonday. The stamens and pistils 
often occur in the same flower; but self- 
pollination may be prevented by the stig- 
mas ripening before the anthers. Common 
corn is an illustration of a grass which has 
the stamens and pistils in separate flowers. 
The blossoms that bear the seed are low 
down, and are what we commonly term the 



POLLINATION OF FLOWERS 



603 



ear; the pistils are the silk. The flowers 
that bear the pollen are at the very summit 
of the stalk, and are known as the spindle. 
When ripe the pollen is shaken off and 
falls on the silk below, or, what is still bet- 
ter, it is wafted by the wind to the silk of 
neighboring stalks, thus preventing in- 
breeding. 

Very many deciduous-leaved trees and 
bushes are wind-pollinated, as the alders, 
birches, oaks, hornbeams, elms, walnuts, 
hickories, and beeches. Usually the sta- 
mens and pistils are in different flowers, 
either on the same plant or on diflierent 
plants. Trees the world over more often 
have the stamens and pistils separated, and 
consequently the sexes, than herbaceous 
plants. Anemophilous trees bloom in early 
spring before the foliage has appeared, in 
order that the leaves may not intercept and 
waste the pollen. 

Many coarse homely weeds are pollinated 
by the wind, as pigweed, ragweed, nettle, 
hop, pondweed, sorrel, dock, hemp, and rue 
anemone. Their flowers are small and 
green or dull-colored. The common rag- 
weed {Ambrosia art emisiae folia) also 
sometimes called bitterweed, bears two dis- 
tinct and entirely unlike flowers. On the 
ends of the tall racemes, as at B, the pollen- 
bearing blossoms are seen very conspicu- 
ously; and many of you who are familiar 
with the weed perhaps never imagined that 
it had any other blossom at all. If so, will 
you please go outdoors and look at them 
again f Right close to the main stem, where 
the branches all start out, you will find a 
very pretty little flower, tho it possesses no 
color except green. These little green flow- 
ers bear all the seeds, as you will see on 
some of the branches where they have 
matured. Now, if you will get up early in 
the morning you will find that these flow- 
ers, when shaken, give off a little cloud of 
fine green dust, which is the pollen of the 
plant of which we have been speaking. As 
these plants are in no way dependent on 
bees for the pollination of their blossoms, 
they contain no nectar. During two sea- 
sons, however, we have seen bees busily 
engaged in gathering pollen. Both the 
ragweed and the corn insure intercrossing 
with other plants of the same species. A 
stalk which succeeds in pushing itself above 
the others, and producing a profusion of 
pollen, will probably be the parent, so to 



speak, of a multitude of the rising genera- 
tion. This process repeated for genera- 
tions would develop a tendency in corn 
and ragweed to send up tall spires, clothed 
with an abundance of pollen-bearing blos- 
soms. The tallest plants also are most like- 
ly to shed their pollen on the neighboring 
plants, and this, too, fosters the tendency 
mentioned. 

Flowers pollinated by water. — Flowers 
pollinated by the agency of water are com- 
paratively rare. There are, however, four 
common species, two growing in salt water 
and two in fresh water, which deserve men- 
tion. The two marine species are ditch 
grass {Ruppis maritima) and eel grass 
(Zostera marina), both of which are very 
abundant in shallow streams and bays along 
the eastern coast. The two fresh-water 
forms are waterweed {Elodea canadensis) 
and tape grass {Vallisneria spiralis), which 
grow in ponds and canals thruout much of 
eastern North America. Tapegrass is also 
called " wild celery " because it is the fa- 
vorite food of the canvas-back duck. The 
pollination of tapegrass and waterweed is 
so very remarkable that it must be briefly 
described. The flowers are dioecious, that is, 
the staminate and pistillate flowers grow on 
different plants. Both kinds of flowers are 
formed under water near the base of the 
plants. The pistillate rise to the surface, 
upon which they float, anchored by a long 
thread-like stem. The staminate flowers 
while still in bud break away from their 
stems, and rise to the surface, where they 
float about like little boats. Presently they 
expand; and when they drift against a 
pistillate flower the anthers come in contact 
with the broad leaf -like stigmas and polli- 
nate them. Then the fertile flower is again 
drawn down into the water by the spiral 
coiling of its stem, where its fruit is ma- 
tured. 

Flowers pollinated by birds. — In Brazil 
there are many hummingbirds and honey- 
suckers which visit a great number of 
flowers and play an important part in their 
pollination. The color of bird flowers is 
almost invariably scarlet, crimson, or bright 
red. The cardinal flower, the scarlet- 
painted cup, the trumpet honeysuckle, and 
the trumpet creeper are common humming- 
bird flowers. The nectar in these flowers 
lies at the bottom of long tubes, where it is 
beyond the reach of hive-bees, yet the car- 



604 



POLLINATION OF FLOWERS 



dinal flower is sometimes listed by mistake 
as a honey plant. The wild columbine and 
the spotted touch-me-not are also very 
often ^'isited by hummingbirds, but they 
are likewise much frequented by bumble- 
bees, to which they seem better adapted 
than to hummingbirds. 

Honeybees obtain both nectar and pollen 
from the flowers of the spotted touch-me- 
not. Did you ever notice the spot of fur, 
or down, on the back of the bee, just be- 




Flovver of the wild touch-me-not, showing the manner 
in which the bee gets the pollen on its back. 

tween the wings'? Well, bee-hunters some- 
times put a small drop of white paint on 
this spot, so that they may know a bee 
when it comes back. Several years ago 
bees were going into many of the hives, 
with a spot of white on this fur that looked 
at first sight almost like a drop of white 
paint. For several seasons we hunted in 
vain to see where they got this white spot. 
At one time it seemed to come from work- 
ing on thistles; but we were obliged to 
give this up, for we found it most on the 
bees one season when they did not notice 
the thistles at all. One swarm of beautiful 
Italians that filled their hive nicely in Sep- 
tember had a white back on almost every 
bee. We lined them from the hive, and fol- 
lowed them. They went toward a large 
piece of wild woodland, and we scanned the 
tops of the trees in vain. Finally, over 
between the hills, beside a brook, we found 
acres of the wild touch-me-not (Impatiens) , 
the same plant that we have often played 
with in childhood, because the queer little 
seed-pods will snap all to pieces when ripe 
if they are touched ever so carefully. The 
nectar is secreted in the spur of the flower, 
shown at B. 

The bee can reach this only by diving 
down into it almost out of sight; and when 
the coveted treasure is obtained it backs 
out with a ludicrous kicking and sprawling 
of its legs, and in so doing the down on its 



back is rufiled up the wrong way. Now, 
this would be prettj^ certain to get the 
pollen dusted all over it; but nature, to 
make sure, has planted a little tuft that 
bears the pollen just on the upper side of 
the entrance to the flower, at A ; and as the 
bee struggles to get out, white pollen is 
brushed on its back most efi^ectually, to be 
carried to the next flower, and so on. 

Flowers pollinated by insects. — It is es- 
timated that there have been described in 
the world up to the present time 132,584 
different kinds of flowers. Kerner places 
the number of species pollinated by the 
wind at about 10,000; but this, undoubt- 
edly, is an underestimate. But even if it 
is twice that number, there must be over 
100,000 different species of flowers that are 
pollinated by insects. Insect flowers are 
usually bright-colored, often sweet-scented, 
and commonly yield nectar as well as pol- 
len. The pollen, unlike the dry dusty pol- 
len of wind flowers, is thickly beset with 
teeth, spines, knobs, pits, and grooves, which 
cause the grains to adhere together, and to 
the bodies of insects. Water is always hurt- 
ful to it, and there is an astonishing num- 
ber of devices provided for its protection, 
the mere description of which would fill 
many pages. It is probable that insects 
first visited fiowers for the sake of the pol- 
len, and that the function of secreting nec- 
tar was developed later. 

Any part of the flower may secrete nec- 
tar, as the bracts, sepals, petals, stamens, 
and pistils; but most frequently it is se- 
creted near the base of the styles. Its 
quantity varies from an almost impercepti- 
ble layer to several drops or even a spoon- 
ful. In a tropical orchid Coryanthes there 
collects in the hollow lip over an ounce 
avoirdupois. 

Insects which are of importance as 
flower- visitors belong to four orders: the 
beetles {Coleoptera) ; the flies (Diptera) ; 
the moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera), 
and the bees, wasps, and their allies {Hy- 
menoptera) . Beetles appear to prefer pol- 
len to nectar. Only a comparatively few 
of them live on a floral diet. The flies are 
more common, but a great many of them 
are predaceous. All the butterflies and 
moths are adapted to sucking nectar, but 
many of the latter in the adult state never 
take any food at all. The bees, especially 
the honeybees, far surpass all other insects 



POLLINATION OF FLOWERS 



605 



in importance as pollinators, for they are 
almost entirely dependent upon a floral 
diet, both for food for themselves and their 
offspring. The honeybee is on the wing 
very early in the spring, and continues to 
fly until late in the fall. Its great numbers, 
its general size and shape, the special con- 
struction of its tongue and legs, all together 
make it especially well adapted for collect- 
ing and carrying pollen. 

Fly-flowers are malodorous, as the car- 
rion-flower, purple trillium, and skunk cab- 
bage. Notwithstanding their nauseous odors 
honeybees visit certain kinds for pollen, as 
the skunk cabbage. Sometimes they serve 
as temporary prisons, holding the flies in 
captivity until they are completely dusted 
with pollen, as Indian turnip and Dutch- 
man's pipe. The nectar in many moth and 
butterfly flowers cannot be reached by 
honeybees. Common butterfly flowers are 
the pinks, various primroses, lilies, and 
orchids, and some species of phlox. Among 
moth flowers are the evening primrose, the 
climbing honeysuckle of cultivation, some 
species of cacti, as the night-blooming 
cereus, the night-flowering catchfly, and the 
thorn apple. The pollen may, however, be 
accessible to honeybees, as in the evening 
primrose. There are also many bumblebee 
flowers from which honeybees are common- 
ly excluded. The best known is, of course, 
the red clover. The columbines are some- 
times listed as honey plants ; but honeybees 
are unable to obtain the nectar in the nor- 
mal way, tho they rob the nectaries freely 
after bumblebees have bitten holes in them. 
So, too, there are various species of aconite, 
larkspur, and sage, besides many other 
flowers, which do not yield nectar to honey- 
bees. 

Thruout the entire vegetable king- 
dom there seems to be a constant struggle 
for the perpetuation of its species, which 
is secured only by ripening good seeds. 
Notice how the weeds in our gardens will 
struggle and fight, as it were, to get a 
foothold until they can get a crop of seeds 
ripened, and then notice the numerous ways 
they adopt to scatter this seed as widely as 
possible. If the plants were animated be- 
ings, we might almost call it tricks and 
sharp practice; some of the seeds have 
wings, and are blown about; others have 
hooks, and catch on our clothing, and on 
the fur of different animals, in the hope of 



being carried to some spot where they have 
a better place to germinate. Fruits and 
berries (when the seeds are fully ripened), 
instead of clothing themselves in the sober 
green of the foliage surrounding them, 
affect scarlet red and other bright colors, 
and, sometimes, fancy stripes, which induce 
the birds to take them in preference to the 
fruit of other trees. Why do they want 
their fruits to be eaten by the birds, if it 
is their purpose to secure a place for their 
seed? Well, if you examine you will find 
that the seed is encased in a horny shell 
that is proof against the digestive organs 
of the bird, and these seeds and stones are, 
therefore, voided frequently or invariably 
while on the wing, in just the condition to 
take root in the soil wherever they may be 
cast. Bear this in mind while we go back 
a little to the bees and flowers. 

We have suggested that the nectar is 
placed in flowers to attract the bees. After 
a bee has found nectar in one flower it will 
be very likely to examine others of a simi- 
lar kind or appearance. If the flowers 
were all green, like the leaves of the plant, 
the insects would have much more trouble 
in finding them than they now do, be- 
cause contrasting colors, such as the white 
and red of the clovers, make them conspicu- 
ous. If you look back to what we said 
about corn and ragweed you will see that 
the flowers of both are a plain green, for 
they have no need of bees to insure pollina- 
tion. 

It is easily proven that bees have a sort 
of telescopic vision that enables them to 
perceive objects at long distances. When a 
bee starts out in the morning it circles up 
aloft, then takes a view, and starts out for 
business. If one fleld of clover should be 
more conspicuous than the rest, it would 
probably give it the preference — at least, so 
far as to make an examination. If it has 
been at work on a profitable field the day 
before, it will, doubtless, strike for it again 
Avithout any preamble. That bees look for 
honey, and hunt it out, we have proven to 
our full satisfaction; and we are well con- 
vinced that what is often called instinct, 
and allowed to drop there, is only profiting 
by experience and an excellent m.emory of 
past events, as human beings do. We say 
that bees instinctively go to the flowers for 
honey. We have watched them in the spring 
when the blossoms first open, and many a 



606 



PROFITS IN BEES 



bee, very likely a young one that has never 
before seen a blossom, will examine the 
leaves, branches, and even rough wood, of 
the trunk of the tree, intently smelling and 
sniffing at every part, until it finds just 
where the coveted treasure is located. After 
it has dived deep into one blossom, and 
tasted the nectar, it knows pretty well 
where to look next time. 

The touch-me-not has learned, by ages of 
experiment, to produce a bright orange 
flower, to secure nectar in the spur, to 
place the pollen-bearing stamens at the 
point where the bee must rub against them 
in getting the nectar, to construct those 
wonderful seed-pods, which explode and 
scatter the seed far and wide, just that it 
may reproduce and multiply its species. 
We should judge it had succeeded pretty 
well in a waste piece of woodland near our 
home, for there are now acres of it as high 
as one's head, and it is quite a valuable 
acquisition to our apiary. As nearly as we 
can make out, the plant has much increased 
since the advent of the Italians, as might be 
expected. This is true of dandelions as 
well;* and the large, brilliant, showy blos- 
soms that now line our roadsides and waste 
places, instead of unsightly weeds, should 
remind one how much an apiary of bees 
contributes to fulfill the words of sacred 
prophecy : 

The wilderness and the solitary place shall 
be glad for them; and the desert shall re- 
joice, and blossom as the rose. — Isaiah 35: 1. 

Now, we cannot possibly affirm that flow- 
ers were given their gaudy colors thru bees 
selecting the brightest and most conspicu- 
ous, thereby inducing such blossoms to bear 
seed in preference to those less gaudily at- 
tired, neither do we know that cherries be- 
came red because the birds selected those 
that showed a disposition to that color, year 
after year, for many centuries ; nor can we 
prove that the bright plumage of male 
birds came about in the course of time, 
simply because the female encouraged the 
attentions of and showed a preference for 
those most handsome. We can only suggest 
that the actions of birds, bees, flowers, and 
fruits, seem to point that way. You all 
know how quickly we can get fancy-colored 
flowers, yellow queen bees, or birds of al- 



♦ See Dandelion. 



most any shade of color, by careful selec- 
tion for several generations. Have not the 
bees so colored the flowers, and birds the 
berries, etc., altho they did it all uncon- 
sciously ? 

It is significant that so many of the flow- 
ers have a form of construction and depth 
of flower tube that would indicate that it 
had adapted itself to the bee. While, of 
course, there are manj'- exceptions, it ap- 
pears that nature caters more to the bee 
than to any other insect. Just see how she 
makes a convenient doorstep of a flower 
tube of just the right size and shape, so 
that the bee can get the nectar which it has 
to offer. Cheshire has pointed out that so 
intimate and so perfect is the relation be- 
tween the flowers and the honeybees that 
there would be no advantage in breeding 
larger bees or of changing their general 
structure, because to do so would necessi- 
tate changing practically the whole of the 
floral kingdom. While it undoubtedly would 
be an advantage to breed bees with longer 
tongues, that advantage would be manifest 
only in the case of red clover, and appar- 
ently old Dame Nature has designed that 
the common bumblebee shall perform the 
work here that cannot fully be accom- 
plished by the honeybee. It should be 
mentioned, however, that the honeybee does 
gather quite a little nectar from the red 
clover, and of course accomplishes to a con- 
siderable degree the work of pollination. 

POLLINATION OF FRUIT BLOOM.— 

See Fruit Bloom. 

PRIORITY RIGHTS.— See Overstock- 

IXG. 

PROFITS IN BEES.— This question is 
a hard one to answer, as so much depends 
on the locality and the man, and the num- 
ber of bees to the area. 

Considering the average production of the 
poor and the good beekeepers, in the North- 
em States, in what is known as the rain- 
belt, one might perhaps expect to get any- 
where from 25 to 50 lbs. of comb honey, 
and perhaps from 25 to 50 per cent more 
of extracted. There will be some seasons 
when he might secure as much as 100 lbs. 
or more on an average, and occasional sea- 
sons when there would be neither comb nor 
extracted, and the bees would require to be 



PROFITS IN BEES 



607 



fed. Taking one year with another, the 
ordinary beekeeper ought to average about 
35 lbs. of comb honey, on a conservative 
estimate, provided he has reasonable skill 
and love for the business. The comb honey 
might net him, deducting the expense of 
selling, from 10 to 20 cents; the extracted, 
from 6 to 15. These figures do not include 
the labor of producing the honey nor the 
cost of the fixtures. The cost of the sup- 
plies, exclusive of sections and foundations, 
ought to be sufficient to cover 10 to 20 
years if no increase is made. Suppose we 
put the comb honey at 35 lbs. as the aver- 
age, and the price secured 15 cents net. 
The actual money he would get from the 
commission merchant or grocer might be 
about $5.00 per colony; but out of this he 
must deduct a certain amount for labor, 
and 10 per cent on the cost of supplies, to 
be on the safe side. 

With only a few bees the labor would 
count for nothing, as the work could be 
performed by some member of the family 
or by the man of the house, who could, dur- 
ing his spare hours, do a little with bees, 
and work in his garden. In case of one, 
two, or three hundred, the labor item must 
be figured. The larger the number crowd- 
ing the available territory the smaller the 
profit per colony. A rough estimate for an 
apiary in a locality not overstocked, not 
including the labor on the $5.00 actually 
received for honey sold, ought to leave a 
net profit of somewhere about $1.50. This 
would be on the basis that the locality did 
not require much feeding in the fall. If 
feeding was found to be necessary, 50 cents 
more might have to be deducted, making a 
net profit of $4.00. On this basis it will 
be seen that the profit in one season ought 
to pay for the hives and supers in one year, 
or come very close to it, leaving the invest- 
ment good for ten or more years. If we 
figure it that way the ten per cent need not 
be added. For a professional man, or one 
who has other business, even these returns 
are not bad ; for if he secures only enough 
for family use, the diversion or change to 
relieve the tired brain is worth something. 

The question as to whether one should 
keep few or many bees will depend upon 
many conditions; but the principal one is 
the ability of the man. Many a person can 
handle a few chickens, and get good re- 
sults ; but when he runs the number up into 



the hundreds he meets with failure. Some 
have done remarkably well with a few colo- 
nies; but when they have attempted to 
double or treble the number they entered 
into a business proposition that proved to 
be too much for them. 

Many years ago a neighbor cleared a 
thousand dollars from one acre of onions. 
It made him wild. He bought ten more 
acres of the same kind of onion land, going 
into debt for it, and expected to clear the 
following year $10,000. When he managed 
the one acre he did all the work himself; 
but when he worked the ten acres he had to 
hire help. The help was incompetent, or 
did not understand. Onions fell in price; 
and at the final roundup that year he had 
a great stock of poor onions without a 
buyer. They rotted. He became discour- 
aged, and lost all he had. 

A few persons, on account of a lack of 
experience or perhaps business ability, not 
understanding their own limitations and 
those of their localities, will plunge into 
beekeeping too deeply and meet with dis- 
aster. 

Many a beekeeper has done well with 
four or five hundred colonies when he fails 
with twice that number. When he or mem- 
bers of his family can do all the work 
ever3i;hing goes well; but when he has to 
hire help, much of it incompetent, his 
troubles begin, and his profits are cut in 
two. Said one large producer, " When I 
had 3,000 colonies, and my boys and I did 
all the work, we made money; but when I 
increased my number to 7,000, and hired 
help, I actually did not make as much 
money as when I had 3,000." 

There are some men who are unable to 
get along with their help. There are oth- 
ers who, when they have good help, have no 
ability to plan the work for others. 

If it were not for bee disease and rob- 
bing, the question of hired help would not 
be so serious. A poor man in a beeyard 
may make his employer a world of trouble 
and expense unless his boss can be with 
him constantly, and that is not always 
possible. 

One may double or treble the number of 
his colonies if he can plan his work ahead 
and then go along with the help, taking one 
yard after another. After a time one of the 
men may be competent enough to go to the 
yards and manage the other help ; but usu- 



608 



PROPOLIS 



ally a good man can make more money by 
running and owning the bees himself than 
by working for some one else. It is diffi- 
cult, therefore, to hold such a man. 

If one expects to expand his bee busi- 
ness, tho he does not have members of his 
family to help him, he will probably have 
to work on a profit-sharing basis — a mod- 
erate salary and a percentage of the crop. 
This creates in the man a sense of responsi- 
bility and ownership that makes him a bet- 
ter man than if he merely had to put in so 
many hours, and at the same time holds 
him. If the owner can go with the help to 
all the yards, it is not necessary for him to 
hire on the profit-sharing basis. 

Assuming that the help question can be 
solved let us look at the side of expansion 
of the business. Let us assume a case. 
Here is a beekeeper who has 300 colonies. 
During the busy season he is comfortably 
busy. But during six months in the year 
his time is not very profitably employed — 
a distinct loss ; for it will take him only a 
short time, comparatively, to get his supers 
ready for the next season, nail his hives, 
repaint them, or do other preliminary work 
that can easily be done indoors, and yet his 
interest, or his rent and his living expenses 
are going right on. Suppose, for example, 
that this beekeeper has 600 colonies, or 
1,000; that he has good business ability; 
that he has plenty of bee-range. Suppose 
he scatters this number in 15 different 
yards, none further than 15 miles from his 
home, and a good part of them not over 
four or five miles away. In the busy sea- 
son he will, of course, have to employ help. 
If he has the right kind of executive ability 
he will see that that help is profitably em- 
ployed. When the rush of work is over he 
will look after the marketing of the crop, 
put the bees into winter quarters, perhaps 
doing the work himself with the occasional 
help of one man, and a machine. In cold 
weather he can devote all of his time profit- 
ably in preparing for the next season. 
While he is operating 1,000 colonies it 
costs him no more to live; the same auto- 
mobile that will carry him to two or three 
hundred will carry him to the other seven 
or eight hundred. If he is running for 
extracted honey, the same extractor, un- 
capping-knives, and smokers can be used 
at a central extracting-station. He is thus 
enabled to put his invested capital where 



it will be earning money for him all the 
time in the busy season instead of eating 
up interest part of the time. We will sup- 
pose that some of his swarms get away 
from him; we will also suppose that some 
of the work is not done as well as when he 
had only 300 colonies; but he has in- 
creased his honey crop by three times, pos- 
sibly, and has increased his actual operat- 
ing expenses only to the extent of the help 
that he has to pay for, extra hives, and 
sugar to feed. A couple of men and a boy 
three months in the year — the men at $4.00 
each and a boj^ at $2.00 per day — would 
make his expense $780, counting 26 work- 
ing days to the month. To this we w^ill add 
$70 for extra team or automobile truck 
hire. The cost of the extra 700 colonies 
with hives and supers divided by ten (as- 
suming that they would last ten years) 
would be $650 more, or $1,500. But we 
must add $350 more for sugar for feeding 
and $400 for sections, foundation, and 
shipping-cases, making $2,250 as the total 
added expense for the 700 extra colonies. 
Say he is producing comb honey, and that 
he can average 35 lbs. per colony. If this 
nets him 15^ he would get from 300 colo- 
nies $1,575. If he has 1,000 colonies his 
gross income will be $5,250 by adding only 
$2,250 to his general expenses. 

This is a supposable and a possible case. 
The most that we would show is that the 
operating and overhead expenses will not 
be proportionately increased if the number 
of colonies be doubled or trebled — all on 
the assumption, of course, that the bee- 
keeper has the necessary skill and business 
ability. 

PROPOLIS.— This is a sort of resinous 
gum that bees collect for coating over the 
inside of their hives, filling cracks and crev- 
ices, cem.enting loose pieces of the hive to- 
gether, and for making things fast and 
close generally. It is not generally gath- 
ered in any great quantity until at the close 
of the season, when it seems to be collected 
in response to a kind of instinct that bids 
them prepare for cold weather. They are 
seen almost every day, during a dearth of 
honey, collecting propolis from old hives, 
old quilts, and pieces of refuse wax, when 
one is so wasteful and untidy as to leave 
any such scattered about. That the princi- 
pal part of it comes from some particular 



PROPOLIS 



609 



plant or class of plants, or tree, is probably 
true, for almost the same aromatic resinous 
flavor is noticeable, no matter what the 
locality or season of the year. Bees gather 
propolis with their mandibles, and pack 
and carry it precisely as they do pollen. It 
is never packed in the cells, however, but 
applied at once to the place Avanted. It is 
often mixed with wax to strengthen their 
combs, and is applied to the cells as a var- 
nish, for the same purpose. In the absence 
of a natural supply, the bees frequently 
resort to various substances, such as paints, 
varnishes, resins, pitch, and the like; and 
the superstition, popular in some sections, 
that bees follow their owner to the grave, 
after his death, probably obtained credence 
from seeing the bees at work on the varnish 
of the coflSn. To save the bees the trouble 
of waxing up the crevices in their hives, it 
has been suggested that a mixture of melted 
wax and resin be poured into the hive and 
made to flow along the cracks and corners. 
This may do very well, altho bees can do 
this better and cheaper than we can. The 
principal trouble has been to get rid of the 
surplus propolis, and it would be better to 
have some device to keep it out of the way 
than to add more. It has been said that 
grease, lime, chalk, or tale applied to the 
parts will prevent bees from depositing 
propolis, for the reason that they cannot 
make it stick. 

HOW TO KEEP SECTIONS FKEE FROM 
PROPOLIS. 

Of course, the readiest means is to re- 
move all sections just as soon as a single 
one is capped over; and as but little pro- 
polis is gathered during a strong yield of 
honey, but little will be found on the honey 
unless it is left until the yield has ceased. 
Some bees not only cover all the woodwork 
of the sections if left on too long, but they 
also varnish over the whole surface of the 
white capping, almost spoiling the looks 
and sale of the honey. 

It is next to impossible to keep the sec- 
tions wholly free from propolis. Bees will 
deposit at least some in the interstices be- 
tween the sections. As Nature abhors a 
vacuum, so do the bees dislike a crack or 
crevice. The nearer comb arrangements 
can be m.ade so as to leave but few crevices 
or pUces of contact accessible to bees, the 
20 



less propolis will be deposited. Some sur- 
plus supers are made so as to produce com- 
pression upon the sections, thus reducing 
the space formed by contact with sections 
to a minimum. Some prefer to have the 
outside of the sections covered entire. This 
can be accomplished . either with the wide 
frames or with holders having the top and 
bottom to correspond with the outside of 
the sections. 

HOW TO KEEP PROPOLIS FROM STICKING TO 
THE FINGERS. 

At certain times of the year, notably in 
the fall when bee glue is very abundant 
and sticky, after the honey flow is over and 
the bees have nothing else to do, they will 
sometimes gather a great deal of resinous 
matter which they chink into every avail- 
able place, smearing over the brood- 
frames. When these latter are handled the 
fingers gather up a great deal of the sticky 
stuff, making the work unpleasant, not to 
say hampering. At such times one may 
wear gloves ; but as many do not like them, 
the trouble can be overcome to a great ex- 
tent by dipping the fingers in vaseline, 
lime, or talcum powder. 

HOW TO REMOVE PROPOLIS FROM THE 
FINGERS. 

A variety of substances have been sug- 
gested. Alcohol is perhaps the neatest, 
but is rather expensive; gasoline or com- 
mon lye for soap-making answers nearly 
as well, and is cheap; soap will answer if 
a little lard be rubbed on the hands first 
but will have little effect on it otherwise. A 
correspondent says he has a pair of light 
cotton gloves which he slips on when han- 
dling his waxy frames, and his hands are 
left clean whenever he is obliged to stop 
work. 

For removing propolis from glass, alco- 
hol is perhaps best. When much glass is 
soiled, it can be cleaned most expeditiously 
by boiling it in a kettle of water with a 
quantity of wood ashes, or, better, lye. 
Miss Emma Wilson had an article in 
Gleanings in Bee Culture, that is repro- 
duced here : 

I put on my wash-boiler with water and 
Ive, then went to the shop and selected the 
most badly propolized supers and separators 



610 



PROPOLIS 



that I could find as fit subjects on which to 
experiment. I dropped a few separators into 
the boiler while the water was yet cold, to 
see what effect it would have on them. I 
could not see that it affected them in the least 
until the water almost reached the boiling- 
point, when the propolis disappeared. 

What I was most afraid of was that the 
separators while wet would cling so closely 
together that the lye would not reach every 
part, and hence they would not all be per- 
fectly clean. I was glad to find these few 
did not bother at all, but came out perfectly 
clean. I stirred them with the poker while 
boiling, altho I don't know that it was nec- 
essary as I tried another lot without stirring, 
and they came out just as clean. I next tied 
up a bundle of 59 separators, that being the 
number I had handy. Of course, they were 
tied loosely. I dropped them in, having a 
strong cord tied around the middle of the 
bundle to lift them out by. I let them boil 
two or three minutes, and took them out; 32 
of them were perfectly clean. The rest, in the 
center of the bundle, still had some propolis 
left on, and were treated to a second dose. 

Taking a very large qauntity of the sepa- 
rators at one time, there might be more 
trouble than I think about getting them 
clean, but I don't believe there would be if 
the water were kept hot enough, and enough 
of the lye used. I don 't think any harm 
would come from having it unnecessarily 
strong. 

I next tried dipping the T' supers. My 
boiler was large enough to clean only half a 
super at a time, so I had to dip in one half, 
reverse it, and dip the other half. Had I 
been able to dip one all at once, I think I 
could have cleaned one a minute. And they 
are beautifully cleaned. I don't know of any 
other way they could be cleaned so nicely — 
quite as clean, I think, as when new. We 
scraped all our supers before the lye was 
thought of; and while they are much im- 
proved by the scraping they are not nearly as 
nice as when cleaned with lye, while the scrap- 
ing is harder work. 

I did not have anything large enough to dip 
a hive into, but of course a hive would clean 
as readily as a super. With convenient appa- 
ratus to work with, a large number of such 
articles as separators could be cleaned at a 
time with no very great amount of labor. It 
is such a comfort to have everything clean! 
Wood separators are so cheap that we have 
always thought it did not pay to clean them. 
I rather think we shall conclude that it does 



pay, after this, providing we can get them 
satisfactorily dried in good shape. 

DO THE BEES NEED PROPOLIS? 

Much discussion has arisen in regard to 
the habit bees have of making all open- 
ings tight with bee glue. Theory says, if 
allowed to follow their bent, or instinct, 
they will smother themselves to death. 
Practice says they do, at least at times, so 
prevent the escape of moisture that their 
home gets very damp and wet, filled with 
little icicles, so that they suffer; or, at 
least, such is the case in the hives we have 
provided for them. Who is right — the bees 
or the enlightened beekeeper? The greater 
part of the fault lies in the hive we have 
given them. The enameled cloth which we 
formerly used for covering bees is as im- 
pervious to air and moisture as the propo- 
lis thej' collect with so much pains and 
trouble. If the outside of this is allowed 
to get frosty, it will condense the breath of 
the bees on the inside; and if the outside 
is but thinly protected from the weather, 
icicles will certainly form on the inside, 
and freeze the bees fast in a lump. 

Under the head of Wintering Outdoors 
will be found a discussion regarding the 
value of packing material, the purpose of 
which is to keep the outer walls from be- 
coming cold and condensing the breath of 
the bees into moisture and the moisture 
into ice. So far as it is possible, the hive 
should be packed warm enough so that the 
moisture will not condense in the hive — 
much less, ice form around the side walls. 

VALUE OF PROPOLIS. 

The gum has been used to some extent 
in medicine; also in the preparation of 
certain leather polishes. It is claimed that 
propolis for this purpose possesses a prop- 
erty that renders it superior to any of the 
pitches or resins. 



Q 



QUEEN-REARING.— Before this sub- 
ject is read the subject of Queens further 
on should be gone over carefully. This 
will make queen-rearing more easily under- 
stood. 

As a general rule, extensive honey-pro- 
ducers believe that it is better and cheaper 
for them to buy their queens than to at- 
tempt to raise them. First, when they buy 
queens they introduce new blood in their 
yards ; and, second, in order to raise queens 
it takes a large amount of skill, time, and 
equipment, which, if devoted to the produc- 
tion of honey, would yield larger results in 
dollars and cents. There are other large 
producers who do raise some queens of 
their own, such stock coming from colonies 
showing the best average in honey produc- 
tion year in and year out. When swarm- 
ing is controlled by caging the queen, re- 
queening can be effected without very much 
loss of time. Moreover the best of cells 
can be reared during the swarming season. 

There are certain of the smaller pro- 
ducers who raise their own queens, if for 
no other reason than for the fun of it. The 
whole process, from start to finish, is inter- 
esting if not wonderful. For the benefit of 
these and others we shall attempt to show 
some of the fundamental principles as well 
as the methods that are used by our best 
queen-breeders. But before the breeder 
launches into this general subject, he should 
first turn to Queens. After having read 
that he may then consider queen-rearing. 

CONDITIONS FAVORABLE AND UNFAVORABLE 
FOR REARING QUEENS. 

When a colony from some cause or other 
becomes queenless, the bees will set about 
rearing another. 

Some hold that the best queens are those 
that are reared either during the swarming 
time or when the bees are about to super- 
sede an old queen soon to fail. At such 
times one may see large beautiful queen- 
cells, looking like big peanuts, projecting 



from the side of the comb. The larvae in 
such cells are lavishly fed with royal jelly; 
and when the queens finally hatch they are 
usually large and vigorous. 

As already stated there is one class of 
cells that bees rear when they are about 
to supersede an old queen. When she is 
two or three years old she begins to show 
signs of failing. The bees recognize the 
fact that their own mother will soon die, 
or at least need help from a daughter, and 
very leisurely proceed to construct a num- 
ber of cells, all of which are supplied with 
larvse, and fed in the same lavish way as 
those reared under the swarming impulse. 

But we can never determine in advance 
when the bees will rear supersedure cells, 
and it may be true that the queen about to be 
superseded is not desirable stock from 
which to rear. For these reasons one can- 
not depend on having supersedure colonies 
at the time he wishes to requeen. Also, it 
may be that cells reared under the swarm- 
ing impulse, if from poor stock, should be 
rejected; because it is certainly penny wise 
and pound foolish to rear queens from any 
thing but the very best select stock. All 
swarming-cells from good queens should 
be reserved by placing them in West queen- 
cell protectors; then hunt up queens two 
or three years old, pinch their heads off, 
and replace them with one of these cells 
in each colony. One may have good queens 
even three or more years old, but it is 
hardly probable. The majority of our 
honey-producers think it profitable to re- 
place all queens three years old, while a 
good many make it a practice to requeen 
all colonies having queens two years and 
over, and of. late years there is a tendency 
on the part of a few to requeen every year. 

While these swarming-cells produce the 
very best queens, yet it may not be con- 
venient to requeen during the swarming 
season, which in some localities may be a 
very bad season to do so, owing to the 
interruption that it makes in the regular 



612 



QUEEN-REARING 




Queen, drone, and worker. 



production of honey; for some believe 
that a good many colonies will not do as 
well in honey-gathering when they are 
queenless. If swarming-cells are needed, 
however, they may be given to nuclei in 
order to save them. 

Among the several systems of rearing 
queens, the one put out by Mr. Doolittle 
a few years ago forms the basis of some 
of the best now in vogue. It is very sim- 
ple, requiring no special tools more than 
one can improvise for himself. Thoroly 
understanding this, the reader will be in 
position to carry out the more advanced 
ideas put forth by Mell Pritchard, Samuel 
Simmins, E. L. Pratt, Henry Alley, and 
others. 

THE DOOLITTLE METHOD OF EEARING QUEENS. 

While Mr. Doolittle's system is slightly 
artificial yet he endeavored to make his 
methods conform as nearly as possible to 
Nature's ways. It is of prime importance 
in the rearing of queens to bring about 
conditions that will approach, as nearly as 



possible, those that are generally present 
during the swarming season at a time when 
the bees supply the cell-cups lavishly with 
royal food. One of the first requisites, 
then, for cell-building is strong powerful 
colonies; second, a light honey flow, or a 
condition almost analogous, viz., stimula- 
tive feeding if the honey is not then com- 
ing in. Queens reared during a dearth of 
honey, or queens from cells reared in nu- 
clei, are apt to be small. The mothers that 
do their best work are those that are large, 
and capable of laying at least from 2,000 
to 3,000 eggs per day.* A queen that is 
incapable of this should not be retained. 
A colony with a good queen might earn for 



* It is not necessarily the large queens which do 
the best work. Also 2,000 to 3,000 is hardly the 
maximum of " best " queens. A Langstroth comb has 
approximately 6,000 cells, and good queens will not 
infrequently fill all of one and part of another in 24 
hours. This summer I saw 14 colonies, each with two 
12-frame chambers for the queen ; and in several 
which I inspected, the queens had the whole 24 frames 
filled with brood in various stages. This figures out 
like this: 24 times 6,000 equals 144,000 cells of 
brood. Divide this by 21, the time from egg to mature 
bee, and the result is 6,857 for a day. Allowing for 
some pollen (and there was not much in those 24 
combs) the figure 6,000 could not have been far from 
\vh;it those queens were doing. — A. C. Mtlleh. 



QUEEN-REARING 



613 



its owner in a good season $5.00 to $25.00 
in clean cash. In the same season the 
same colony (or, perhaps, to speak more 
exactly, the same hive of bees), with a 
poorer queen, would bring in less than half 
that amount. A queen that can lay 2,000 
or 3,000 eggs a day at the right time of the 
year, so that there will be a large force of 
bees ready to begin on the honey when it 
does come, is the kind of queen that should 
be reared. 

The old way of raising queens was to 
make a colony or a nucleus queenless ; wait 
for the bees to build their own cells; then 
distribute them to colonies made queenless 
beforehand. This plan is very slow and 
wasteful, and, worst of aU, results in the 
rearing of inferior queens. Mr. Doolittle 
took advantage of Nature's ways to such 
an extent that he was enabled to rear a 
large number of queens from some selected 
breeder, by increasing the number of cells 
ordinarily built ; for the prime requisite in 
queen-rearing is cells — plenty t)f them — 
that will rear good strong healthy queens. 

The first step in queen-rearing is to pro- 
vide queen-cups. Many times, when an 
apiarist is going thru his yard he can cut 
out embryo cell cups. These can be utilized 
at some future time for the purpose of 
grafting. But such cells are not generally 
found in large numbers, and after they are 
gathered, are exceedingly frail, irregular 
in shape, and will not bear much handling. 

HOW TO MAKE DOOLITTLE CELL CUPS. 

Mr. Doolittle was among the first who 
conceived the idea of making artificial cell 
cups that should not only be regular in 
form but of such construction as to stand 
any reasonable amount of handling. Con- 
trary to what one might expect, such cells 
are just as readily accepted by the bees as 
those they make in the good old-fashioned 
way; and, what is of considerable impor- 
tance, they can be made in any quantity by 
one of ordinary intelligence. 

Mr. Doolittle took a wooden rake-tooth, 
and whittled and sandpapered the point so 
that it was similar in size and shape to the 
bottom of the ordinary queen-cell. Prepar- 
atory to forming the cells Mr. Doolittle had 
a little pan of beeswax, kept hot by means 
of a lamp ; also a cup of water. Taking one 
of these cell-forming sticks he dipped it 



into water, after which he plunged it about 
9-16 of an inch into the melted wax. He 
then lifted it up and twirled it at an angle 
(waxed end lower) in his fingers. When cool 
he dipped it again, but not quite so deep, 
and twirled it as before. He proceeded thus 
until the cup was dipped seven or eight 
times, but each time dipping it less deep, 
within 1-32 inch of the previous dipping. 
The main thing is to secure a cup having a 
thick heavy bottom, but which will have a 
thin and delicate knife edge at the open 
top, or at that point where the bees are 
supposed to begin where man left off work. 
After the last dipping is cooled, a slight 
pressure of the thumb loosens the cell cup 
slightly. It is then dipped once more, and 
before cooling it is attached to a comb or 
stick designed to receive it. 

GRAFTING CELLS. 

A small particle of royal jelly is inserted 
in every queen-cell. The amount in each 
should be about equivalent in bulk to a 
double-B shot, said Mr. Doolittle. But we 
have found that a much less quantitj' will 
answer. Out of an ordinary queen-cell well 
supplied with royal jelly one can get 
enough to supply 20 cups. This royal jelly 
should come from some queen-cell nearly 
ready to seal, as that will contain the most. 
It should be stirred to bring all to about 
the same consistency, after which it may 
be dipped out of the cells by means of a 
stick whittled like an ordinary ear-spoon, 
or a toothpick. 

The next operation is to take a frame of 
young larvffi just hatched from the eggs 
of the best breeding queen. Each little 
grub should be lifted up with the aforesaid 
ear-spoon, and gently laid on the royal 
food previously prepared in one of the cell 
cups. A larva should be given to every 
one of the cell cups in this manner, and 
when all are supplied they are to be put 
into the cell-building colony, to be ex- 
plained later.* 

REARING QUEENS IN LARGE 
NUMBERS. 

Thus far the original Doolittle system 
of rearing queens has been considered; 
and where one desires only a few for his 
own use he mav find this method more con- 



* This work should be done in an atmosphere of 80' 



614 



QUEEN-REARING 



venient than the one now to be described. 
But if he has any number to rear he should 
carry out the following plan. The method 
of preparing the colonies for cell-building 
will be the same. 

Instead of dipping the cells one by one 
with a stick, or dipping several sticks at 





Cross-section of wooden cell-holder ; cell cup partially 
pushed into place. 

once, compressed cell cups are made on a 
plan originally devised by E. L. Pratt. 
With a suitable die, cells more nearly per- 
fect than can possibly be dipped by the 
slow process already described are punched 




Manner of inserting cell cups in cell-holders. 

out at the rate of 2,000 an hour. These are 
furnished by dealers, and, generally speak- 
ing, it would be better to buy cell cups than 
to attempt to make them by the dipping 
process. 

To facilitate general handling, the modi- 
fied Doolittle system calls for wooden cell- 



holders, which may, under certain circum- 
stances, be used as direct cell cups. 

These are cylindrical pieces of wood, % 
inch in diameter, % inch long. A suitable 
drill bores out one end of the right size to 
receive one of the compressed cell cups. 
These wooden cell-holders can likewise be 
purchased by the thousand. 




Cell-holder with cell in place. 

The compressed cups are forced into the 
hole in the cell-holders by means of a little 
plunger-stick. When enough of them have 
been prepared, and secured to a cell-bar 
by being pressed against the under side of 
the cell-bar, which is covered with a thin 
coat of wax, they are ready to be grafted. 
This process is much the same as that al- 
ready described in the Doolittle method, ex- 
cept that a much smaller quantity of royal 




Hoffman frame with removable bars for cell-holders. 

jelly is used, and special tools are provided 
for the purpose, these being obtained of 
the dealers. Sufficient royal jelly is gath- 
ered up from a series of cells, and the same 
is stirred with a special jelly-spoon. A 
spoonful is then held in the left hand, while 
the right hand uses the grafting-tool to 
take a speck of the royal jelly, about the 
size of the head of a pin. This is then 
placed in the bottom of one of the com- 
pressed cups. Other cups are treated in 
the same way until the whole series of cells 
is provisioned. 



QUEEN-REARING 



615 



The next operation is to take a comb of 
very young larvae, just hatched, from a 
breeding queen. In an atmosphere not 
cooler than 75 or 80 degrees (the warmer 
the better) a young larva is scooped or 




G, fully completed cell from holder ; H, partially built 
cell torn away to get at the royal jelly. 

lifted up out of a worker-cell with the flat- 
tened end of the grafting-tool, and depos- 
ited in the royal jelly of one of the com- 
pressed cups. This is repeated until all the 
cups are grafted. This royal jelly serves a 
double purpose. It affords a downy bed, 
so to speak, in which to lay the larva, and 




Supplying cells with royal jelly. 

at the same time provides food until the 
bees can give it a fresh supply. Despite 
the claim that royal jelly is not necessary 
one will get more cells accepted by using it. 

GETTING CELLS ACCEPTED AND BUILT OUT. 

The average beginner will probably suc- 
ceed best by giving grafted cells to a queen- 
less strong colony. In about two days after 
making it queenless a bar of 15 ceUs (not 
more) inserted in a frame may be given. 
If no honey is coming in from natural 
sources, the colony should be fed in a man- 
ner to be explained. When conditions are 
right, nearly every cell, if not every one of 
them, will be accepted. By " accepted " is 
meant that the bees have begun work on 



them, and have added their own royal jelly. 
After being accepted they are given to the 
upper story of a strong colony, with an 
excluder between the two stories, to be 
completed. 

The question might be raised right here, 
" Why not make these upper stories start 
as well as complete the cells'?" For the 
simple reason that they will not start work 
of this sort except under the most favorable 
conditions; and the average queen-breeder 
has decided it does not pay to try to make 
the attempt. There should be one colony 
to start the cells and another to complete 
them after they are accepted in another 
colony. 

After the first batch of 15 grafted cups 
have been accepted and removed, another 
batch of 15 may be given, and so on the 
process can be repeated. But such cell- 
starting colonies should not be kept for 
such purpose more than three weeks, on 
account of the danger of laying workers. 
See Laying Workers. 




"^nr 



Lifting a larva out of a worker cell. 

In eight days after giving the fii'st batch 
of grafted cells, it will be necessary to go 
over the combs very carefully and destroy 
any natural ceUs of their own; for if these 
are left in the hive the bees will do no work 
on the second batch of cells. In the mean 
time a virgin would hatch and trouble hap- 
pen. Even after the first batch of natural 
cells are cut out, it is advisable to go over 
the combs again in eight days, because a 



616 



QUEEN-REARING 



colony like this may steal an egg or two 
from some other colony. 

Another excellent cell-building colony 
outside of the swarming season is one hav- 
ing a queen which it is trying to super- 
sede. One or more such colonies will be 
found in a large apiary, but as a general 
rule the queen is hardly good enough to 
use as a breeder. Having found such a col- 
ony, begin giving it daily feeds at once, 
this being a requisite for the best results in 
cell-building with any colony, either with a 
queen or without one. This supersedure 
cell-building colony will not only draw out 
and complete one set of cups but several 
sets in succession ; but it is best not to give 
any one such colony more than a dozen or 
a dozen and a half prepared cups at a time. 
Allow it to finish up one batch, and then, if 
necessary, give it another. 

To one of our supersedure colonies, as 
we call them, we gave one batch of Doolit- 
tle cups after another until they had com- 
pleted over 300 fine cells; but we were 
careful to take away each lot before any 
could hatch, of course, for a young virgin 
would very soon make havoc of the other 
cells unhatched, and besides would get the 
colony out of the notion of trying to super- 
sede the old queen. 

Just how far supersedure bees will con- 
tinue to build out batches of cell cups one 
after another is not known, but if they are 
fed half a pint of syrup daily they appear 
to be willing to keep up the work indefi- 
nitely, in the hope that they will some day 
be able to rear a virgin that will supplant 
the old queen that appears to be failing. 

THE FORCED-CELL-STAETING COLONY. 

There is still another plan used by queen- 
breeders to get cells accepted or started in 
a more wholesale way; and that is, make 
up a forced-cell-starting colony. This is 
done by making a strong colony queenless 
and broodless. The combs are taken out 
one by one, and shaken in front of the 
entrance. When combs are cleaned of bees 
it will be very easy to see any eggs. Combs 
having honey only are set back in the hive, 
and with them two division-board feeders. 
One is placed on each side and half filled 
with syrup; and an hour or two after the 
bees have been made queenless and brood- 



less they will set up a roar; for without 
any brood or any possibility of producing 
it, they are in dire distress, and in just the 
right condition, psychologically, to rush 
upon grafted cups that may be given them. 
The nurse bees are already supplied with 
pap; and with no young brood of any 
kind to feed they have royal jelly in any 
quantity to give the cups. A colony in this 
condition may be given 100 cells on two 
frames, which are placed in the center of 
the colony in places previously left vacant. 
If everything has been done right, nearly 
every one of the cells will be accepted ; but 
the attempt should not be made to make 
such a colony start a second batch. When 
the cells are accepted they are taken out 
and placed in an upper story of a cell- 
building (or, rather, cell-completing) col- 
ony next to be described. 

While queenless bees will complete any 
cells given them, yet such cells will not be 
as good as those built under the swarming 
or supersedure impulse. Therefore for a 
cell-completing colony a two-story colony 
Avith an excluder between the stories is pre- 
pared. The lower hive contains the queen, 
but the brood is lifted into the upper story. 
The queen and bees below will begin rear- 
ing more brood. If no honey flow is on, it 
is important to feed, because otherwise 
these cell-builders will tear down the work 
so nicely started in the other hive. 

Under Feeding is described the Board- 
man feeder for slow feeding. After one 
feed is given another must be given the 
next day. If a day is skipped in feeding, 
the colony begins to feel that the honey 
flow has stopped, and apparently comes to 
the conclusion that there will be no neces- 
sity for continuing the work of cell-build- 
ing. When feeding stops, it will often 
destroy work nicely under way. 

If feeding continues such cell-builders 
will take care of and build out about 15 
cells at a time. When the first batch is 
sealed, another batch of accepted cells may 
be given, and so on the process may be con- 
tinued thruout the season — provided, how- 
ever, the colony is kept up to the swarming- 
pitch by continuous feeding. 

In about 15 days brood is again lifted 
from the lower to the upper hive and the 
combs from which brood has hatched above 
are put below. Brood must be kept above to 
keep cell-building going on. 



QUEEN-REARING 



617 




Fully completed queen-cells built on wooden cell-cups here described. 



NURSERY CAGES. 

The illustration shows a batch of cells 
taken from one of these cell-builders. In 
large queen-breeding establishments there 




A nursery frame. 

will be a dozen or more cell-building colo- 
nies kept constantly at work ; but the ordi- 
nary beekeeper who desires a few queens 
of his own will not need to keep more than 
one such colony more than a few days. 



The cells are now ready to be placed in 
nursery cages. This, it will be seen, is 
practically a modified Alley cage. A sur- 
plus of cells often occurs in queen-rearing 
— that is to say, a lack of queenless nuclei 
or colonies to take them. One should ar- 
range to have more cells than he will prob- 
ably be able to use, to provide for bad 
weather, when cells will be destroyed or 
young hatched virgins will be missing. At 
such a time, if one has extra cells or virgins 
that he can take out of a nursery, he can 
quickly make good the loss. 

The nursery cage here shown has a large 
opening at the top to receive the wooden 
cell cup ; the small hole in the lower right- 
hand corner is filled with queen-cage candy 
to supply the young miss after she hatches. 
Twenty-four of these cages, supplied with 
cells that are capped over, can be put in a 
nursery-frame having holders which may 
be tilted on an angle so that any one cage 
can be easily removed from a holder with- 
out disturbing the rest. There are three of 
these holders in each frame, pivoted at both 
ends as shown. When the nursery-frame 
has been filled with cages, each containing 
a capped cell, it should be put down in the 
center of a strong colony. 

While various artificial-heat incubators 
using kerosene lamps have been devised, 
experience has shown a majority of breed- 
ers that nothing is quite so good as a 
strong cluster of bees. What is still more, 
when the young virgins hatch, some of the 
bees will be inclined to feed them thru the 
wire cloth, providing a stimulus that they 



618 



QUEEN-REARING 



cannot receive from the queen candy in the 
cage. After the virgins have hatched they 
should be transferred to Miller cages, and 
introduced as soon after hatching as possi- 
ble. The younger the virgin, the more suc- 
cessful will be her introduction. After she 
becomes four or five days old, even if she 
be accepted by the bees they are likely to 
mistreat her so that her usefulness there- 
after will be greatly impaired. While it is 
possible to introduce these virgins to full- 
sized colonies it is not practicable except 
by the smoke or distress method described 
under Introducing. It is much easier to 
introduce to baby nuclei. 

DUAL PLAN OF INTRODUCING VIRGIN QUEENS^ 
FOR EXTENSIVE BREEDERS. 

It sometimes happens that a breeder will 
have a great surplus of cells, or more 
virgins than he has queenless nuclei or 
colonies. In such cases it has been found 
practicable to introduce two queens at a 
time. First a virgin, the younger the bet- 
ter, is introduced in a Miller cage to a baby 
nucleus. After two or three days she should 
be released ; in about four days more, being 
seven days from the time of caging the first 
queen, another virgin may be caged among 
the same bees ; but the candy of the second 
cage thru which the bees liberate the queen 
must be co\^ered with a little strip of tin or 
the bees will liberate her prematurely. In 
two days more the first virgin will be mated, 
and within two or three days will begin to 
lay if the weather is favorable, when she is 
removed and sent out to fill an order. The 
strip of tin covering the candy of the sec- 



ond cage is opened to let the bees release 
virgin No. 2, and, having already acquired 
the colony odor, she will usually be ac- 
cepted in less than a day's time. In about 
seven days from the time she was caged, a 
third queen, if there is still a surplus of 
virgins, may be put into the nucleus while 
No. 2 is taking her mating-fiight, and so 
the progress may continue so long as there 
is a surplus of virgins. 

This is really high-pressure queen-rear- 
ing, and should be practiced only when 
there is a surplus of virgins, or when there 
are rush orders for cheap queens — cheap 
queens, because the queens introduced on 
the dual plan may or may not be the equal 
of those introduced in the regular way 
where a single queen is introduced at a 
time and is confined in a cage not more 
than a couple of days. If the virgin is 
very young, just hatched, and the nucleus 
has been queenless a couple of days, she 
can be let loose quietly over the top of the 
frames without any caging ; but care should 
be taken not to allow her to touch the 
hands, for the scent of the human body 
sometimes causes the bees to attack and 
kill her. 

INTRODUCING QUEEN-CELLS INSTEAD OF 
VIRGINS. 

Some queen-breeders prefer to give ripe 
queen-cells to their nuclei direct, claiming 
that too many of the virgins that they in- 
troduce being from one to four and 
five days old are lost. It is true, the aver- 
age beginner will succeed better with cells 
than with virgins ; but if cells be given the 




After the battle. By accident a batch of cells were left for a day or so too long in a cell-building colony. 
The first virgin that hatched, true to her nature, waged an unfair war upon her helpless sisters still in their 
cradles. Every cell was ruthlessly torn open, and the little white queen inside killed. A virgin queen will 
not stand for* competition. TTiis inborn instinct of hatred against a rival does not end with youth. Tv\-o 
laying queens — old enough to knew better — will usually fight if placed together even in strange and unnatural 
surroundings. Place two queens under a drinking glass in the hot sun. If they could reason, we might 
expect them to forget their hatred of each other in view of their common predicament of being confined 
away from the care of nurse bees. But the powerful instinct of hatred is so strong that they will usually 
fight — fight until one or the other is stabbbed by that poisoned weapon that is never used except against a rival. 



QUEEN-REARING 



t)19 



nuclei should be made strong in bees. In 
some cases it will be necessary to use West 
queen-cell protectors to keep the bees from 
gnawing holes into them. 

The long spiral cage is designed to slip 
under the queen-cell protector, and when 




West queen-cell protector. 

the young queen hatches out she will pass 
into the long cage, where she can be held 
secure from bees or other virgins in the 
colony that might kill her. 

MATING HIVES. 

Before securing a large lot of nice cells 
in the cages already shown and described, 
there should be in readiness a quantity of 
mating hives or nucleus boxes. As already 
explained, one can use one or two full- 
sized Langstroth frames and put them in a 
three-frame box or hive, or in a full-sized 
hive, by using a division-board to reduce 
the space; or, better still, he can take an 
eight-frame hive body and divide it off into 
three equal compartments by inserting two 
tight-fitting division-boards lengthwise that 
will reach clear from the bottom up to the 
cover, and then close the holes of the hive 
rabbets. Each compartment will then be 
just wide enough to take two full-sized 
Langstroth frames. The under side of this 
hive should have a wire-cloth bottom, for 
reasons to be given later. The two outside 
compartments should each have an en- 
trance, one on each side of the hive along 
the center. The center compartment should 
have one at the rear of the hive body. 
These entrances should be made with a 
half-inch bit, and should have a cleat nailed 
just below, fonning' a naiTOw doorstep. 



When complete it will be an ordinary 
eight-frame hive body with wire-cloth bot- 
tom, having three two-frame divisions with 
an entrance on each side and one in the 
rear. Each of these compartments is to 
receive two frames of brood and bees, after 
which the whole is set over a strong colony 
of bees. The heat passing from the bees 
beneath will keep the three clusters above 
perfectly warm, no matter if the weather 




X 'PfiOJCCT/0/V 1 1^1 
ON JOP-BATf 



1. — Twin mating-box. 



should be a little cool. Queens or cells 
may be given to each one of these nuclei, 
and queens will be mated from the upper 
story in the regular way. Where the cli- 
mate is a little uncertain and the season 
short, there is nothing better than this 
divided-off upper stary. 

BABY NUCLEI, AND HOW TO MATE QUEENS IN 
LARGE NUMBERS. 

Where one desires to secure the largest 
number of queens possible from a given 
force of bees, twin-mating nuclei on a 
much smaller scale are to be preferred. 

The illustration shows one the author 
uses. It is just right so that each one of 
its two compartments will take two frames 
of such size that three of them will just fit 



620 



QUEEN-REARING 



the inside of a regular Langstroth frame, 
the division being made on vertical lines. 
The baby hive itself is on the same general 
principle as a full-sized one, having rabbets 
at the ends to support the frame projec- 




Twin-nuclei frame. 

tions. A division-board thru the center 
lengthwise, Yg inch thick, divides the hive 
off into two bee-tight compartments. Tacked 
to this board is a square of enamel cloth 



which, when spread, covers both sides. In 
order that the little frames may hang in the 
rabbets and yet at the same time be fitted 
inside the full-sized Langstroth frame, pro- 
jections or supports are made of metal, and 
so constructed that they can slide forward 
to form a projection, or be shoved back 
out of the way. 

Early in the season these little frames 
are filled with full sheets of foundation; 
or, from a lot of old defective combs can 
be cut pieces which can be fitted in these 
third-sized nucleus-frames. When filled 
with comb or foundation three of them are 
inserted in a common Langstroth frame, 
which may be put down in the center of a 
good colony. Where preferred a colony 
may be supplied exclusively with these 
three-in-one frames. When filled with brood 
or honey they can be given to the baby 
hives after being taken out of the large 
frame. The metal projections are shoved 
outward, as shown at F and A. They are 
then ready to hang in the nucleus-box; 
but before this is done each division of the 




Fig. 2. — Scooping the bees with a small dipper into baby nuclei. 



QUEEN-REARING 



621 



twin box should be supplied with about 
half a pint of bees. While the bees may be 
taken from the same yard in which the 
mating-boxes are to be stationed, it is 
strongly advised to procure them from an 
outyard; or, if one does not have one, to 
purchase three or four colonies of black or 
hybrid bees from some farmer. All their 
drones must first be captured with per- 
forated zinc. 

FORMING BABY NUCLEI. 

A regular hive body that has a wire-cloth 
screen bottom and a removable wire-cloth 
screen top is prepared. Into this box some 
ten or twelve pounds of bees are shaken 
from some other yard. These may come 
from four or five colonies, but generally 
from a dozen or more hives. This box of 
bees is then taken to the queen-rearing 
yard, where the nuclei are to be formed. 
Four of the twin baby hives are first placed 
upon a little light stand, each filled with 
empty combs ready to receive the bees, 
entrances closed, and ventilators opened. 
The hive body containing the shaken bees 
is then placed conveniently near. They are 
wet down with a spray, then given a jar so 
as to get the bees down in a mass in the 
bottom. With a little tin dipper are scooped 
up approximately four ounces of bees, 
wliich comprise from 1,000 to 1,200 indi- 
viduals. As the bees have been previously 
wet down they can not fly very readily, and 
can therefore be scooped up a la Pratt and 
dumped in one of the compartments as 
shown in Fig. 2. An attendant stands 
ready with a number of virgin queens. He 
removes one of the frames of one compart- 
ment, and, while the apiarist is scooping up 
a dipperful or two of bees and dumping 
them in the space made vacant by the re- 
moval of the frame, he drops in a virgin 
queen just dipped in water. He now puts 
in the removed frame and folds back the 
enamel cloth. The operation is repeated in 
the other compartment of the box, and so 
on the process is continued until all of the 
twin mating-boxes are filled with bees and 
virgin queens. The baby hives are then set 
to one side for about 48 hours, when they 
are placed on their permanent stands for 
the summer. Their entrances are opened 
at night. The next morning, as the bees 
come out they will mark their location and 
begin housekeeping with their baby queen. 



After the baby nuclei are in full opera- 
tion ripe queen-cells in place of virgins are 
given. The two frames are spread a little 
apart when the cell is placed in position. 

At the time of forming these baby nuclei, 
a thick syrup of about 2V2 parts of sugar 
to one of water is poured into the feeder 
compartment at one side. At other times, 
if it is a little cool it is given at night, hot, 
when it will all be taken up before morn- 
ing. This feeding may be required off and 
on during the season. In some years the 
baby nuclei will gather enough to supply 
their own needs. At other times they will 
require a little help. 

These little twin nuclei serve only the 
purpose of mating. No cells are reared in 
them, and the comparatively small number 
of bees in each compartment makes it easy 
to find a laying queen or virgin if present. 
If in doubt as to whether the nucleus has a 
virgin, another cell is given; and even 
should the virgin come back from her flight 
she will take care of that cell by gnawing 
a hole in its side and killing its occupant. 
Should she be lost in one of those flights 
the cell will provide another virgin, which 
will come on in due course of time. It is 
better to have a surplus of cells than to 
lose time. 

These baby nuclei have been carefully 
tested in one of the author's yards, and 
have given good results; but one needs to 
remember a few things in handling them or 
he may become disgusted with the whole 
plan. 

1. If the force becomes a little weak, a 
frame of hatching brood should be given, 
but not eggs or larvae ; or if this cannot be 
had, after the last queen is taken out a few 
more bees may be dumped in from a strong 
colony of the main yard. While some of 
these will go back, many will remain. 

2. After the young queens begin to lay 
they should be taken out almost immedi- 
ately, otherwise they will fill the two small 
combs with eggs and lead off a little swarm 
if there is a honey flow on. If not con- 
venient to take the queen out at once, the 
perforated zinc slide should be shoved 
around to shut her in. 

3. It is preferable to make up these little 
nuclei with bees from some outyard. 

4. Neither side of the nucleus box should 
be allowed to become empty of bees. The 
combined heat of the two clusters brings 



622 



QUEENS 




Find the queen. 



about a better state of contentment. Where 
there is only one compartment of bees in a 
mating-box they cannot do as well as when 
there are two. 

QUEENS. — The most important person- 
age in the hive is the queen, or mother-bee. 
She is called the mother-bee because she is, 
in reality, the mother of all the bees in the 
hive. 

Structurally she is the same as the worker 
bee. The same egg that will produce a 
worker will also produce a queen. While 
a worker will lay eggs only under stress of 
abnormal conditions, and these only drone 
eggs (see Laying Workers), the queen 
bee, after she has met a drone (or male 
bee), will lay two kinds of eggs — worker 
and drone. While the worker bees have all 
the organs of the queen, those organs are 
undeveloped. The workers instead of be- 
ing neuters are all females but incapable of 
reproducing more females. The queen is 



the only true female. So far from being a 
ruler or sovereign she is little more than an 
egg-laying machine subject to the caprices 
of her sisters. 

When a colony is deprived of its queen, 
the bees set to work and raise another so 
long as they have any worker larvae or 
eggs in the hive from which to do it. This 
is the rule; but there are some exceptions 
— so few, however, that it is safe to assume 
that a queen of some kind is present in the 
hive whenever they refuse to start queen- 
cells from larvae of a proper age. 

UXDERSIZED OF IMPERFECTLY DEVELOPED 
QUEENS. 

Some laying queens are small* and un- 
usually dark in color, and yet become fer- 
tilized. They lay eggs for a little while 

* Small queens are not necessarilv inferior. One 
of the most marvelous egg-producers I ever saw was a 
" bantam " from Golden stock. She could nm thru 
perforated zinc and back again, before 3 worker could 
get started thru. — A. C. Miller. 



QUEENS 



623 



(from a week to several months), but never 
prove profitable. Sometimes they will not 
lay at all, but remain in a colony all thru 
the season, neither doing any good nor per- 
mitting any other queen to be either intro- 
duced or reared. A wingless queen, or one 
with bad wings, will prevent another from 
being introduced. The remedy is to hunt 
them out and remove them. Where they 
are so nearly like a worker bee as to make 
it hard to distinguish them, they can often 
be detected by the peculiar behavior of the 
bees toward them. See woodcut below. In 
the fall, after the queen has ceased laying, 




The queen and her retinue. 

she will usually look small and insignificant 
even tho she be an extra good one. But if 
it is during the laying season, when all fer- 
tile queens are laying, and the queen looks 
small, she should be removed, and another 
put in her place. It doesn't pay to keep 
anything but the very best stock. The loss 
in honey would pay for several of the best 
queens. 

DEVELOPMENT OF BABT QUEENS. 

HOW A WORKER-EGG IS MADE TO PRODUCE A 
QUEEN. 

This is a question that puzzles novices 
about as much as any question they can 
ask. To answer it let the following experi- 
ment be tried when the bees tell their own 
story : Get a frame of eggs, and put it into 
a colony having no queen. The tiny eggs 
will hatch into larvae as before; but about 
as soon as they begin to hatch, there will 
be found a few of the cells supplied with a 
greater profusion of milky food than oth- 
ers. Later these cells will begin to be en- 
larged, and soon at the expense of the ad- 
joining ones. These are queen-cells, and 
they are something like the cup of an acorn 



in shape, and usually occupy about the 
space of three ordinary cells. In the cuts 
will be seen cells in different stages of 
growth. See Queen-rearing. 

There. are some queer things about queen- 
cells, as will be noticed. After the cell is 
sealed, the bees put a great excess of wax 
on it, make a long tapering point, and 
corrugate the sides something like a thim- 
ble, as shown at C. This corrugation, or 
roughness, when closely examined, will be 
seen to be honej^comb, or, rather, an imper- 
fect representation of honeycomb on a very 
small scale. 

It is very handy to be able to tell when 
any queen-cells will be likely to hatch ; and 
the bees are very accommodating in this 
respect also ; for, about the day before the 
(lueen hatches, or maybe two days, they 
proceed to teai: down this peak of wax on 
the tip of the cell, leaving only a thin cov- 
ering. No one knows why unless they are 
anxious to get a peep at their new mother. 
Tt has been said they do it that she may be 
better able to pierce the capping; but 
sometimes they omit the proceeding entire- 
ly, and apparently she has no difficulty in 




Queen-cells. — After Cheshire. 

cutting the cap off. If the cell is built on 
new comb, or on a sheet of foundation, and 
be. held up before a strong light at about 
the fifteenth day, or a little later, the queen 
can be seen moving about in the cell. Aft- 
erward, by listening carefully, she can be 
heard gnawing her way out. Pretty soon 
the points of her sharp and powerful man- 
dibles will be seen protruding, as she bites 
out a narrow line. Since she turns her 
body in a circle while doing this, she cuta 
out a circle so true that it often looks as if 



624 



QUEENS 



marked bj"" a pair of compasses. The sub- 
stance of which the cell is made is tough 
and leathery, and, therefore, before she 
gets clear around her circle, the piece 
springs out in response to her pushing, and 
opens just about as the lid of a coffeepot 
would if a kitten should happen to be in- 
side crowding against the lid. Queens may 
often be seen pushing the door open and 
looking out, with as much apparent curi- 
osity as a child exhibits when it first creeps 
to the door on a summer morning; often, 
after taking this look, they will back down 
into their cradles, and stay some time. 
This is especially the case when other 
queens are hatching, and there is a strife 
as to who shall be sovereign. 

It will now be in order to consider the 
strange substance, royal jelly, on which 
the baby queens are fed while in the cell. 

The milky food before described, which 
is given to the young larvae, and which is 
supposed to be a mixture of pollen and 
honey partially digested, is very similar, if 
not identical, in composition with the royal 
jelly. Bees are not the only examples in 
the animal kingdom where the food is 
taken into the stomach by the parent, and, 
after partial digestion, regurgitated for the 
use of the offspring. Pigeons feed their 
young precisely in this way until they are 
able to digest their food for themselves. 
It has been* stated that bees use a coarser 
food for the worker larvae, after they are a 
few days old, and also for the drone larvae 
during the whole of their larval state. By 
" coarser food " is meant a food not so 
perfectly digested ; in fact, drones are said 
to be fed on a mixture of pollen and honey, 
in a state nearly natural. It has also been 
said, that queens receive the very finest, 
most perfectly digested, and concentrated 
food that they can prepare. This we can 
readily believe, for the royal jelly has a 
very rich taste — something between cream, 
quince jelly, and honey — with a slightly 
tart, and a rank, strong, milky flavor that is 
quite sickening if much be taken. 

V^HAT DOES THE QUEEN DO V^HILE SEALED 
UP? 

The author has opened cells at every 
stage after they were sealed until they 
were ready to hatch. One day after being 
sealed they are simply ordinary larvae 



altho rather larger than worker larvae of 
the same age; after two or three days, a 
head begins gradually to be "mapped out," 
and, later, some legs are seen folded up; 
last of all, a pair of delicate wings come 
from somewhere. (See Development of 
Bees.) Two days before hatching we have 
taken them out of the cell, and had them 
mature into perfect queens, by keeping 
them in a warm place. We have also taken 
them out of the cell before they were ma- 
ture, held the white, still, corpse-like form 
in the hand while we admired it as long as 
we chose, then put it back, waxed up the 
cell by warming a bit of w^ax in the fingers. 




- C 



Natural-built queen-cells, life size.- — Pliotographed by 
W. Z. Hutchinson. 

and had it hatch out three days after, as 
nice a queen as any. Mr. Langstroth men- 
tions having seen the whole operation by 
placing a thin glass tube, open at both 
ends, into the cell, so as to have it inclose 
the queen, the bees being allowed to cap it 
as usual. This experiment was first made 
by Huber. With several such glass queen- 
cells the whole operation could be watched 
from beginning to end. See Observatory 
Hives. 

what becomes op the queen after she 
leaves the cell? 

After she pushes open that liiiiged door, 
illustrated at C, on previous pago, she 
generally begins by poking her; bead jnto 



QUEENS 



625 



the cells until she finds one containing un- 
sealed honey, from which she takes a sup 
that, at least, indicates she likes that kind 
of provision. 

After she has had her supper she begins 
to crawl about, partly to enjoy using the 
long strong legs God has given her, and 
partly because she knows that it is her 
allotted task to tear down the remaining 
queen-cells, if such there are. If other 
queens have hatched before her, it is one of 
her first and foremost duties to look them 
up, and either reign supreme or die in the 
attempt. When all other cells have been 
removed, as they usually are where queens 
are wanted for other purposes, she has 
nothing to do but to promenade over the 
premises, monarch of all she surveys. If 
she ever sits down to take a rest, or takes a 
rest in any other position, during the first 
week of her life, we have never been able 
to discover it. 

But suppose she does find another cell — 
what then? She sometimes runs around 
awhile; sometimes the bees tear it down, 
and sometimes she tears it down herself, 
with the same strong mandibles that she 
used to cut her way out of the cell at first. 
She usually makes the opening in the side 
of the cell, as sho^vn at E in the woodcut 
on page 623. 

It is said that the queen immediately 
stings her helpless immature sister to make 
a sure thing of her destruction, but of this 
we are not certain, for we never have 
caught her in the act. We have seen spots 
in the side of the queen that looked as if 
she had been stung; we have also rescued 
cells and put them into a wire-cage nursery 
after they had been torn open, and had 
them mature into nice queens. As these 
immature queens are very soft, the workers 
will soon pick them out of the cell, piece by 
piece, and we have sometimes placed them 
in the nursery and had them mature, minus 
a wing, or leg, or whatever portion the 
mischievous worker had pulled away. From 
many observations the queen generally tears 
a hole in the cell, or bites into it in such a 
way that the workers tear it all down, 
much in the way they do any mutilated or 
broken piece of comb. See page 618. 

When queen-cells have been cut out, all the 
larvaB that are in any way injured are at 
once thrown out, and none but the perfect 
cells preserved. Bees never fuss with crip- 



ples, nor try to nurse up a bee that is 
wounded or maimed. They have just the 
same feeling for their fellows that a loco- 
motive might be expected to have for a 
man whom it had run over. They battle 
against anything that threatens the extinc- 
tion of the colony, it is true. There are no 
signs of their caring for one of their num- 
ber, or even having compassion on their 
helpless brood when it is wounded and suf- 
fering. 

When a queen hatches, the remaining cells 
are very soon torn down, as a general thing, 
but there are many exceptions. Where two 
queens hatch out at about the same time 
they also generally attempt to kill each 
other; but both are not killed. This prob- 
ably results from the fact that they can 
sting their rivals only in one certain way; 
and the one that, by strength or accident, 
gets the lucky position in the combat is 
sure to come off victorious. This explains 
how a very inferior virgin queen, that has 
entered the hive by accident, may some- 
times supplant an old laying queen. Two 
queens, when thus thrown together, gener- 
ally fight very soon, but this does not al- 
ways happen. Several cases are on record 
where they have lived in peace and har- 
mony for months, even when hatched at 
about the same time, and it is quite com- 
mon to find a young queen helping her 
mother in the egg-laying duties of the hive, 
especially when the mother is two or three 
years old. If the season is good, and the 
hive populous, they may divide up their 
forces, and we have after-swarming. See 
After-swarming. 

Sometimes the queen will pay no atten- 
tion to the remaining cells, but will let 
them hatch out, and then their " little dif- 
ferences" are adjusted afterward, either by 
swarming or by the usual "hand-to-hand" 
conflict "until death." We once looked for 
a queen, and, not finding her, concluded 
she was lost. Another cell was inserted, 
and in due time hatched out. We were 
much surprised to find this new queen lay- 
ing when only one day old; but a little 
further looking revealed two, both on the 
same comb. Many losses in introducing 
queens have resulted from two queens be- 
ing in the hive, the owner being sure his 
hive was quecnless — because he had re- 
moved one. See Introducing. 



626 



QUEENS 



queens' voices. 

Queens have two kinds of voices, or calls, 
either one of which they may emit on cer- 
tain occasions. It is almost impossible, on 
the printed page, to describe these sounds. 
One of them is a sort of z-e-e-p, z-e-e-p, 
zeep, zeep. Some call it piping, others 
teeting. Whatever it is, it consists of a 
prolonged tone, or a long zeep followed by 
several much shorter, each tone shorter 
than the preceding one. This piping is 
made when the queen is out of the cell, 
either virgin or laying, but usually by a 
young one. The older ones are generally 
too dignified, or too something, to give 
forth any such loud squealing; but they 
will squeal, and lustily, too, sometimes, 




Natural queen-cells at different stages.— The capped cell on 
the left has been detached from the comb, and is ready to give 
to a colony ; cell in the center, five or six days old, has been 
shaved down to show the queen larva just before it is ready to 
stretch out lengthwise of the cell ; cell on the right shows the 
mouth of a cell just before capping. 



when the bees ball them and grab them by 
the legs and wings. 

The other note that queen bees are known 
to give forth is what is called quahking, 
for that more nearly describes the actual 
sound than any other combination of let- 
ters that can be put together. It is emitted 
only by a young queen in the cell, before 
she is hatched, and is made in answer to 
the piping or zeep, zeep, of one of the vir- 
gins that has already hatched, and is try- 
ing perhaps to proclaim aloud her sover- 
eignty. The quahk will be heard, then, only 
when there are queen-cells in the hive. 

While a young queen is being intro- 
duced she frequently utters a note of 



alarm, a zeep, zeep, etc. The bees are 
almost always stirred by these notes, and 
they will often run after her and cling 
around her like a ball, when they would 
have paid no attention to her had she not 
uttered this well-known note. 

Queens, when placed near together in 
cages, will often call and answer each other, 
in tones that we have supposed might be 
challenges to mortal combat. 

Some queens received one summer from 
the South called so loudly when placed on 
the table that they could be heard the entire 
length of a long room. One voice would be 
on a high, shrill key and another a deep 
bass, while others were intermediate. On 
watching closely a tremulous movement of 
the wings was noticed while the queen was 
uttering the note, and one might 
infer from this that the sound is 
produced by the wings, but this 
is probably not the case. Some 
one reported having heard a 
queen squeal, both of whose 
wings had been entirely clipped 
off. 

VIRGIN QUEENS. 



The newly hatched queen is 
termed a virgin because she has 
not met a drone and to distin- 
guish her from queens that have 
been fertilized and are laying. 
Virgin queens, when first hatch- 
ed, are sometimes nearly as large 
as a fertile queen, but they grad- 
ually decrease in size, until when 
three or four days old they often 
look so small and insignificant 
that a novice is disgusted with 
appearance, and, if hasty, pro- 
For the first week 



their 

nounces them useless 
of their lives they crawl about much as an 
ordinary young worker does, and it is often 
very difiicult, if not almost impossible, to 
find them, unless an amount of time is 
taken that is more than a busy apiarist can 
well afford to spare. It is a waste of time 
to look for them. It is better to insert a 
frame having some unsealed larvae just 
hatched from the Qgg; then if no cells are 
started, one can decide the queen is there 
without looking further. This plan answers 
a threefold purpose : It enables one to tell 
at a glance whether the queen is in the hive 
all right or not ; for as soon as she is lost 



QUEENS 



62'i 



they will start more queen-cells on it; it 
also enables the bees to raise another queen 
in case the former queen is lost by any 
accident on her wedding-flight, which is 
frequently the case; and, lastly, it serves 
as a sort of nucleus to hold the bees to- 
gether and to keep them from going out 
with the queen on her wedding-trip, which 
they are much disposed to do, if in a small 
nucleus containing no brood. (See Baby 
Nuclei under Queen-rearing.) Unsealed 
brood in a hive is a great safeguard against 
accidents of all sorts, and some say a young 
queen has been started to laying by simply 
giving the bees some eggs and unsealed 
brood. Whether it caused her to rouse up 
and take her wedding-flight, or whether 
she had taken it, but was for some reason 
idle, can not be determined. 

AGE AT WHICH VIRGIN QUEENS TAKE THEIR 
WEDDING-FLIGHT. 

Some fix the wedding-flight from two to 
ten days after birth. It is probably sel- 
dom before the fifth day. Some difference, 
doubtless, arises from the fact that queens 
often stay in the cell a day or two after 
they are strong enough to leave it. Some- 
times a queen will be found walking about 
the combs when she is so young as to be 
almost white. Beginners will sometimes 
rejoice at their beautiful yellow queens, 
saying that they are yellow all over, with- 
out a bit of black on them; but when 
looked at again, they will be found to be 
as dark as the generality of queens. At 
other times when they come out of the cell 
they will look, both in color and size, as if 
they might be three or four days old. The 
queens generally begin to crawl about the 
entrance of the hive, possibly looking out 
now and then, when 5 or 6 days old. The 
next day, supposing, of course, it is fine 
weather, they will generally go out and try 
their wings a little. These flights are usu- 
ally taken in the warmest part of the after- 
noon. There is no prettier or more inter- 
esting sight to the apiarist than the first 
flight of a queen. She runs this way and 
that, somewhat as does a young bee, only 
apparently much more excited at the pros- 
pect of soaring aloft in the soft summer 
air. Finally she tremblingly spreads those 
silky wings, and with a graceful movement 
that we can not remember to have seen 



equaled anywhere in the whole scope of 
animated nature, she swings from her feet, 
while her long body sways pendulously as 
she hovers about the entrance of the hive. 
A worker-bee hovers also about the en- 
trance and carefully observes its location 
when trying its wings for the first time; 
but she, seeming to feel instinctively that 
she is of more value to the colony than 
many, many workers, with the most scru- 
pulous exactness notes every minute point 
and feature of the exterior of her abode, 
often alighting and taking wing again and 
again, to make sure she knows all about it. 

Soon she ventures to circle a little way 
from home, always verging back soon, but 
being gone longer and longer each time. 
She sometimes goes back into the hive sat- 
isfied, without going out of sight at all; 
but in this case she will be sure to take a 
longer fiight next day or a half -hour later 
in the same day. During these seasons she 
seems to be so intent on the idea she has in 
her head that she forgets all about sur- 
rounding things, and, instead of being 
frightened as usual at opening the hive, she 
will pay no attention; but if the comb she 
is on is lifted up she will take her flight 
from that as well as from anywhere else. 
We have caught them in the hand at such 
times, without their being frightened ; and 
as soon as they were allowed to go, they 
were off as if nothing had happened. 

After the queen is satisfied that she will 
know the place, she ventures out boldly; 
and from the fact of her circling right up 
in the air, it was once supposed that ferti- 
lization took place above the ken of human 
eyesight. This has been shown to be a mis- 
take. See Drones. 

After a successful flight she returns with 
the organs of the drone remaining attached 
to her body. (See Drones.) This is a 
white substance, and is frequently so large 
as to be plainly seen while she is on the 
wing. A queen is usually gone half an 
hour, but we have seen them return ferti- 
lized after an absence of not more than 10 
or 15 minutes, and there have been reported 
instances where she has been gone not more 
than three minutes. This accomplished, she 
goes quietly into the hive. The bees are 
much inclined to chase after her, and they 
sometimes pull at the protruding substance 
as if they would drag it away. That they 
do so, is pretty well proven. 



628 



QUEENS 



Until recently it was generally believed 
that the queen met the drone only once, 
notwithstanding the fact that Francis Ru- 
ber, in his book, "New Observations," pub- 
lished in 1814, made the statement that 
queens might or might not take more than 
one wedding-flight before beginning to lay. 
But this seems to have been overlooked un- 
til 1904, when considerable proof was ad- 
duced to show that the same queen before 
laying (not after) may not only take sev- 
eral wedding-flights, but come back on dif- 
ferent occasions with sure evidence of hav- 
ing met a drone. 

While it seems to be pretty well proved 
that the queen may take more than one 
marriage-flight prior to her laying, it is 
very much doubted whether she ever takes 
a second flight to meet the drone after lay- 
ing. It is true that some facts seem to 
point that way ; but w^hen we consider the 
great number of spermatozoa that she re- 
ceives on her wedding-flight it hardly seems 
likely that a flight is taken later. Accord- 
ing to Cheshire, the spermatozoa are ex- 
truded from the spermatheca in detach- 
ments, only a part of them being effective 
in the fertilization of eggs. He estimates 
that about 4,000,000 spermatozoa are re- 
ceived at the fertilization of the queen. A 
good queen might, perhaps, lay two hun- 
dred thousand eggs in a season. If only 
one-fourth (or 1,000,000), of the spermato- 
zoa were effective, the queen could still re- 
main fertile for five years if she laid an 
average of 200,000 eggs per year. There- 
fore, unless a much greater number of 
spermatozoa are lost, there could be no 
necessity for a later fertilization. 

For further particulars on this subject 
of mating, see Drones. 

The 3d or the 4th day after a successful 
mating one will', as a general rule, find the 
queen depositing eggs. The average age at 
which queens begin laying is about nine 
days; we generally wait ten days from the 
date of hatching, and are then pretty sure 
of finding them ready to send off. Between 
impregnation and the time the first egg is 
laid a remarkable change takes place. 

After the queen has been out and ferti- 
lized, her appearance is much the same as 
before. She runs and hides when the hive 
is opened, and looks so small and insignifi- 
cant that one would not think of calling 
her a fertile queen. A few hours before 



the first egg is laid, however, her body in- 
creases remarkably in size, and, if an Ital- 
ian, becomes lighter in color, and, instead 
of running about as before, she walks slow- 
ly and sedately. She seems to have given 
up all her youthful freaks, and comes 
down to the sober business of life in sup- 
plying the cells with eggs. 

HOW OLD A QUEEN MAY BE AND STILL 
BECOME FERTILIZED. 

As before stated, queens usually begin 
to lay when 8 or 10 days old, on the 
average ; but during a spell of bad weather, 
or when drones are scarce, they may fail to 
lay until three weeks old. The longest period 
we have ever known to elapse between the 
birth of a queen and her laying w^orker- 
eggs was 25 days. All queens that do not 
lay at the age of 20 days should be de- 
stroyed, when the season, flow of honey, 
and flight of drones, are right. There is one 
important exception to this. Many times 
queens will not lay in the fall at all, unless 
a flow of honey is produced either by nat- 
ural or artificial means. Queens introduced 
in the fall often will not lay until the ensu- 
ing spring, unless the colony is fed regu- 
larly every day for a week or ten days. 
Likewise young queens that are fertilized 
late in the season will often show no indi- 
cations of being fertilized until the colony 
is fed. A lot of young queens that we 
thought were fertilized but that did not lay 
were once wintered over, just to try the 
experiment ; and altho they went into win- 
ter quarters looking very small, like virgin 
queens, nearly all proved fine layers in the 
spring. 

DRONE-LAYING QUEENS. 

If a queen is not fertilized in two weeks 
from the time she hatches, she will some- 
times commence laying without being ferti- 
lized at all. She is then what is called a 
drone-laying queen. Usually her eggs are 
not deposited in the regular order of a fer- 
tile queen, neither are there as many of 
them; by these marks one is able to guess 
that she may not be all right, and so keep 
her until some of 'the brood is capped, 
when the extra height of the cappings, as 
is explained under Drones and Brood, 
shows. At times, however, the eggs are 



QUEENS 



629 



deposited so regularly that one is deceived, 
and the queen may be sold for a fertile 
queen, when she is only a worthless drone- 
layer ; but this can be determined after the 




Queen laying, surrounding bees turned toward her. 

brood is capped. Such a case occurs, per- 
haps, once in a thousand. Whether these 
drones reared from drone-layers are just 




decided; but if the queen lays the eggs in 
drone comb, and the drones are large, fine, 
and healthy, they are probably all right. 
Drones reared from fertile workers, and 
drones reared in worker-cells, as those from 
drone-laying queens sometimes are, should 
not be used. 

How to find queens, see Manipulation 
OF Colonies^ subhead "How to Manipulate 
Hoffman Frames," also "How to Handle 
Unspaced Frames." 

SHALL QUEENS^ WINGS BE CLIPPED? 

The majority of honey-producers prac- 
tice what is known as clipping; that is, 
two wings on one side are cropped off, 
leaving merely the stumps of what were 
once wings. The object, of course, is to 
prevent swarms from going off by making 
it impossible for the queen to follow. See 
Bee Behavior^ also Swarming. 

There are very few who believe or pro- 
fess to believe that clipping is injurious to 
the queen. The fact that queens after be- 
ing clipped seem to do good service for two 
or three years, and sometimes four, and the 
further fact that such queens do as well as 
those not clipped, would seem to show that 
no detrimental results follow. 




Willis queen-clipping device, and how used. 



as good to furnish drones as those reared 
from a fertile queen, is a point not fully 



The easiest wa}' to clip a queen. 
HOW TO CLIP A QUEEN^S WINGS. 

There are several ways of accomplishing 
this. One plan is to grasp the queen by 
the wings with the right hand, in the usual 
manner. With the thumb and forefinger 



630 



QUEENS 



of left hand, take hold of her waist, or 
thorax, as shown at the bottom of the 
previous page. In this way she can be held 
very securely and safely, leaving her legs 
as well as her wings entirely free. With a 
pair of slender-pointed embroidery scissors 
(or any kind of scissors if these are not 



be injured if handled roughly. Some pre- 
fer, after picking up the queens, to grasp 
her by the legs; but this is liable to pull 
one or more legs off unless done just right, 
and therefore the first-mentioned plan is 
recommended. 

Before any one of these plans is at- 




Greiner's method of clipping without handling the queen. 



obtainable) clip off the thin part of one 
wing, as shown in the cut, being careful 
not to cut too close. This accomplished, 
drop her gently between two frames of 
brood; but in no case let her fall more 
than an inch; for a queen during the 
height of the egg-laying season is liable to 



tempted, if one has had no experience he 
should first practice on drones. If these 
are not to be found, worker bees should be 
picked up by the wings until one becomes 
reasonably expert; but a worker should 
not be put between the thumb and finger 
of the other hand, as one will run a good 




»Sfh8si 




Close view of eggs. Notice the cell in the lower left-hand corner contains two eggs, while that at the right-hand 

corner has a larva. 



chance of being stung. For this part of 
the work drones should be procured. Then, 
when one can do both operations well, he 
can try a queen. Even then we advise the 
attempt on one of not much value, as it is 
a nice piece of work to do it well. 

Sometimes in an outj-ard, when a pair of 
scissors is not to be had, a sharp blade of a 
pocketknife can be used. This is passed 
under the wing in such a way as to cause 
it to bear directly upon the edge of the 
blade. The thumb is now pressed down 
upon the wing over the blade, and then 
drawn back and forth seesaw fashion, per- 
haps two or three times. If the knife is 
sharp, the wing will be severed with two or 
three strokes. If it is dull, the queen 
should be laid on her back, still holding her 
between the thumb and finger of the left 
hand so that her wing will bear directly 
upon a hive-cover or any other piece of 
board or wood. The edge of the knife 
should be brought to bear upon the wing, 
when a slight pressure will cause the blade 
to pass thru it. 

During these operations care should be 
taken to handle a queen only by the wings 
or the thorax. This way avoids all danger 
of hurting her. One should be careful not 
to press the abdomen of any queen. 



HOW QUEENS LAY TWO KINDS OF EGGS. 

That queens laj^ two kinds of eggs no 
one now is inclined to dispute, since the 
experiments vsdth the microscope have de- 
cided the matter so clearly, as given under 
Drones. Suppose a young queen goes out 
to meet the drones so late in the fall or so 
early in the spring that there are none; 
what is the consequence? Sometimes she 
will never lay at all; but frequently she 
commences to lay when three or four weeks 
old, and her eggs produce only drones. In 
fact, she can produce no other eggs, having 
never been fertilized. How shall such queens 
be distinguished from fertile ones? 

No one can decide positively concerning 
them, until their brood is ready to seal up ; 
then one can know by the round, raised 
cappings of the brood, like bullets laid on 
a board, as explained under Drones. (See 
BrooD; particularly^ large illustration of 
worker and di'one brood.) One can give a 
pretty good guess by noticing the way in 
which the queen lays the eggs; if they are 
few and scattering, and sometimes, or of- 
ten, in drone-cells, coupled with the fact 
that she did not commence laying until two 
weeks or more old, she should be replaced. 
A j^oung queen, if properly fertilized, 
never, or very rarely, lays an egg in a 



632 



QUEENS 



drone-cell; and when she commences to 
lay, she fills cell after cell in regular order, 
as men plant hills of corn; her work also 
has a neat and finished appearance that 
says at once to the expert, " She is all 
right." 

In rare cases a young queen begins with 
all, or nearly all, drone eggs, but, after a 
while, lays entirely worker eggs as regu- 
larly as one could wish.* It is not know^n 
why this is; perhaps she has not yet got 
used to the "machinery." Again, any queen 
is liable any day of her life to begin laying 
drone eggs altogether, or in part. A nice 
young laying queen, taken from a hive, and 
shipped to a distance, may prove to be a 
drone-layer shortly after or immediately 
after she is received. Such things are not 
very common, but they do occur. Out of 
three or four hundred colonies one may 
find one drone-layer, on an average, each 
spring. During the summer, perhaps one 
more will be found. It may be that the 
queen was not fertilized sufficiently, and 
that the supply of spermatozoa gave out 
while she was in full vigor, thus reducing 
her to the condition of a virgin queen. 
Microscopic examination has shown an en- 
tire absence of spermatozoa in at least one 
or two instances where queens of this kind 
were killed and dissected. Similar experi- 
ments given by Dzierzon show that the 
spermatozoa ^may be injured beyond recov- 
ery by chilling the queen, and yet the queen 
herself be resuscitated. Hardship and be- 
ing shipped long distances may produce 
the same result. 

Queens not only turn suddenly to drone- 
layers, but they sometimes produce about 
an equal number of each kind of eggs. In 
all these cases, where the queen lays drone 
eggs when she evidently intended to lay 
worker eggs, they are in worker-cells; at 
the same time the number of eggs laid 
usually rapidly decreases. The bees, as 
well as queen, evidently begin to think that 
something is wrong; queen-cells are soon 
started, and after the young queen is hatched 
she becomes fertile, and begins to help her 
mother. 



* It has been suggested that this phenomenon may 
be accounted for by the fact that fertile workers were 
in the hive before the young queen began to lay ; and 
the drone eggs are not from the queen but the fertile 
workers, and that, when the queen begins, she lays 
worker eggs at the very start, while the fertile workers' 
are destroyed, and hence the drone eggs disappear. 
This is possible. 



Very early in the spring, late in the fall, 
or at any time when forage is not abun- 
dant, a queen will pass right by drone-cells, 
taking no notice of them. We have often 
tried to get eggs in drone-cells by feeding, 
but conclude that the queen knows what an 
egg will produce, and just how to have 
every egg laid in a drone-cell produce a 
drone. Possibly the workers have some- 
thing to do with this matter, but no one 
knows by what means they signify to the 
queen that some eggs in drone-cells, or even 
queen-cells, would be desirable. There seems 
to be a constant understanding in the hive 
as to what is going to be done next, and 
consequently there is no clashing. In our 
apiary there seems to be, in strong stocks, 
a kind of understanding that eggs shall be 
laid in drone-cells about the last of March, 
and we have drones, therefore, some time 
in April, ready for the first queens that 
may, by any accident, make their appear- 
ance. Those who insist that there is only 
one kind of eggs can satisfy themselves 
very easily by taking a larva hatched from a 
worker-egg and placing it in the bottom 
of a queen-cell. In due time this will de- 
velop into a queen. On the other hand, if 
a larva from a drone-egg in placed in a 
queen-cell no queen results. 

When bees get ready to swarm they 
build shallow queen-cells, in which the queen 
then lays a worker-egg. Altho we know 
that bees have skill to remove both eggs 
and larvae, having several times known 
them to take eggs and brood to an old dry 
comb when no queen was present in the 
hive, still we believe that the queen, and 
not the workers, places the eggs in the 
queen-cells. To be sure we never saw a 
queen lay an egg in a queen-cell, still we 
are satisfied that she does it, from the way 
it is put in. Like the rest of the eggs, it is 
fastened to the center of the bottom of the 
cell by one of its ends, and, when first de- 
posited, it is covered with a sort of gluti- 
nous substance that makes it stick firmly 
where it first touches. 

Occasionally a queen is found that will 
never lay at all; again, queens that laid 
eggs which never hatched into larvae have 
been several times reported. 

After having related some of the faults 
and imperfections of queens, it should be 
stated for their credit that, when once 



QUEENS 



633 



properly installed in a good strong colony, 
they are about as safe property as any- 
thing, because, in the great majority of 
cases, they live and thrive for years. While 
a worker lives only a few months, queens 
often live three or four years. One that 
was imported from Italy furnished us brood 
and eggs for queen-rearing for four sum- 
mers. We then sold her for $2.00, and she 
died in being sent less than 50 miles. She 
was very large and heavy, and, probably, 
being so old could not cling to the sides of 
the cage like a younger one. 

LOSS OF QUEEN. 

It is a very important matter to be able 
to know at once when a queen is lost. Dur- 
ing the months of May and June in the 
States east of the Mississippi and north of 
the Ohio the loss of a queen from the hive 
a single day will make quite a marked dif- 
ference in the honey crop. If it be as- 
sumed that the number of eggs a queen can 
lay in a day is 3,000, by taking her away a 
single day there might be just that number 
of bees short during a yield of honey. To 
put it very moderately, a quart of bees 
might be taken out of the hive by simply 
caging the queen for a single day. Begin- 
ners should remember this, for their un- 
timely, or, rather, inconsiderate tinkering, 
just before the flow of honey comes, often 
cuts short their income to a very consider- 
able degree. Whatever is done, it is very 
important not to drop the queens off the 
combs when they are handled at this time 
of the year, nor should we needlessly inter- 
rupt the queen in her work by changing 
the combs about so as to expose the brood 
or upset the little household matters of the 
bees. 

With a little practice one will be able to 
detect a queenless hive simply by the way 
the bees behave themselves in the hive and 
on the outside. When they stand around 
on the alighting-board in a listless sort of 
waj^ with no bees going in with pollen, 
when other colonies are thus engaged, it is 
well to open the hive and take a look at 
them. If eggs and worker-brood are found 
one may be sure a queen is there; but if 
not, proceed at once to see if there is not a 
queen of some kind in the hive, that does 
not lay. If one is not found they should 
be given a frame of eggs to see if they 



build queen-cells. Incipient ones should 
be found in about twelve hours if the bees 
have been some little time queenless. If 
these are found a queen should be given. 
If no queen is to be had, they may be 
allowed to raise one, if the colony has bees 
enough. If it has not, they should be 
united with some other stock. 

THE CRY OF DISTRESS FROM A QUEENLESS 
COLONY. 

Mention has been made that a queenless 
colony will reveal its condition by the be- 
havior of the bees in the hive. They will 
set up a peculiar cry — that is to say, all 
thru the hive they will be buzzing as if in 
distress, and they surely are, because they 
have no queen. As soon as a- hive of this 
kind is opened they will begin this cry of 
distress. Sometimes only a part of the 
bees will be involved, and at other times 
apparently every bee in the colony. This 
buzzing of the wings is so marked that the 
practiced beekeeper recognizes it as an in- 
dication that a colony may be queenless; 
and if he finds no eggs nor young brood at 
a time of the year when both should be 
present, he is quite sure that the hive has 
no queen. If he finds queen-cells, all doubt 
will be removed. Sometimes a colony that 
is not queenless will set up a buzzing as if 
they were without a mother. It is then 
evident that the show of distress is not 
because they have no queen but because of 
the disturbance. Too much smoke, for ex- 
ample, with most colonies and a little smoke 
with some colonies will cause them to make 
this sign of distress. It must, therefore, be 
regarded as not an infallible sign of queen- 
lessness. 

ODOR OF A LAYING QUEEN. 

After bees have been some time queen- 
less they usually become, if no fertile or 
laying workers make their appearance (see 
Laying Workers), very eager for the 
presence of a queen; and we can in no 
way describe this eager behavior, if we may 
so term it, so well as to describe another 
way of testing a colony that is thought to 
be queenless. Take a cage or box contain- 
ing a laying queen and hold either the cage 
or simply the cover of it over the bees, or 
hold it in such a way as to let one corner 



634 



QUINBY 



touch the frames. If queenless, the first 
that catch the scent of the piece of wood on 
which the queen has been, will begin to 
move their wings in token of rejoicing, and 
soon nearly the whole colony will be hang- 
ing to the cage or cover. When they be*^ 
have in this manner we have never had any 
trouble in letting the queen right out at 
once. Such cases are generally where a 
colony is found without brood in the spring. 
There is something very peculiar about 
the scent of a laying queen. After having 
had a queen on the fingers, bees will often 
follow and gather about the hand. They 
will often hover for hours about the spot 
where the queen has alighted for even an 
instant, and, sometimes, for a day or two 
afterward. Where clipped queens get down 
into the grass or weeds or crawl sometimes 
a considerable distance from the hive, they 
may often be found by watching the bees 
that were crawling about along the path 
she had taken. When cages containing 
queens are being carried away bees will 
often come and alight on the cage, making 
that peculiar shaking of the wings which 
indicates their joy on finding the queen. 

QUEENS' STINGS. 

There is something rather strange in the 
fact that a queen very rarely uses her sting, 
even under the greatest provocation possi- 
ble, unless it is toward a rival queen. In 
fact, she may be pinched or pulled limb 
from limb, without even showing any symp- 
toms of protruding the sting at aU; yet as 
soon as she is put in a cage or under a 
tumbler with another queen, the fatal sting 
is almost sure to be used at once. There 
seems to.be a most wise provision in this; 
for if the queen used her sting on every 
provocation as does the worker, the pros- 
perity of the colony would be almost con- 
stantly endangered. 

It was just stated that a queen very 
rarely uses her sting; but it is the excep- 
tion that proves the rule. The following 
will explain : 

One very young virgin queen that stung me 
was well developed and later proved to be a 
good queen for business. The other virgin, 
also very young, that stung me was from a 
good-looking cell, and I suppose was all right. 
As it was so much easier to crush her than to 
endure her continued stinging till I could get 
her out of my clothing, she was killed without 



knowing positively what kind of a queen she 
would have proven herself to be. 

Ceres, Calif. W. A. H. GilstraD. 



CAUTION IN REGARD TO DECIDTNTG A STOCK 
TO BE QUEENLESS. 

As a rule it may be said that absence of 
brood or eggs is a pretty sure indication of 
queenlessness ; but it should be borne in 
mind that all colonies, as a rule, in the 
Eastern and Northern States, are without 
eggs and brood in the fall and early winter 
months, or, in fact, at any time when there 
is a considerable dearth of pasturage. At 
such seasons, beginners are more apt to 
think their colonies are queenless, because 
the queens are much smaller than when 
they are laying profusely, and therefore 
are not as easily found. In weak colonies 
queens often cease laying during the whole 
of the winter months. They will not lay 
much when their colonies are in the cellar 
except during the last month in the cellar. 
In California and the semi-tropical States 
of the South queens may lay every month 
of the year. 

For further particulars regarding queens, 
see Drones^ Queen-rearing^, and Bee Be- 
havior. 

QUEENS, HOW TO FIND.— See Ma- 
nipulation OF Colonies^ subhead, " How 
to Manipulate Hoffman Frames ; " ; also 
" How to Handle Unspaced Frames." 

QUINBY.* — Moses Quinby was born on 
April 16, 1810. During his boyhood his 
family removed to Coxsackie, Greene Co., 
New York. 

In 1828, at the age of 18, he earned his 
first money, working in a sawmill, and with 
it purchased his first swarm of bees and 
began the 25 years of study and experiment 
which prepared him for the writing of his 
book, published in 1853. In 1832 he mar- 
ried Miss Martha Powell Norbury, also of 
English extraction, and, like Mr. Quinby, a 
Quaker. They were married at the Nor- 
bury homestead. From this time till his 
removal to the Mohawk Valley he lived at 
the home. There was a mill on the place, 
and he earned the support of his family in 
these early years running the tuming-lathe 
and doing cabinet work, many specimens of 

* Written bv his son-in law, L. C. Root. 



QUINBY 



635 



household furniture made by him being 
now the valued possessions of his grand- 
daughters. Here also he made his hives 
and the first honey-boxes. 

I have reason to believe that at this 
period there were more bees kept in this 
section than in any other part of the 
United States. For years after Mr. Quin- 
by's death I have been to this location to 
buy bees to replenish my home apiaries. 
On a recent visit I saw small apiaries, 
many of them using the form of hive Mr. 
Quinby had recommended. 

He says he " commenced without any 
knowledge of the business to assist him, 
save a few directions about hiving, smok- 
ing them with sulphur, etc." Beekeeping 
was considered a matter of luck. His 
friends and neighbors on all "sides discour- 
aged him. One wise old man predicted 
failure for him because he pottered with 
them too much, boring holes in the top of 
the hives and disturbing them. All of this 
advice only stimulated him to greater ac- 
tion. He prefixed to the word " luck " a 
big P, and underlined it. 

Here he spent 25 years experimenting 
and writing, with a determination to place 
beekeeping on the same successful financial 
basis with other branches of agriculture. 
All his experiments during this period were 
made with bees in box hives, there being no 
better ones at that time. 

His first move to avoid destruction of 
the bees in securing the honey was by bor- 
ing holes in the top of the hives, for he 
found that the bees would fill large boxes 
put over the hive. These were the fore- 
runner of the super and section. 

Another menace to success in beekeeping 
was foul brood. Rereading the chapter in 
his first book, in the light of modern sci- 
ence of contagious diseases and bacteriology^, 
shows it to be a marvel of careful observ^a- 
tion and accurate reasoning that would do 
credit to the present day. The principles 
of his treatment of the scourge can never 
be changed. These and many other facts 
Mr. Quinby found had never been pub- 
lished; so, being by nature philanthropic, 
and having an unselfish desire to help oth- 
ers in a practical way by sharing his knowl- 
edge, he wrote this accumulated experience 
of 25 years into his " Mysteries of Bee- 
keeping Explained, being a complete analy- 
sis of the whole subject," as the title-page 



quaintly states. As I rereaa the book I 
realize how fully up to date it was for 
1853, and how fundamentally correct were 
his statements and deductions on many 
points. It bears evidence of being entirely 
the author's own work. He started with no 
knowledge of the subject, but with an in- 
quiring and open mind; had no help from 
others, and only theoretical information 
from the limited literature on the subject 
of bees. 

The kejTiotes of its success appear to me 
to be the scientific attitude of its author, 
unusual at that period — the clearness and 
plainness of its style, and the effort to help 




Moses Quinby. 

and instruct the reader rather than impress 
him with the accomplishments of the writer. 
We do not know just when he was able 
to make beekeeping his sole business and 
the support of his family ; but he certainly 
did so after his removal to St. Johnsville, 
Montgomery County, Xew York, in 1853, 
the year his fii'st book was published. Dur- 
ing the next ten years he owned the largest 
number of colonies at any time during his 
business career. He began to send large 
amounts of honey to the New York market, 
even while still using the box hive. There 
being only a moderate demand at that time 
he nearly glutted the market. This was. 
indeed, the beginning of the reconstruction 



636 



QUINBY 



period in beekeeping. In 1856 Mr. Quin- 
bj^'s attention was called to Mr. Lang-stroth's 
invention of a movable-comb hive. He saw 
its advantages, and at once adopted it in a 
modified form. Then followed the introduc- 
tion of Italian bees, honey-extractor, comb 
foundation, single sections for comb honey, 
and his own invention of the bee-smoker. 
These were indeed gratifying days to Mr. 
Quinby. Who was there in all of the bee- 
keeping world so well prepared as he from 
the standpoint of practical experience to 
meet the needs of this wonderful forward 
movement ? 

Mr. Quinby's non-swarming standing- 
frame hive enabled him to accomplish large 




The room where Mr. Quinby wrote the 1853 edit 

results under his management. Much might 
be said in regard to Mr. Quinby's prefer- 
ring the larger frame. Marked success can 
be secured only by extremely populous 
swarms. I have proved the larger frames 
very advantageous to that end.* 

I shall never forget the enthusiasm which 
was caused at our home when the words 
"centrifugal force for removing honey from 
the combs" were received in the report of 
the invention of Major de Hruschka of 
Vienna. An old fanning mill, which had 
been used for cleaning grain, was at once 
taken apart, the fans removed, and wire 
cloth stretched around its four sides. A 
larger box was made, inside of which this 



* See Frasies^ Self-spacing^ for a description of his 
seJf-spacing frame; and Hives, subhead "The Da- 
dant Hive." for a description of the merits of the 
large hive and frame. 



frame was arranged to revolve, and with 
the gearing of the fanning mill it was set 
in motion. The gratification with which 
Mr. Quinby saw the honey thrown from the 
first combs cannot well be described. He 
soon made an extractor in more workable 
form, which was afterward perfected by 
A. I. Root, and known as the Novice ex- 
tractor. 

Mr. Quinby realized that, tho fearless 
himself, people were deterred from keeping 
bees by fear of being stung. Smoke had 
been used in various crude ways; but he 
knew that, if it could be easily and con- 
veniently adapted, it would be a great 
boon, especially to the amateur. His in- 
vention of the bee- 
smoker did this, being 
so arranged with up- 
right bellows and fire- 
tube as to burn stand- 
ing upright, but to go 
out when placed on the 
side, and to be easily 
manipulated with one 
hand. The principle 
of it has never been im- 
proved upon. 

New York State, 
where Mr. Quinby's 
influence was most in 
evidence, became the 
largest honey-produc- 
ing center in the world. 
One of the first articles 
on of his book. lie eygj, wrote on bees 

for publication was for a Philadelphia pa- 
per, expressing doubts as to the possibility 
of a writer having secured a gain of 20 
pounds of honey from a swarm in two 
weeks. In these later days he had seen 
that amount gathered in two days, and 500 
pounds of extracted honey taken from one 
colony in a season. Mr. Quinby sent in 
these days anjnvhere from 5,000 to 30,000 
pounds of honey to the New York market 
annually. 

While essentially a scientist and teacher, 
his first object was to enable others as well 
as himself to make beekeeping a commer- 
cial success by knowing how to gather in 
quantity this useful, natural food-stuff and 
delicacy. As Mr. Quinby became well known 
from his books and articles in a^icultural 
papers, his home was quite a center for 
those seeking the information he so gladly 



638 



QUINBY 



imparted. Mr. Quinby was never so happy 
as when passing on his knowledge and ex- 
perience to others. Few people who were 
not personally acquainted with him can 
realize how devoted he was to his question- 
ers, whether in person or by mail or thru 
the press. From the start to the last even- 
ing of his earth life he never proved a 
principle in bee culture the benefit of 
which he did not give to the public. Two 
hours before he passed away he was at his 
desk, where he left an unfinished article. 

The late Captain J. E. Hetherington was 
one of his most energetic pupils. It is still 
a joy to me to recall his enthusiasm during 
his frequent visits to Mr. Quinby's home, 
and the eager way in which he asked ques- 
tions and received answers. He soon be- 
came one of the large bee-owners, first of 
box hives, but, as improvements followed, 
always up to date. Of these early visitors, 
almost the only one living is P. H. Elwood, 
of Starkville, New York, then as now the 
intelligent, thoughtful worker and genial 
friend. 

In 1865 Mr. Quinby published a revised 
edition of his book, and from the tone of 
the preface it is gratifying to see his pleas- 
ure in the success and popularity of this 
first edition. 

In March, 1870, the Northeastern Bee- 
keepers^ Association was organized at Al- 
bany, with Mr. Quinby as its first presi- 
dent, an office he held for five years, declin- 



.ing re-election at the meeting preceding his 
death. He was elected president of the 
North American Beekeepers' Association, at 
Cleveland, in 1871, and served one year. 

Thus with modest honors and much sat- 
isfaction in his work and in the fruit- 
growing on his place, a happy home life 
and wide outside interests in the anti-slavery 
cause, temperance work, and all good and 
progressive endeavors, the years went by. 
Death came suddenly on the night of May 
27, 1875, and a life of usefulness was over. 

I am writing this article with the extreme 
desire to show Mr. Quinby's devotion to his 
chosen calling. It would be impossible for 
any one who did not come in daily contact 
with him in his manipulation of bees, in 
the beekeepers' conventions, and, most of 
all, in his home, to have a full appreciation 
of how completely his work filled his 
thoughts. How well I remember the em- 
phasis he gave the words when he once said 
to me, "I want it distinctly understood that 
I cannot afford to spend my time making 
money ! " 

He gave forty-seven years of constant 
application in honest effort to place bee- 
keeping on a firm business basis. I am 
somewhat acquainted with the history of 
the beekeeping of the past, and I feel jus- 
tified in pointing with pride to these 47 
years of devotion which should warrant 
the name of " Father of practical commer- 
cial beekeeping in America." 



RACES OF BEES. — This book deals 
particularly with Italians, the common 
black bees of this country, and the crosses 
between the two, because they are used 
almost exclusively. The crosses are often 
given the name " hybrids ; " and as the 
name has been generally adopted, it is re- 
tained. For particulars regarding these 
bees the reader is referred to Hybrids. 
The Italians are spoken of specifically, 
also, under the heading of Italians^, else- 
where in this work. 

BLACK OR GERMAN BEES. 

Black bees are so common in nearly every 
vicinity that very little description is neces- 
sary. As the name indicates, they are black. 
One variety in the South is of a brownish 
black; another distinctly black, and, if 
anything, a trifle smaller. 

The black bees are more inclined to rob 
than the pure Italians, are not as good 
workers, but are equal when nectar is 
abundant, or when there is dark honey like 
that from buckwheat to be gathered. They 
are much more. nervous; and when a hive 
of them is opened they run like a flock of 
sheep from one corner of the hive to an- 
other, boiling over in confusion, hanging 
in clusters from one corner of the frame as 
it is held up, and finally falling off in 
bunches to the ground, where they continue 
a wild scramble in every direction, proba- 
bly crawling up one's trousers-leg, if the 
opportunity offers. Black queens are much 
harder to find, their bees are not so gentle, 
and, worse than all, they have a disagree- 
able fashion during robbing time of fol- 
lowing the apiarist about from hive to hive 
in a most tantalizing manner. This habit 
of poising on the wing in a threatening 
manner before one's eye is extremely an- 
noying, and some bees will keep it up for a 
day at a time. When angry bees trouble in 
this way, one should work in another part of 
the apiary or stop work entirely for a time. 
If the trouble continues, he should requeen 
with queens of a more gentle strain. 



Comb honey from the blacks is a little 
whiter, if anything, than that made by 
pure Italians, because the cappmg is raised 
up, leaving a slight air-gap between it and 
the surface of the honey in the cell. But 
this difference in the whiteness of capping 
is so very slight as compared with that on 
comb honey made by the Italians that it 
really cuts no figure in the market. The 
blacks are also much easier to shake off the 
combs than pure Italians, which can hardly 
be shaken off, and some prefer blacks or 
hybrids, when extracting, for that reason 
alone. 

Blacks, when their hives are moved a 
short distance, will find their entrances 
much more readily than Italians. In fact, 
we have been enabled to move our black 
colonies aU over the apiary, and yet we 
have discovered time and time again that 
the returning bees will nose around every 
hive until they find their own, when they 
will enter as tho they had always lived 
there. On the other hand, Italians cannot 
be moved in this way. Many of them will 
be found on the ground on the old loca- 
tion, and die, only a few of them, com- 
paratively, finding homes in other nearby 
hives. See Moving Bees. 

Many believe that blacks are more per- 
sistent than the Italians in that they will 
stand unfavorable weather conditions bet- 
ter than Italians; but it has been proven 
over and over again that they will not re- 
sist brood diseases as do the yellow bees. 
Indeed, they rapidly succumb under the 
ravages of European foul brood where 
some strains of Italians will seem to be 
almost immune to it. Practically all Ital- 
ians will resist brood disease of both Euro- 
pean and American foul brood better than 
the average strain of black or hybrid bees. 
See Foul Brood. 

CARNIOLANS. 

The Carniolans, evidently a variety of 
black bees, which they very much resemble, 
were introduced into this countrv in 1884. 



640 



RACES OF BEES 



They are very gentle, but we have found 
them no more so than Italians. As stated, 
they resemble blacks, and might easily be 
mistaken for them; but there is a differ- 
ence. They are larger, and their abdomens 
are of a more bluish cast, the fuzzy rings 
being very distinct. They are gentler, and 
do not, like the blacks, boil over in confu- 
sion when the hive is opened. They have 
not the fixity of character of the Italians 
— colonies of the same race differing quite 
widely. The general verdict is, that they 
are excessive swarmers, and this trait alone 
makes them very undesirable for comb- 
honey production, altho some like them for 
the production of extracted honey. Their 
close resemblance to black bees makes it 
difficult to detect the crosses of the two 
races. This fact, coupled with their great 



The claim has been made that Caucasians 
are the gentlest bees known ; and this claim, 
in part, at least, has been established, altho 
they are no more so than some good strains 
of pure Italians. Beemen are not agreed, 
however, as to their honey-gathering quali- 
ties. Some consider them very inferior 
while others believe they are equal to any 
race in this respect. All admit that they 
are bad propolizers, sticking large chunks 
of gum in all parts of the hive — a trait 
that becomes more manifest as cold weather 
comes on. In this one respect they differ 
radically from Camiolans. 

The most serious objection to them is 
their propensity to swarm. It is even more 
pronounced than with the Camiolans. In 
our apiaries we have been unable to con- 
trol them by the ordinary methods that 





r 




\j^ 




^ 



Worker. 



Queen. 



Drone. 



swarming propensity, will largely prevent 
their meeting with general favor. 

But the Camiolans have one good trait 
in their favor, and that is, they deposit as 
little propolis as any bees ever known. 
Some colonies that we had, actually depos- 
ited almost none. In the production of 
comb honey this is quite an important 
item. See Hybrids of Carniolans and 
Cyprians. 

caucasians. 

This is a race that looks very much like 
Camiolans and the common black bee of 
this countrj^, but it resembles the latter 
more than the former. So close is the gen- 
eral resemblance that even experts in some 
cases have been unable to distinguish them. 
But there is a vast difference in their gen- 
eral habits and temperament. 



have Avorked successfully with Italian bees. 
We had so much trouble with their swarm- 
ing that we finally abandoned them alto- 
gether. Some others, however, and among 
them J. J. Wilder of Cordele, Ga., say they 
have had no trouble from them in this re- 
spect, any more than from ordinary Ital- 
ians. Whether Mr. Wilder's experience is 
due to the fact that he has a different 
strain of Caucasians, or whether it is due 
to environment, we are unable to say. 

BANAT BEES. 

These are named from a district of Hun- 
gary from which they were imported. They 
much resemble the Camiolans in appear- 
ance and habit but with less inclination to 
swarm. They are gentle, and impart this 
trait to their offspring when crossed with 
Italians. Even after several generations this 



RACES OF BEES 



641 



character is in evidence. The queens are 
dark tan color, are no more prolific than 
good Italians, but they build up the colo- 
nies more rapidly in the spring. They are 
worthy a more extended trial both in their 
purity and in their crosses. 

TUNISIANS. 

This black race, natives of North Africa, 
are sometimes called "Funics." They have 
been tested to some extent in this country, 
but so far have not been able to establish 
any claim in their favor that would entitle 
them to consideration on the part of Amer- 
ican beekeepers. They are cross, and so 
inclined to smear everything with a red 
bee glue that thej'- are entirely unsuited for 
the production of comb honey. They are 
no better honey-gatherers than gentler 
races. 

EGYPTIANS. 

The Egyptian bee is reputed the most 
beautiful species of Ains. It has been 
named Apis fasiata by entomologists; has 
been cultivated for thousands of years by 
the Egyptians, and was probably the first 
species used by mankind for domestic pur- 
poses. 

In the time of the ancient historian 
Herodotus, apiaries were transported up 
and down the Nile so as to keep pace with 
the seasons in Upper and Lower Egypt. 
This practice is continued at the present 
day to a limited extent. Inscriptions on 
tombs show the practice in use 4,000 years 
ago, at least, and that the honeybee was 
highly reverenced by the people of that 
age. 

The Egyptian bee is so much smaller 
than the Italian that- the two do not 
hybridize very well; on the contrary, the 
queen, if compelled to mate with a Euro- 
pean drone, frequently dies soon after fer- 
tilization. It is probably, however, the 
mother-species of the Cyprian, Holy-Land, 
and Grecian bees. It is a fast, excellent 
worker, but reputed to possess an irritable 
temper tho kept domesticated for thou- 
sands of years. Possibly in a climate sim- 
ilar to that of Egypt it would exhibit a 
better temper than in Northern Europe. It 
could hardly be otherwise. 

In color Egyptians are almost identical 
with Italians, but in addition have a coat 
21 



of white hairs, which adds to their appear- 
ance. There are varieties, or races, of the 
same species in countries next to Lower 
Egypt. One feature of these bees would 
please Americans, namely, their ability to 
keep themselves pure and uncontaminated 
with other races. There is a similar species 
in Senegal known as Apis Adansonii, of 
which we know but little. 

ALBINOS. 

Albinos are either "sports" from Ital- 
ians, or, what is more generally the case, a 
cross between Holy-Lands and Italians. 
After testing them in our own apiary we 
find them little different from common 
Italians. The fringe, or down, that ap- 
pears on the rings of the abdomen of 
young bees is a trifle whiter than usual, 
yet no one would observe it unless atten- 
tion is called to it. The queens are very 
yellow, while the workers, as honey-gath- 
erers, are decidedly inferior, even in the 
second generation; and when light-colored 
bees or queens are selected for several 
successive generations, unless care is used, 
a weaker progeny lacking ability as honey- 
gatherers and endurance will be developed. 

EASTERN RACES OF BEES. 

Cyprians, Holy-Lands, or Syrians, are 
mentioned elsewhere under head of Ital- 
ians. Of other Eastern races Frank Ben- 
ton, formerly Apicultural Expert of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, 
wrote a special bulletin, from which the 
following extracts are made: 

THE COMMON EAST-INDIAN HONEYBEE. 

{Apis indica, I^ab.) 

The common bee of Southern Asia is kept 
in very limited numbers and with a small 
degree of profit in earthen jars and sections 
of hollow trees in portions of the British and 
Dutch East Indies, They are also found 
wild, and build when in this state in hollow 
trees and in rock clefts. Their combs are 
composed of hexagonal wax cells, and are 
arranged parallel to each other like those of 
A. mellifica, but the worker brood-cells are 
smaller than those of our ordinary bees, show- 
ing 36 to the square inch of surface instead of 
29 ; while the comb where worker-brood is 
reared, instead of having, like that of A. mel- 
lifica, a thickness of seven-eighths inch, is but 
five-eighths inch thick. (Fig. 1.) 



642 



RACES OF BEES 



The workers. — The bodies of these, three- 
eighths inch long when empty, measure about 
one-half inch when dilated with honey. The 
thorax is covered with brownish hair, and the 
shield or crescent between the wings is large 
and yellow. The abdomen is yellow under- 
neath. Above it presents a ringed appear- 
ance, the anterior part of each segment being 
orange yellow, while the posterior part shows 
bands of brown of greater or less width, and 
is covered with whitish-brown hairs; the tip 







Fia. 1. — Worker-cells of Common East Indian Honey- 
bee (Apis indica), natural size. 

is black. They are nimble on foot and on the 
wing, and active gatherers. 

The queens.^The queens are large in pro- 
portion to their workers, and are quite pro- 
lific; color, leather or dark copper. 

The drones. — These are only slightly larger 
than tlie workers; color, a jet-like blue-black, 
without yellow, their strong wings showing 
changing hues like those of wasps. 

Manipulations with colonies of these bees 
are easy to perform if smoke be used; and. 




Fig. 2. — Worker-cells of Common East Indian Honey- 
bee (Apis indica), one-third natural size. 

tho they are more excitable than our com- 
mon hive bees this peculiarity does not in- 
duce excessive stinging, but seems rather to 
proceed from fear. The sting is also less 
severe. 



Under the rude methods thus far employed 
in the management of this bee no great yields 
of honey are obtained, sofne 10 or 12 pounds 
having been the most reported from a single 
hive. It is quite probable these little bees 
would yield more if imported ;nto this coun- 
try, since they could no doubt visit many small 
flowers not frequented by the hive bees we 
now have, and whose nectar is, therefore, 
wasted; but very likely they might not with- 
stand the severe winters of the North unless 
furnished with such extra protection as would 
be afforded by quite warm cellars or special 
repositories. 

Of the smallest honeybees in the world 
the same writer says : 

THE TINY EAST-INDIAN HONEYBEE. 

{Apis florea, Fab.) 

This bee, also a native of East India, is 
the smallest known species of the genus. It 
builds in the open air, attaching a single 
comb to a twig of a shrub or small tree. 
This comb is only about the size of a man's 





Fig. 3.— Worker-cells of the tiny East Indian Honey- 
bee (Apis fiorea), natural size. 

hand, and is exceedingly delicate, there be- 
ing on each side 100 worker-cells to the 
square inch of surface (Figs. 2 and 3). The 
workers, more slender than house flies, tho 
longer-bodied, are blue-black in color, with 
the anterior third of the abdomen bright or- 
ange. Colonics of these bees accumulate so 
little surplus honey as to give no hope that 
their cultivation would be profitable. 

GIANT BEES OF INDIA. 

{Apis dorsata, Fab.) 

A few years ago much was said regard- 
ing the East Indian "giant" honeybees, 
Apis dorsata, and the possibilities of hav- 
ing them imported and domesticated in this 
country. Mr. Benton, having been in their 
native land, describes them. 

This large bee, which might not inappro- 
priately be styled the Giant East-Indian bee, 
has its home in the far East — both on the 
continent of Asia and the adjacent island. 
There are probably several varieties of this 
species, more or less marked, and very likely 
Apis zonata, Guer., of the Philippine Islands, 



RASPBERRY 



643 



reported to be even larger than Apis dnrsrvta, 
uill prove on further investigation to be only 
a variety of the latter. All the varieties of 
these bees build huge combs of very pure wax 
— often 5 to 6 feet in length and 3 to 4 feet 
in width, which they attach to overhanging 
ledges of rocks or to large limbs of lofty trees 
in the primitive forest jungles. When at- 
tached to the limbs of trees they are built 
singly, and present much the same appearance 
as those of the tiny East-Indian bee, shown 
in the accompanying figure (Fig. 3). The 
Giant bee, however, quite in contradistinction 
to the other species of apis mentioned here, 
does not construct larger cells in which to rear 
drones, these and the workers being produced 
in cells of the same size. Of these bees — long 
regarded as a myth by beekeepers of America 
and Europe — strange stories have been told. 
It has been stated that they build their combs 
horizontally after the manner of paper-mak- 
ing wasps; that they are so given to wander- 
ing as to make it impossible to keep them in 
hives, and that their ferocity renders them ob- 
jects greatly to be dreaded. The first real in- 
formation regarding these points was given by 
the author. He visited India in 1880-81 for 
the purpose of obtaining colonies of Apis 
dorsata. These were procured in the jungles 
by cutting the combs from their original at- 
tachments, and it was thus ascertained (as 
might have been expected in the case of any 
species of apis), that their combs are always 
built perpendicularly; also that colonies 
placed in frame hives and permitted to fly 
freely did not desert these habitations, and 
that, far from being ferocious, these colonies 
were easily handled by proper precautions, 
without even the use of smoke. It was also 
proved by the quantity of honey and wax 
present that they are good gatherers. The 
execution at that time of the plan to bring 
these bees to the United St?tes was prevented 
only by severe illness contracted in India. 

These large bees would doubtless be able 
to get honey from flowers whose nectaries 
are located out of reach of ordinary bees, 
notably those of the red clover, now visited 
chiefly by bumblebees, and which it is 
thought the East Indian bee might pollinate 
and cause to produce seed more abundantly. 
Even if not further utilizable, they might 
prove an important factor in the production, 
thruout the Southern States, of large quanti- 
ties of excellent beeswax, now such an expen- 
sive article. 



At one time a few in this country were 
advocating the importation of Apis dor- 
sata into this country for the reason claimed 
that these bees would be able to get honey 
from red clover and other flowers with 
deep tubes. It is doubtful, however, whether 
they would be able to adapt themselves to 
this climate. In California there is too 
great a change of temperature from night 
to day, and in Florida and our other 



Southern States the climate is not hot 
enough. The impression prevails that they 
are too much like bumblebees to be of any 
commercial value. For the last 20 years 
there has been very little said about them. 

RASPBERRY {Rubus idaeus L., variety 
aculeatissimus) . — Where the raspberry is 
cultivated on a large scale for market it is 
an important honey plant. Bees work on 
the flowers closely, and the honey is of the 
finest qualit}^ Langstroth says of rasp- 
berry honey : " In flavor it is superior to 
that from white clover, while its delicate 
comb almost melts in the mouth. When it 
is in blossom, bees hold even Avhite clover 
in light esteem. Its drooping blossoms 
protect the honey from moisture, and bees 
work upon it when the weather is so wet 
thej^ can obtain nothing from the upright 
blossoms of the white clover." The rasp- 
beri-y begins to flower just after fruit 
bloom, and just before clover, so that 
large fields of it are a great acquisition 
indeed. The red varieties (especially the 
Cuthbert) are said to furnish the most 
honey. 

WILD EASPBERRY IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 

More than one-half of northern Michi- 
gan was once covered with white and Nor- 
way pine. Nearly all of this in recent 
j-ears has been cut off for lumber. During 
the first dry season after the cutting, fire 
burns over this stump land, and two or 
three years later it is covered with willow- 
herb. From these pine baiTens raspberry 
bushes are either entirely absent, or they 
are short, stunted, and scattering, and of 
little value as honey-producers. It is upon 
tracts from which hard-wood timber has 
been lumbered that one must look for a lux- 
uriant growth of raspberry. After the 
once magnificent forest of beech, maple, 
and elm has been removed there speedily 
springs up a vigorous growth of wild red 
raspberry, which completely covers the 
ground, and which, says Hutchinson, is 
simply incomparable as a honey-producer. 
It never fails to yield nectar even in cold, 
rainy weather. If such land is not burned 
over, the rich loam, mulched with brush, 
produces large thrifty bushes, which yield 
great crops of this celebrated honey for 



644 



RECORD-KEEPING OF HIVES 



several years. But the rapidly growing 
young trees and underbrush soon smother 
the raspberries and the beekeeper is forced 
to seek a new location. If, however, the 
land is occasionally burned over, the aver- 
age yield of honey is less, but the bee pas- 
turage lasts much longer. Thus one finds, 
says Townsend, the raspberry district al- 
ways changing, and the shrub not a per- 
manent source of nectar in one locality 
like clover. As new areas are lumbered off 




Raspberry. 

" new pastures are offered to new comers." 
Most of the good locations are today occu- 
pied. There is only one way, says Hutch- 
inson, to find a desirable location, and that 
is to hunt for it. 

The flowers begin to yield nectar from 
the first to the middle of June, according 
to the weather. 

Connoisseurs have pronounced the honey 
superior to any other table honey in the 
world, for it partakes somewhat of the ex- 
quisite flavor of the berry itself, with all 
the added qualities that are so much prized 
in clover. The berries will not bear ship- 
ping, and must be used soon after being 
picked. 



RATS. — Rats may do a great deal of 
damage in a honey-house. There are some 
old fellows clever enough to avoid traps 
and poison. The only thing to do with 
such is to shoot them by watching when 
they congregate about five o'clock in the 
afternoon in and about the out-buildings. 
A 32-caliber Flobert rifle with shot cart- 
ridges, or, better, a taxidermist's 44-caliber 
shotgun, will do good execution. 

One of the best traps that was ever 
made is the old-fashioned rabbit-trap with 
grain spread on the bottom of the box, 
The trigger to close the trap should extend 
down to the grain. The rats in eating will 
bump against the trigger and set it off, 
when they are imprisoned alive, after which 
they can be drowned. 

Poison can be given in the fonn of 
dough made of one-fifth part of barium 
carbonate, or barytes, and four-fifths meal. 
This poison has no odor nor taste; and it 
is better than strychnine because its action 
is slower, giving the rats a chance to get 
off the premises before they die. 

RECORD-KEEPING OF HIVES.— Al- 
most every apiarist has a plan of his own, 
whereby he can record the condition of the 
hive at the time of its examination, so that, 
without depending on memory, he may tell 
at a glance what its condition was when 
last examined. 

Many of the large honey-producers. Dr. 
Miller among them, have what they call a 
record-book. This book has a page for each 
colony, the number of the page correspond- 
ing with the number of the colony. The 
book should be small and compact, just 
about right to carry in the hip-pocket, and 
securely bound. It should always be car- 
ried when at work among the bees. On 
each page is supposed to be a record of 
each colony's doings within a year — when 
it became queenless, when it had cells or 
brood, when il swarmed, and, toward win- 
ter, the strength and quantity of stores it 
had Avhen last examined. 

There is an advantage in the book meth- 
od, as the book can be consulted in the 
house, and the work mapped out before- 
hand for the day. If the record-book be 
for an out-apiary, the work can be planned 
while riding to the yard; and, upon ar- 
rival, the plans formulated can be exe- 
cuted. It is thus possible to know in ad- 



RECORD-KEEPING OF HIVES 



645 



vanee just where to get cells to give to 
queenless colonies; just which colonies will 
be likely to have lajdng queens; which 
ones may cast swarms, and which ones 
will be likely to need more room in the 
way of sections or surplus combs. 

There is one objection to the record- 
book, however. It is liable to be lost, or to 
be left out in the rain; and if the book is 
lost, the whole knowledge of the apiary, 
except so far as the apiarist can remember, 
is gone. Another thing, only one can use 
the book at a time. 

Others prefer card indexes. Each hive 
in the apiary will have a number, and 
corresponding to that number will be a 
card. Boxes of these card indexes can 
usually be obtained at the stationer's or at 
the bookstores at a moderate price. The 
advantage of such index is that, when some 
particular card for some hive is full, it can 
be replaced by another card bearing the 
same number or added data. But the most 
important advantage is that one can look 
thru his index at home; and when he 
comes across a card, the corresponding hive 
of which requires some particular atten- 
tion, he can remove that card entirely from 
the index. In like manner he can remove 
the cards of all other colonies of the yard 
requiring special attention. These cards 
can then be slipped into the hip-pockets 
and carried to an outyard or handed to an 
assistant with proper instructions; and 
after the hives have received the requisite 
attention, the necessary record can be at- 
tached. On returning home the cards can 
be put back. 

Where there is a series of outyards, one 
should have one index for each yard. As 
there will seldom be more than 200 colonies 
to the yard, one can have an index of 200 
cards. For example, yard No. 1 will have 
cards up to 199; yard No. 2 from 200 to 
399; yard No. 3 from 400 to 599, and so 
on. If any of the cards should get mis- 
laid or get mixed w^ith another index, the 
first figure of the number will indicate to 
what yard or index it belongs. For ex- 
ample, it would be known that card 346 
would belong to yard No. 2, or the Jones 
yard, as the case might be. 

For the purpose of queen-rearing, the 
card index is invaluable because it enables 
one to keep a complete record of a queen, 
even her pedigree for several generations 



back. When she is sold, the record can be 
made, showing to whom she was sold, so 
that, if the purchaser complains that her 
bees are not pure, or that the colony is 
diseased, the breeder can easily go to the 
identical colony from which she came, and 
prove or disprove either assertion. 

The value of the card index can be ma- 
terially increased by the use of colored 
cards, to slip into the index here and there 
to indicate immediate or early attention to 
some particular number. As the apiarist 
goes over his records the colored cards will 
indicate just where the cards are, referring 
to a specific colony. Let us suppose a 
case. No. 241 at the time of examination 
looked suspicious. The presence of foul 
brood is feared. A red card is put right in 
front of card 241, for red indicates danger. 
Blue, green, and yellow cards may be used 
to indicate other conditions such as queen- 
lessness, short of stores, failing queen, 
about to swarm, etc. If one is making 
preparations to feed he will hunt over the 
blue cards. Either pull the cards back of 
them out of the index or note down on a 
slip of paper the numbers of the hives that 
require feeding. 

In this connection it should, perhaps, be 
stated that one can purchase, at very small 
expense, loose-leaf note-books with an al- 
phabetical or numerical index. These books 
are so constructed that any particular page 
can be removed and another page substi- 
tuted or added, on the principle of loose- 
leaf ledgers. Such books can be used in 
place of a card index. In other words, it 
will be a pocket card index that can be 
carried to and from the yard; and as such 
books are usually bound in leather they 
will stand rough usage. 

Of course, with any books or card index 
it goes without saying that every hive in 
the yard should be numbered. These num- 
bers may be put on the hive with a 
brush, using black paint. But it is pref- 
erable to use a detachable number. Such 
a number may be stenciled on a sheet of 
tin and the tin tacked on the hive. The 
objection to these is the expense. Fortu- 
nately there can now be secured of supply 
dealers, numbers printed on heavy manila 
tags that are afterward soaked in boiling 
parafiSn so they will stand the weather. 
These numbers can then be tacked on the 
cover, or on one side or end of the hive. 



646 



RECORD-KEEPING OF HIVES 



As a rule it is better to use the front end 
just over the entrance. In the course of 
two or three years it may be necessary to 
replace the old number with a new and 
fresh one. As these card numbers are very 
cheap the expense of renewal is small. 

RECORD-KEEPING IN OR ON THE HIVE. 

There are many beekeepers who think 
they cannot afford to fuss with books, card 
indexes, nor anything of that sort. Some 
of them simply write the record inside of 
the cover; but in most cases the form or 
make of cover renders this impracticable. 

One of the best schemes to accommodate 
this class of beekeepers is what may be 
called, for want of a better name, wooden 
writing tablets. These are made out of 
broken sections, IV2 or 2 inches wide, by 
4 or 5 inches long. But these, unless 
dipped in white lead, will soon weather- 
stain so that the lead-pencil record will be 
blurred if not entirely obliterated. To coat 
a thousand of these, dip in thin white lead, 
and lean against something until dry. In 
every case after they are painted they will 
hold lead-pencil records the entire season. 
At the author's yards both the card index 
and the wooden tablets coated with white 
lead have been used. The tablets are for 
a temporary record, which record is later 
transferred to the card index. In connec- 
tion with the white tablets we use some 
painted different colors to indicate differ- 
ent conditions of the colony. For instance, 
one can stand in one position in the yard, 
and at a glance can easily locate one col- 
ony having a blue, red, yellow, or green 
tablet, each color carrying its own special 
meaning. 

But these wooden tablets will blow off 
the hives, and become lost. This difficulty 
is easily overcome by the use of little 
spring clips made of brass; and in lieu 
of anything better, the ordinary steel super 
springs coated with paint make a very 
good substitute. Each spring clip should 
be fastened down with a staple. The ad- 
vantage of these clips is that they not only 
hold the tablets fast to the hive, but they 
enable one to place the tablet in front or 
on top. Where a colony needs attention at 
the next visit, a red tablet is placed on top 
of the white one bearing the record. If a 
colony needs feeding, a blue tablet will be 
used; if it is queenless, a green one; and 



thus one can use a great variety of colors 
to indicate as many conditions of the col- 
ony. In most cases a red tablet may be 
used to show anything that requires imme- 
diate attention. For example, a colony 
may be starting to build queen-cells. They 
should be cut out, of course. At the next 
trip they will need to be cut out again to 
forestall swarming. 




^'W 



Wk2¥^'^'^^'- 



^ 9 !1 


("^ 


<x^ 


\\iJ >.\ 


vi^iX\ 


vl7 


^ 


S<1 




^ 


"$■ j"=^ 


^3 


Sv\ 


^\ l\ 


> V 


c^^ 


^iN 



Spring clips. 

Again a red card may indicate a failing 
queen, or a poor queen which needs replac- 
ing soon; a colony that is on the verge of 
starvation, a colony that has suspicious- 
looking brood, that will need another ex- 
amination a week hence before its nature 
can be fully determined. In like manner 
a red card may be used to indicate any con- 
ditions that need rectifying at the time of 
the next visit. 

The spring clips should usually be made 
out of brass, and those we use are made of 
that material, 24 gauge, ^ inch wide, and 
about 4 inches long, bent as shown in the 
illustration. 

The whole outfit — brass clips, brass sta- 
ples, wooden tablets of different colors, etc., 
can be obtained of the dealer. But where 
one is a producer of comb honey he will 
have many pieces of broken sections, which, 
when dipped in white lead, will be equal to 
any to be obtained of his dealer. 

QUEEN-REGISTER CARDS. 

Another system of record-keeping that 
is popular with some is what are called 
register-cards. The accompanying plan 
shows how they are used. To indicate the 
date, the pin heads are revolved so as to 



REVERSING 



647 



12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 
10 
31 11 

30 12 

29 O 13 

28 14 

27 15 TESTED 

26 16 

25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 1; SELECT Tested. 



Queen l^egistet^. 

EGGS. 

No 

MISSING. BROOD. 

O CELL. 

Hatched. 



MARCH. 
OCT. APRIL. 



LAYING. 



DIEECTIONS.— Tack the card on a 
SEPT, O MAI . conspicuous part of the hive or nu- 
cleus; then, with a pair of pliers, force 
AT-'r> TPVP a common pin into the center of each 
^ I. vj. J u^> JL,. circle, after which it is bent in such a 
manner that the head will press se- 
JULY. curely on any figure or word. 



point to the proper place. There is no 
writing, and nothing to do except to turn 
the pointers to the right place. This was 
prefen^ed by W. Z. Hutchinson and others. 

RED CLOVER.— See Clover. 

REVERSING.— This, as the term signi- 
fies, is the scheme or plan for inverting, or 
turning over, the combs; and this may be 
accomplished by inverting the frames indi- 
vidually or the whole hive at one operation. 
The subject began to be discussed in 1884; 
and for three or four years following there 
was much said on the subject. Reversible 
frames and reversible hives were invented 
by the dozen. Some of them were quite 
ingenious, while others were clumsy and 
impractical. 

Taking into consideration the fact that 
the bees store their honey immediately over 
the brood, and that, as a consequence, their 
combs at this point are much better filled 
out, certain beekeepers conceived the idea 
of turning the combs upside dovvn at fre- 
quent intervals. " Why," said they, "when 
the combs are reversed, bringing the bot- 
tom-bars uppermost, the combs will be 
built clear out to the bottom-bars, and the 
honey next the top-bar, which is now at 
the bottom of the hive, will be carried up 
into the supers, just where it is wanted." 
This seemed very nice in theory, and even 
in practice it seemed to be partially car- 
ried out; for tho a good many beekeepers 
reported that, when the combs were re- 
versed, the bees, rather than have the 
honey in the bottom of the combs, near 
the entrance, and accessible to robbers, 
would uncap it and take it up into the sec- 
tions, yet often this honey carried above 



was poor and dark in color. Many times 
also the bees did not carry the honey above 
but allowed it to stay at the bottom of the 
hive, so that the only real advantage se- 
cured was getting the combs filled actually 
to the bottom-bars, now at the top. 

A very few claimed that reversing, when 
done at the proper time, would destroy 
queen-cells, and so control swarming. But 
this worked better in theory than in prac- 
tice. 

The only real and direct advantage of 
reversing is in the matter of getting combs 
filled out solid in brood-frames. (See Ma- 
nipulation OF Colonies.) When hunt- 
ing queens it is much easier to find one 
where there is no horizontal space between 
the edge of the comb, and the bottom-bar, 
and no holes to furnish her hiding-places. 
Moreover, having coiiibs filled out solid 
gives better fastening to the frame and in- 
creases the capacitj^ of the hive just in pro- 
portion to the new comb built after revers- 
ing. Nearly every frame that is not re- 
versed is liable to have a space of ^ inch 
or ^s between tlie top of the bottom-bar 
and the comb; and this is a waste that 
ought to be utilized if possible. To a cer- 
tain extent this space can be filled in non- 
reversing frames by having sheets of foun- 
dation reach from frame-bottom to top- 
bar, wired in with perpendicular wires; 
but even such combs are never as well filled 
as those reversed. 

Several good revei-sible frames have been 
proposed; but no one should think of 
adopting any of them unless it has some 
points of merit outside the one exclusive 
feature of reversing. A reversible frame 
that is not good for all-around use — easy 
to handle — would be very unprofitable. 




The Van Dusen reversible frame. 

One of the fii-st practical reversing frames 
was the Van Deusen, having metal corners 
or eai^. This was essentially a standing 
frame, and could be used just as well one 
side up as the other. The frames were 
spaced apart by " spacing-ears," and these 
verj- ears offered some distinctive advan- 
tages in the way of handling the frame. 



648 



ROBBING 



This frame was used very largely by the 
one-time most extensive beekeeper in the 
world, the late Captain J. E. Hethering- 
ton ; also by his brother in Michigan. Out- 
side of its reversing feature it offered one 
very decided advantage; namely, the facil- 
ity with which it could be handled like the 
leaves of a book. By taking out one or 
two frames the rest could be thumbed over 
without lifting them out of the hive. Not- 
withstanding, it is not now used. 

Two other reversible frames are the 
Danzenbaker and the Heddon (see Hives; 




Danzenbaker reversible frame. 

also Frames^ Self-spacing^ and Manipu- 
lation OF Colonies), either one of which 
can be used as well one side up as the 
other; in fact, any closed-end standing 
frame, except the Quinby, can be used as a 
reversible frame. 

The fact that none of these frames nor 
any other reversible frames are in use to 
any extent would seem to argue that the 
advantages of reversing are more theoreti- 
cal than actual. 

ROBBING.— As the term signifies, "rob- 
bing " is an act or series of acts by which 
bees pilfer or steal from each other, or 
from any source where sweets in the form 
of jam, jellies, syrup, or honey, are left 
exposed. Like some human beings when 
the opportunities are given, bees find it 
easier to steal than to work. The passion 
for stealing or robbing, if neglected, be- 
comes a habit — a habit that is exceedingly 
hard to break up. 

When bees discover that a large amount 
of sweets can be secured without working 
for it, they are quick to profit by the 
chance; and in the space of a few min- 



utes they may start an uproar of excite- 
ment. This not only means pillage, but 
death to the bees and stings to their 
owners. 

Paul says that the love of money is the 
root of all evil; and similarly the love of 
honey on the part of the bees is a root of a 
great deal of the evil that takes place in 
bee culture. When they find it easier to 
help themselves to the results of the honest 
toil of others they will enter into the busi- 
ness of plundering without scruple. 

One of the ABC class has said that he 
found a single bee making visits to over 
100 clover-heads before it obtained a load 
sufficient to carry to its hive. It is proba- 
bly true that during a great part of the 
season a bee will be absent a full hour, or, 
it may be, during unfavorable spells, as 
much as two hours, in obtaining a single 
load. The time during which a bee may be 
absent is very variable. If the nectar se- 
cretion is heavy it will return much quicker 
than if it is light. Is it at all strange that 
a bee, after having labored thus hard dur- 
ing the fore part of the day, should, in the 
afternoon, take a notion to see if it could 
not make a living in some easier way? 
Would it be very much worse than many 
types of humanity? As the bee noses 
around to other hives it catches the per- 
fume of the clover honey other bees have 
gathered, and, by some sort of an opera- 
tion in. its little head, it figures out that, if 
it could abstract some of this, unperceived, 
and get it safely into its own hive, it would 
be so much the richer. It has no sort of 
care whether these other bees die of star- 
vation or not. That is none of its concern. 

With all their wonderful instincts, we 
have never been able to perceive that the 
bees of one hive ever have any spark of 
solicitude as to the welfare of their neigh- 
bors. If, by the loss of a queen, the pop- 
ulation of any hive becomes weak, and the 
bees too old to defend their stores, the very- 
moment the fact is discovered by the other 
colonies they rush in and overpower the 
sentinels, with the most perfect indiffer- 
ence, plunder the ruined home of its last 
bit of provision, and then rejoice in their 
own home, it may be but a yard away, 
while their defrauded neighbors are so 
weak from starvation as to have fallen to 
the bottom of the hive, being only just able 
to attempt to crawl feebly out at the en- 



ROBBING 



649 



trance. Had it been some of their own 
flock, the case would have been very differ- 
ent indeed; for the fii'st bees of a starving 
colony will carry food around to its com- 
rades, as soon as it has imbibed enough of 
the food furnished to have the strength to 
stagger to them. 

Suppose the bee mentioned above, in 
prowling around in the afternoon or some 
other time, should find a colony so weak 
or so careless that it could slip in unob- 
served, and get a load from some of the 
unsealed cells, and get out again. After 
it has passed the sentinels outside it usually 
runs little danger from the inmates that 
seem to take it for granted that every bee 
inside is one of their number. There is 
danger, the; for should the robber betray 
too great haste in repairing to the combs 
of honey they often suspect something; 
so it assumes an indifference it is far from 
feeling, and loiters about veiy much as if 
it were at home, and finally, with a very 
well-assumed air of one who thinks he will 
take a lunch, it goes to the cells and com- 
mences to fill up. Very often, when it gets 
pretty well " podded out " with its load, 
some bee approaches, apparently to see if 
all is right. When the robber once gets its 
head into a cell, however, it seems to have 
lost all sense or reason; and if it is dis- 
covered at this stage to be a stranger and 
a thief, it is often pounced upon and stung 
mth very little ceremony. 

How do bees know a stranger from one 
of their own number, where there are so 
many? It is said they tell by the sense of 
smell; this may be the principal means, 
perhaps, but apparently they depend great- 
ly on the action and beha^dor of a bee, 
much as we do w^hen judging of the respon- 
sibility of a man who asks to be trusted. 
We can give a very good guess, simply by 
his air or manner, or even by the sort of 
letter he writes. 

If a robber bee is suspected, and a bee 
approaches for the purpose of satisfying 
itself, it is a very critical moment, and one 
becomes intensely interested in watching 
the performance. The robber will stand 
its ground, if it is an old hand, and permit 
itself to be looked over with wonderful in- 
difference; but one who has watched such 
scenes closely will detect a certain uneasi- 
ness, and a disposition to move slowly to- 
ward the entrance, that it may be the bet- 



ter able to get out quickly, when it discov- 
ers things to be too hot for it inside. If 
the bee that first suspects it concludes it is 
an interloper, it begins to bite it, and grab 
hold of its wings to hold on until others can 
come to help. The thief has now two 
chances to escape, and sometimes it seems 
meditating which to adopt; one is, to brave 
it out until they shall perhaps let it alone, 
and then slip out unobserved. The other 
is, to break away and trust to its heels and 
wings. The latter plan is the one generally 
adopted. One that has been many times in 
such scrapes will usually get away by an 
adroit series of twists, turns, and tumbles, 
even tho three or four bees have hold of it 
at once. Some of these fellows, by a sud- 
den and unexpected dash, will liberate 
themselves in a manner that is even won- 
derful, and then, as if to show their 
audacity, will wheel about and come back 
close to the noses of their captors of a 
minute before. 

In case the bee secures its load and 
makes its way out unobserved, it gets home 
very quickly, and, under the influence of 
this new passion for easily replenishing 
its hive with the coveted sweets, it rushes 
out with a vehemence never known under 
any other circumstances. Back it goes and 
repeats the operation, with several of its 
comrades at its heels. Does it tell them 
Avhere to go? 

When a bee comes into the hives in such 
unusual haste, podded out with its load in 
a way also rather unusual when obtained 
from ordinary stores, its comrades at once 
notice it, and, either from memory or in- 
stinct, they are suddenly seized with the 
same kind of passion and excitement. 
Those who have had experience at the 
gambling-table, or in wild speculations of 
other kinds, can understand the fierce and 
reckless spirit that stirs these little fellows. 
The bees, when they see a comrade return 
ui the way mentioned, seem to know, with- 
out any verbal explanation, that the plun- 
der is stolen. Anxious to have " a finger 
in the pie," they tumble out of the hive, 
and look about, and perhaps listen, too, to 
find where the spoil is to be had. If they 
have, at any former time, been robbing any 
particular hive, they will repair at once to 
that ; but if it is found well guarded those 
used to the business will proceed to exam- 
ine every hive. 



650 



ROBBING 



INTELLIGENCE OP THE HONEYBEE. 

One afternoon, the door of the honey- 
house being left open, the bees were soon 
doing a " land-office " business before the 
mischief was stopped by closing the door 
until they had clustered on the windows 
in the room, which were then opened, and 
the process repeated until all were out. 
All the rest of the afternoon they were 
hovering about the door. Toward night 
the}^ gradually disappeared; and when we 
went down, about sundown, to try a new 
feeder, not a bee was near the door. We 
put the feeder in front of a hive where the 
bees were clustered out; and as soon as a 
few bees had got a taste, and filled them- 
selves, they of course went into the hive to 
unload. We expected a lot to come out, as 
soon as these entered with their precious 
loads, but were much astonished to see an 
eager crowd come tumbling out as if they 
were going to swarm, still more when they 
rushed right past the feeder and took 
wing for — where do you suppose? the 
honey-house door, of course. How should 
they reason otherwise, than that it 
had again been left open, and that was 
where these incomers had found their rich 
loads'? On finding it closed, back to the 
hive they came, to repeat the maneuvers 
over and over. 

As another evidence of the wonderful 
intelligence and almost reasoning power of 
the honeybee, we will give another instance. 

Some years ago in September a carload 
shipment of honey came in 60-pound cans 
so badly damaged that the contents had 
leaked out and run thru the floor of the 
box car. The railroad company had agreed 
to take the car away at half -past ten ; and 
as the weather was cool the bees had not 
discovered it at that time. Unfortunately 
the company failed to move the car as 
agreed, and we knew nothing of it till we 
were apprised something was wrong by the 
unusual number of bees swarming around 
the windows and doors. We carried a hose 
over to the leaky car and washed away the 
honey, cleaning it from the gearing, iron- 
work, and under side of the car until the 
bees were pretty well satisfied there was 
nothing more to get, altho they were hang- 
ing around in great numbers. To prevent 
the bees from getting the honey inside the 
car, our boys covered the floor pretty well 



with sawdust. About three o'clock the en- 
gine came around and pulled the car away. 
A little after four, some men who were 
loading wheat informed us our bees were 
making them a great deal of trouble. We 
at once jumped to the conclusion that the 
company, instead of taking the car entirely 
away, as agreed, had only removed it to 
another location in the yard, and that the 
sticky car was still enticing our bees. We 
saw the sawdust on the floor on which they 
were dumping bags of wheat, and concluded 
it was the honey-car; but, while we were 
puzzling to account for the fact that the 
ironwork under this car showed no trace 
of honey or water either, a man called and 
pointed to another car in still another loca- 
tion, just swarming with bees around its 
door, inside and out. Then we " caught 
on." There was not a particle of honey 
in or around either of the two cars we 
were looking at . After the honey-car had 
been pulled clear out of town, the bees, not 
willing to give up, proceeded to " leave no 
stone unturned," and were investigating 
every car having an open door that, in 
their judgment, might be the one that had 
been pulled away. When they found one with 
sawdust spread over the floor they naturally 
concluded that was the car, and got down 
on their hands and knees searching in the 
sawdust for honey. The other bees, seeing 
them thus employed, naturally concluded 
this was the place. Others, having learned 
that one box car contained so rich a find, 
concluded that a search thru all the cars in 
the yard might possibly reward them for 
their investigation; and it was only in the 
cool of the evening that they were willing 
to stop digging in that sawdust, and be 
convinced there were no more honey-cars. 

It may not be true that bees recognize 
colors, but they certainly do take in the 
general makeup of objects. They are not 
only able to recognize a hive, but they 
know a box car at sight; and even if it is 
moved to a different location they take in 
its general appearance so that they know 
pretty well how to find it in case of re- 
moval. We are not prepared to prove that 
they read the letters " Big Four " on the 
side of that car, nor that they remembered 
there was an enormous figure 4 printed in 
white on the red door of the car they 
wanted ; but they came pretty close to it. 



ROBBING 



651 



HOW BEES COMMUNICATE. 

Of course, bees have particular notes, as 
for joy, sorrow, anger, despair, etc., which 
are produced by the wings, usually when 
flying; but probably they are unable to 
communicate to each other more than a 
single idea. In other words, they have no 
faculty of telling their fellows that a lot of 
honey is to be had in a feeder at the 
entrance, and that it would better be 
brought in quickly or other bees may find 
it. A bee goes out in the spring, and, by 
smelling around the buds, discovers honey 
and pollen; when it comes into the hive 
the others see it and start out to hunt up 
the source c.f supply in a similar way. 

WHEN BEES WILL NOT KOB. 

By turning back and reading Anger of 
Bees^ one will get a very good idea of the 
causes that start bees to robbing. Read, 
also. Bee-hunting^ Feeding, and Bee Be- 
havior. As a general thing, bees will 
never rob so long as plenty of honey is to 
be had in the fields. During a bountiful 
flow we have tried in vain to get bees to 
take any notice of honey left around the 
apiary. At such times we can use the ex- 
tractor right in the open air, close to the 
sides of the hives, if need be. On one occa- 
sion we remember leaving a comb of un- 
sealed honey on the top of a hive from 
morning until noon, and not a bee touched 
it. It seems they preferred to go to the 
clover fields in the regular way rather than 
to take several pounds from the top of a 
neighboring hive. We can readily suppose 
that they did not have to visit anything 
like a hundred blossoms at this time, and 
perhaps they secured a load in going to not 
more than a dozen. 

After the season begins to fail, one must 
expect that every colony in the apiary will 
be tried. As a rule, any fair colony will 
have sentinels posted to guard the entrance 
as soon as there is any need of such pre- 
caution. The bee that presumes to think 
it may enter for plunder will be led oif by 
" the ear," and this will be repeated until 
it learns that there is no chance for rob- 
bing at that house. At the close of the 
honey harvest precaution should be taken 
that there are no weak colonies, especially 
if they are queenless, that may be over- 



powered, for one such may start the fash- 
ion of robbing, and make it much harder to 
control. An apiary, like a community, 
may get so demoralized that thieving be- 
comes a universal mania. " A stitch in 
time will save " a great many more than 
nine in this case. The space occupied by 
the bees also should be in proportion to 
their numbers. They should have only as 
many combs as they can cover if they are 
to defend themselves properly from either 
moths or robbers. Colonies without either 
queen or brood are not apt to fight for 
their stores very vigorously, so it will be 
well to see that they have either one or 
both, should there be an attack made on 
them. It is hardly necessary to repeat 
what has been said about Italians being 
better able to defend themselves than black 
bees. A few Italians will often protect the 
hive better than a whole swarm of black 
bees. 

HOW to know robber-bees. 

It sometimes puzzles beginners exceed- 
inglj' to know whether the bees that come 
out are robbers, or ordinary inmates of 
the hive out for a general playspell. There 
are times when a playspell looks very much 
like robbing. See Playspells of Young 
Bees and Drifting. 

When the robber-bee approaches a hive, 
it has a sly, guilty look, and flies with its 
legs spread in a rather unusual way, as if 
it wanted to be ready to use its heels as 
well as wings if required. It will move 
cautiously up to the entrance, and quickly 
dodge back as soon as it sees a bee coming 
toward it. If it is promptly grabbed on 
attempting to go in, never fear. When a 
bee goes in and it cannot be determined 
whether it is a robber or not, a close watch 
should be kept on all the bees coming out. 
This is a very sure way of telling when 
robbers have got a start, even at its very 
commencement. A bee, in going to the 
fields, comes out leisurely, and takes wing 
with but little trouble, because it has no 
load. Its body is also slim, for it has no 
honey with it. A bee that has stolen a 
load is generally plump and full; and, as 
it comes out, it has a hurried and " guilty 
look." Most of all, it finds it a little diffi- 
cult to take wing, as bees ordinarily do, be- 
cause of the weight. In Bee-hunting is 



652 



ROBBING 



related how a bee, laden with thick undi- 
luted honey, would stagger under its load 
before it could take wing for the final trip 
home. The bee, when coming out of the 
hive with honey it has very likely just un- 
capped, feels instinctively that it will be 
quite apt to tumble unless able to take 
wing from some elevated position, and 
therefore crawls up the side of the hive 
before launching out. When first taking 
wing it falls a little by the weight of its 
load, before its wings are fully under con- 
trol, and therefore, instead of starting out 
as a bee ordinarily does, it takes a down- 
ward curve, coming quite near the ground 
before rising safely and surely. With a 
little practice one can tell a robber at first 
glance by its way of coming out of the 
hive and taking wing. 

HOW TO TELL WHERE THE ROBBERS BELONG. 

If one is a bee-hunter he will probably 
line them to their hive without any trouble ; 
but if he is not, he can easily find from 
which hive they come by sprinkling them 
with flour as they come out of the hive 
being robbed. Watch should be kept on 
the other hives, to see where the floured 
bees are going in. If the robbing is con- 
fined to one or "two colonies, as is often the 
case, they should be put down cellar and 
kept there for several days where they can 
not incite other colonies. References will 
be made to this further on. 

HOW TO STOP ROBBING. 



tected that they cannot get at them; but 
even then the apiary will be out of balance 
for the rest of the day, and more or less 
for two or three weeks following, because 
the bees will be trying to find where they 
can get more sweets. 

Sometimes robbing is started by some 
one in the neighborhood making sweet 
pickles, canning fruit, or doing anything 
that causes a strong odor of sweet or sour 
during its preparation. The only thing the 
beekeeper can do is to have the house 
screened; or if the case is very bad, and 
the bees keep on " sticking their noses into 
other people's business," the entrances of 
all the hives should be smoked with tobacco 
smoke. Half a dozen puffs of smoke 
should be blown into each entrance, one 
after the other. In half an hour the dose 
should be repeated. This willl cause the 
bees to quiet down until such time as the 
canning or the pickle-making is over at the 
house where bees are " making themselves 
too familiar." 

The best treatment for a general robbing 
thruout the apiary is prevention. The 
screen door and other openings into the 
honey-house should be self-closing. Un- 
less they are, some one will be almost sure 
to forget and leave one of them open. If 
the doors are not self-closing, all the honey 
or syrup stored in the building should be 
put into hives, shipping cases, cans, bar- 
rels, or any receptacle where bees can be 
kept from helping themselves; then if per- 
chance the door is left open no harm will 
be done. 



As to the best mode of procedure, a good 
deal will depend on circumstances. When 
bees in the whole apiary are robbing in a 
wholesale way from the honey-house, or 
from any place where a supply of honey 
or syrup is kept, the obvious remedy is to 
shut the door of the dwelling to cut off the 
supply. If the bees have entered a barrel 
thru the bunghole, the chances are, after 
the head of the barrel is taken out, that 
there will be a peck or more of bees swim- 
ming around in the honey. If robbing has 
become very bad, drive the bung into the 
barrel, and then, after the uproar has 
quieted down, remove it and run the honey 
thru a strainer. 

Bees soon stop robbing when all sweets 
within their reach are removed or so pro- 



ONCE A ROBBER^ ALWAYS A ROBBER. 

After bees once get into the fixed habit 
of robbing it is a mistake to let them out 
again; for no sooner are they out than 
they are at their old tricks again. It is 
better to confine them, and then after they 
have been imprisoned for 24 hours they 
may be brushed down into a box from the 
screen or from whatever portion of the 
building in which they have clustered. 
They should then be carried to an outyard. 
It is not advisable to let them loose again 
in the same yard where they have learned 
their bad tricks of stealing. If allowed 
their liberty they will be continually prowl- 
ing around for daj's to see where they can 
effect an entrance to the honey-house or 



ROBBING 



653 



an unguarded hive. It may be cheaper in 
the end to kill them outright, especially if 
there are not more than half a pound of 
bees. If there are many more, it may be 
desirable to save them; but they should 
not he let loose again in the same yard. 
If taken to another yard they will cause 
no trouble. 

ROBBIXG OF NUCLEI OR WEAK COLONIES. 

There is another kind of robbing that 
is much more common, and which is apt to 
perplex the beginner more than an3i;hing 
else, and that is the onslaughts that are 
often made on weak 
colonies or those that 
are disinclined to make 
a defense, especially if 
queenless. Nuclei with 
large entrances are es- 
pecially subject to the 
attacks of bees from 
strong stocks, and may 
be cleaned out entirely 
before the apiarist dis- 
covers the mischief. By 
that time the whole 
apiary will be in a per- 
fect uproar. As soon 
as the supply of honey 
has been exhausted in 
the one nucleus the rob- 
bers will hover around 
all other entrances, and 
on finding one poorly 
defended will get in 
more bad work. Dur- 
ing a dearth of honey 
there are always some 
bees that make a business of smelling 
around, and it is a wise precaution always 
to have the entrances of nuclei contracted 
to a width where only one or two bees can 
pass at a time. 

One of the most prolific causes of rob- 
bing is a warped cover or an old hive, the 
corner of which has split open. All such 
makeshifts should be replaced. In an 
emergency a handful of mud plastered into 
the opening or crack, or some cotton stuffed 
in, will go a long way toward preventing 
serious trouble later on. During a good 
honey flow small cracks large enough for 
bees to get thru do no particular harm, but 
during a honey-dearth extra precautions 



must be taken. Weak colonies especially 
cannot defend several entrances, and that 
is why poorly fitting covers or leaky hives 
must not be tolerated. The robbers seem 
to realize that the regular entrance is more 
likely to be well guarded, and that is why 
they are often seen trying to crawl thru 
some unguarded crack. 

Let it be supposed that a colony has 
been overpowered, and that its own bees 
are making no defense, realizing, probably, 
that resistance is useless. If anything is 
to be done to save the colony, it must be 
done quickly. One way is to grasp a hand- 
ful of long grass, strew it closely around 




cage to set over hive that is being robbed. 

the entrance, and then spray or sprinkle a 
dipperful of water on it, and scatter more 
wet grass over the entrance. A very little 
carbolic acid added to the water makes the 
spray more offensive to robbers. The in- 
vaders will not, as a rule, crawl thru the 
wet grass to get into the hive, while on the 
other hand those that have already entered 
the hive will get out and return to their 
homes. In the mean time the regular in- 
mates of the hive, as soon as they are given 
a little assistance, will begin to set up a 
defense. The grass should be kept wet for 
at least an hour or two, and possibly till 
sundown ; but before strewing the grass 
the entrance should be contracted so that 



654 



ROBBING 



only one or two bees can pass at a time. 
The entrance should never he closed entire- 
ly, no matter how bad the bees are robbing. 
On a hot day the large number of robbers 
in the hive, together with the regular in- 
mates, would be almost sure to smother to 
death. 

Another and a better way to treat colo- 
nies or nuclei that are not making a good 
defense is to carry them down cellar or put 
them in any cool place where they will have 
an opportunity to recover themselves, and 
where, too, robbers cannot continually keep 
up the policy of pestering the life out of 
them. In 24 hours the robbers in the yard 
will have quieted, when the nucleus or 
robbed colony can be taken out and set 
back on its stand. But at this time the 
entrance should be contracted to a space 
just wide enough so that only two or three 
bees can pass at a time. 

A still better plan for the treatment of 
a colony that is being overpowered by rob- 
bers is to set a wire-cloth cage or tent over 
it. This cage need not be larger than will 
cover the hive. The illustration shows the 
style used by the authors. Three or four 
of such cages are kept in the yard ready 
for an emergency of this kind. 

There is no robbing except when the 
regular apiarist is temporarily away and a 
new man has been left in charge. Such a 
man or boy* will sometimes let robbing get 
well under way, not knowing that trouble 
is brewing. In very short order it will be 
apparent that the colony or the nucleus is 
not making a defense. Sometimes even a 
strong colony will be taken by surprise, 
and before it is aware of what is happen- 
ing the robbers will be piling into the hive 
at a furious rate. At other times there are 
not enough bees in a nucleus to make a 
respectable defense. Such colonies or nu- 
clei need help, and that right speedily. If 
one has a wire cage, he can set it over the 
hive, and that immediately stops any more 
robbers from getting in. As soon as the 
marauders in the hive fill up, they will 
rush out of the entrance pell-mell; but 
instead of going back to their own hive 
they are imprisoned in the cage. In the 
mean time there will be a big horde of 
robbers outside of the cage. Raise the 
cage up for three or four seconds, when all 
the outside robbers will pounce on the en- 
trance. Right here the reader may think 



this a mistake. The scheme is to catch 
every robber that has been carrying on the 
business of stealing for the last few mm- 
utes or half -hour, so as they return from 
their hive we lift their cage at intervals 
and let them in. The bees that have been 
imprisoned will cling to the top of the 
cage, even tho it be lifted for the moment. 
In the mean time their number will be re- 
inforced by more robbers coming out of 
the hive. In the space of about thirty 
minutes, if the robbing has not been going 
on too long, every robber will be in the top 



"i\ 




Tent folded. 

of the cage, and there they will stay. It is 
a serious mistake to let such bees loose 
again, for they will immediately go back 
to their hives and return to attack the col- 
ony that has been overpowered. 

Toward night the cage is lifted off the 
hive and set down carefully till the next 
day, when the bees will be found clustered 
up in the top of the cage, perhaps in one 
corner. After using a little smoke they 
are scooped off with a dipper and dumped 
into a box. They are then carried to an 
outyard, where everything will be strange 
to them, and given to a colony that needs 
a few more bees, the precaution being 
taken, however, to cage the queen, as the 
new bees might kill her. 



ROBBING 



655 



Some good beekeepers doubt whether it 
is best to let these robbers loose after they 
have once been trapped. Where there are 
very many of them it would be too bad to 
destroy them. If only a few they should be 
killed. 

robber-cages; how to make. 

This consists of a light framework of 
%-square stuff held together at the inter- 
sections by means of three-cornered blocks. 
The whole is then covered with wire cloth, 
and across the top a strip is nailed to pro- 
vide a handle so the cage may be lifted up 
with one hand. It is advisable to have in 
addition one or two larger cages — big 
enough to take in a man while he is operat- 
ing over the hive. These cages may be of 
various sizes, but they should be light 
enough so that one can carry them around 
easily and squat over a hive to be manipu- 
lated. The larger cages should be made in 
the same way as the small cages, of 
%-square stuff braced at the intersections 
by three-cornered blocks. Cross-rails on 
each side two feet from the bottom serve as 
convenient handles, so that the man on the 
inside can pick up the cage and walk from 
one hive to another. The use of cheese 
cloth is quite as effective as wire cloth for 
these large cages, and much cheaper; nor 
is it necessary in most cases to have the top 




Open top robber cage. 



covered. The average robber that is sup- 
posed to make trouble will hover along on 
a level about the top of the hive that is be- 
ing operated. It does not have sense enough 
to rise up and dive down over the top. At 
the same time bees that belong to the hive 
that is being manipulated will easily escape. 
On the other hand, the cages that have tops 
will cage the bees so they will be bumping 
around the head of the operator. Unless 
they are actual robbers, it is better to let 
them loose ; and as soon as the operator has 
left the hive they will go into their own 
entrance. 

For raising queens these topless cages 
are very convenient when the robbing sea- 
son is on. The queen-breeder, while he is 
on the inside of one of these cages, can 
work over a hive as long as he pleases, 
secure from robbers. If he uses the cage 
continually, robbers will seldom get a taste 
of honey ; and therefore there will be little 
or no trouble. 

robber-traps. 

Theii' purpose is to catch the hardened 
" old sinners " — bees that are professionals 
in the art of robbing, and which are of but 
little practical value for the purpose of 
getting honey honestly from the fields. 
These bees should be caught and killed. 
While some protest has been raised on the 
ground that they might be made over into 
a colony, yet the kind of " old sinners " re- 
ferred to are useless for any purpose. In 
a queen-rearing yard the sooner they are 
out of the way the better for all concerned. 
As long as they are allowed to prey on 
their honest neighbors they will cojiiinue to 
make work in the yard disagreeable by 
keeping every colony stirred up and more 
or less cross, despoil baby nuclei, and make 
trouble generally. But this is not all. They 
incite other bees to rob. The force of ex- 
ample is very potent among bees as well as 
human beings. 

While one does not need to use traps 
continuously, they are required on occa- 
sions ; for if a few bees once get started to 
robbing they will day after day pounce on 
the combs everj' time a hive is opened, and 
render life miserable for their owner and 
for the baby nuclei. Time and time again 
in our yards we have restored everything 
to absolute order and quiet by the use of 



656 



ROBBING 



the trap. It works like magic; and aftei 
the rascals are caught, one will be sur- 
prised to note how few bees can make such 
an uproar as is evidenced by the number in 
the trap. Their intrinsic value is practical- 
ly nothing, even if they were good honest 
bees. To let them loose would only invite 
more trouble. The amount of honey that 
they might gather if they could be " re- 
formed" would be a very insignificant item. 
But the amount of damage that they can do 
in interfering with queen-rearing operations 
is no small item. 

It has been suggested that, if a robber- 
trap will catch robbers, it will also catch 
honest bees, and why destroy good prop- 
erty? There is no need for catching any- 
thing but the hardened old sinners — those 
are hopeless beyond redemption. As ex- 
plained, it is not necessary to run the trap 
continuously thruout the season — perhaps 
one or two days in a whole year, and not 
even then if no robbers show up. 

How is one to avoid catching honest 
bees? Easy enough. The traps are put in 
operation only when the prowling thieves 
are around. They are constantly on the 
alert, skilled as they are in the art of steal- 
ing and finding any exposed sweets; that 
is to say, they are ever following one about, 
while the honest bees are in the field or hive. 

After one has been working in the yard 
a few days 'let it be assumed that robbers 
have accumulated. It is not wise to let 
them continue on with their nosing into 
other people's business till they make work 
in the yard exceedingly disagreeable, and 
the colonies that are being worked, cross. 
Before they become very numerous, two or 
three robber-traps are put into operation; 
and in an hour absolute peace is restored. 

The value of the traps depends on the 
fact that it stops a would-be bad case of 
robbing before it has progi'essed to any 
extent. A little syrup (and a very little) 
is put into one or two traps. The robbers, 
because hunting for sweets, are caught 
long before any honest bees think of look- 
ing for them. 

CONSTRUCTION OF ROBBER-TRAPS. 

An ordinary hive, two wire screens such 
as are employed for moving bees, a super- 
cover, and a wire-cloth-cone bee-escape, 
make up the complete outfit. (The ordi- 
nary Porter spring escapes for this pur- 



pose have not been found to be as satisfac- 
tory as the wire-cloth cones.) Just over 
the entrance of the hive against the inside 
of the hive front is tacked the wire-cloth 
cone. This cone is made by cutting and 
folding a piece of wire cloth in the form of 
a triangle. The large end fits over the 
entrance, while the other end, gradually 
tapering to a small orifice (about % inch 
square), reaches nearly to the top of the 
hive, or within an inch of the rabbet on 
which the frames rest; it is then secured 
by double-pointed tacks as shown in the 
illustration. As an additional precaution 
it is desirable to have a smaller wire cone of 




Fig. 1. — Wire-cloth-cone bee-escape on the inside of 
robber-traps. Note that the large end of the cone 
communicates with the regular entrances of the hive. 
Robbers pass in at the entrance up thru the cone into 
the hive and are caught. 



the same construction under the larger one. 
Where there is only one cone the bees are 
liable to go back thru the cone. 

One of these traps is placed at a conven- 
ient location in the yard, when one of the 
wire screens for moving bees is laid on top. 
With a brush a little diluted honey (honey 
is better than syrup) is smeared over the 
wire cloth toward the back of the screen. 
This film of honey is spread over an area 
of about two inches wide by the width of 
the screen. Another screen is placed on 



ROBBING 



657 




Fig. 2. — Outside detail of the robber-trap. A double screen is used, and honey is painted on the inner 
screen. Robbers are attracted by the odor of the honey. As they can not reach it from the outer screen they 
enter the hive and are trapped. 



top of this, and over the whole is placed a 
super-cover, as at the left in Fig. 2. It will 
be noticed that this super-cover is set back 
about two inches, leaving a portion of the 
wire cloth — the. part smeared with honey — 
exposed where the bees can get a smell of 
it, but not touch it, because the upper 
screen keeps them from it. 

A robber-bee, if a "hardened sinner" or 
a professional, when it smells honey in this 
way will immediately begin to " investi- 
gate." It will hover around the wire cloth 
(not covered by the super-cover) for a 
minute or two, and then, like a duck to 
water, it will make a dart for the entrance. 
There are no guards there to stop it; it 
rushes in pellmell, crawls up thru the two 
wire-cloth cones shown in the previous illus- 
tration, and out thru the apex, when it is a 
prisoner. It may take a sip of honey, and 
when it gets its fill it will go toward the 
light at the point where the super-cover is 
slid backward, and there it "will soon worry 
itself to death. The chances are only one 
in a thousand that it will ever get back 
thru the wire-cloth cones and escape from 
the trap. After the trap catches all the 
criminally inclined bees, and the small 
amount of diluted honey on the inner wire 
cloth is used up, it will be found that the 
robber-trap automatically goes out of com- 
mission. The old robbers are all caught; 
and as there is no more honey to attract 
honest bees, none will be caught. 

The question may arise, " Is the robber- 
trap of any use to the honey-producer ? " 



Xot to the same extent that it is useful in a 
queen-rearing yard ; but during a period of 
extracting there are times when it might be 
used to good advantage, especially if some 
careless employee should happen to leave 
the door of the hone3''-house open or allow 
a colony to be robbed to death. 

As has already been pointed out, if 
robbers can be caught at the very start 
they will be found to be mainly from one 
hive, and a little later from two or three. 
When they are going well they will attract 
other bees by their uproar; but if robber- 
bees be floured, and followed back to their 
hives, it will be seen that the great bulk of 
them go to only two or three hives. 

HOW THE ROBBER-TRAP CAN BE MADE TO 
CURE THE ROBBING NUISANCE. 

It often happens that a colony will be 
nearly conquered by robbers, and it may be 
a fairly good-sized colony. The thing to do 
then is to take it off its stand and put a 
robber-trap in its place, when, presto ! the 
thieves will be imprisoned. In the mean- 
time the attacked colony is taken down 
cellar where a window has been left open. 
The marauders that don't belong there will 
pass outward thru the window, which then 
should be closed. In very short order the 
robber-trap on the stand of the hive that 
was being robbed will have collected all the 
robbers. When everji;huig becomes quiet 
in the yard, put the trapped bees do^\^l 
cellar and keep them there for some days 



658 



ROBBING 



as already directed. If confined more than 
two days they will have to be fed. 

The robbed colony, after its despoilers 
are caught, may now be put back on its 
stand, when the entrance should be con- 
tracted to about the space that one bee can 
pass at a time. The bees in the trap down 
cellar can not of course molest it; and, 
during the time that they are held in con- 
finement, the robbed colony will have recov- 
ered itself, and with its contracted entrance 
will be able to put up a very stiff defense 
in case another onslaught is made. 



^XCHAXGING PLACES WITH THE 
AXD ROBBED COLOXIES. 



ROBBING 



Trying to people our house-apiary in the 
fall, when it was first built, we had trouble 
with one certain colony. In fact, when 
robbing was going on anywhere it was sure 
to be these hybrids that were at the bottom 
of the mischief. After trying every plan 
recommended, and still finding these fel- 
lows would persist in pushing into every 
new colony started, the idea occurred that, 
on the principle that it takes a rogue to 
catch a rogue, it would be well to try to see 
how these would repel other robbers. The 
greater part of the combs were taken from 
the robbers, bees and all, carried into the 
house-apiary, and put into the hive which 
had been robbed. The effect was instan- 
taneous. Eveiy laden robber-bee that went 
home with its load, on finding the queen 
and brood gone from the old stand at once 
showed the utmost consternation, while the 
passion for robbing was instantly changed 
to grief and moaning for the lost home. 
The weak colony which they had been rob- 
bing, and which had onh^ a queen-cell, was 
carried to them, and they soon took up with 
it and went to work. The robbers newly 
domiciled in the house-apiarv^ repelled all 
invaders with such energy and determina- 
tion that the rest seemed to abandon the 
idea which they, doubtless, had previously 
formed; viz., that the house-apiary was a 
monster hive but ill garrisoned, so we had 
verj' little trouble afterward. Before they 
were transposed, as mentioned, we had seri- 
ious thoughts of destroying their queen, sim- 
ply because they were such pests; but the 
year afterward, this colony gave in the 
bouse-apiary over 100 lbs. of comb honey. 



HOW TO KNOW WHEN A HIVE IS PUTTING 
UP A GOOD DEFENSE. 

The half-tone shown below is a good 
illustration of how a powerful colony will 
deploy its sentinels or guards during the 
time when other colonies near by are being 
robbed. This colony is prepared for any 
kind of an onslaught; for the minute that 
a robber hovers over the entrance it is 
promptly met in mid air by one of the 
sentinels. They immediately clutch in a 
rough-and-tumble fis'ht. drop to the erouiid. 




A colonv that is ready to meet any kind of onslaught 
fron-, robbers. Jlubbers bad hovered around the en- 
trance. The result was, the guards were out in good 
force to repel the attack. 

roll over and over, and lucky is the robber 
if it gets away without having its hair or 
legs pretty vigorously pulled. Such " a 
warm reception " will discourage any 
would-be robber from tackling that colony 
again. The entrance is rather wide open 
and the colony is strong enough to put up 
a defense and a vigorous one at that. If 
the colony were not so strong it would be 
proper to contract the entrance as shown 
elsewhere under Entrances to Hives and 
Wintering. 

working with bees by lantern light 

when robbers are troublesome 

during the day. 

Some years ago, when the conditions hap- 
pened to be such that most of the colonies 
we^re not much more than two- or three- 
frame nuclei, it was n^^cessary to build 



ROBBING 



659 



them up by means of stimulative feeding. 
No hone}^ had been coming in, and the bees 
were very troublesome about robbing. The 
moment the hive was opened, robbers 
would pounce down on the combs. Feed- 
ing by day was quite out of the question. 
It was finally decided to try going thru the 
colonies by lantern light ; and, quite to our 
surprise, it was found possible to examine 
hive after hive, and get a pretty accurate 
idea of their condition. Of course, no rob- 
bers would bother at such a time. The bees 
were given some weak syrup at the time of 
the examination, and by morning it would 
be all taken up. By working a few nights 
in this way by lantern light the whole 
apiary was built up without any trouble 
from robbers, and by late fall there was a 
lot of fine colonies well supplied with stores 
and young bees. 

The only difficulty one will experience 
will be the disposition on the part of a few 
bees to fly out toward the light. Some of 
them will buzz around against the lantern- 
globe. But the trouble from this source is 
not very great. Other bees will have a 
tendency to crawl up one's sleeve or his 
clothing. To prevent this the ordinary 
fingerless gloves as described under Gloves 
should be worn. 

HOW TO REMOVE THE ROBBING TENDENCY 
BY OUTDOOR FEEDING. 

When honey is coming in there is no 
robbing; but as the nectar supply stops, 
bees begin to pry around to find what they 
can steal. At such times, when hives are 
opened for examination robbers will be 
about, and if the combs are exposed very 
much by such handling they will pounce 
upon the hive and combs in great numbers, 
and then attack the entrance after the hive 
is closed up. If one is trying to rear 
queens the results will be discouraging. 
Bees get cross, refuse to start cells (or, if 
built out, tear them down), kill off drones, 
and destroy drone brood. 

The fact that there is no robbing when 
honey is coming in suggests the remedy; 
viz., feed outdoors a thin syrup of the con- 
sistency of raw nectar, See Feeding Out- 
doors. 



HOW TO FEED OUT UNFINISHED SECTIONS OR 
WET EXTRACTING-COMBS. 

While these can be scattered out in the 
open, it is quite sure to result in fearful 
robbing and stinging after the supply is 
exliausted. To forestall this, the combs and 
sections should be put in hives or supers, 
one tiered above another on a regular 
bottom-board, and the entrance contracted 
so that 7iot more than one or tico bees can 
pass at a time. To make it wider results in 
a scramble and robbing of weak colonies in 
the yard. The top of the tier of hives or 
supers should, of course, be covered. 

These tiered-up hives with small en- 
trances are much used to clean up scraps 
of honey, extracting-combs, and to empty 
out partly finished sections. (See Comb 
Honey.) This slow robbing also has a 
tendency to draw off robbers from the nu- 
clei and weak colonies and therefore serves 
a double purpose. 

WHAT HAPPENS IP ROBBING IS NOT STOPPED. 

When robbing is under genuine head- 
way, the honey of a strong colony will dis- 
appear in from two to twelve hours; the 
bees will then starve in the hive, or scatter 
about and die. This is not all; when the 
passion is fully aroused they will not hesi- 
tate to attack the strongest stocks, and bees 
will be stung to death in heaps before the 
entrances. This may finally put a stop to 
it, but they may push ahead until every 
hive of the apiary is in an uproar. At 
such times the robbers will attack passers- 
by in the streets, and even venture an at- 
tack on cats, dogs, hens, and turkeys. Like 
the American Indians when infuriated at 
the sight of bloody every bee seems to have 
a demoniacal delight in selling its life while 
inflicting all the torments it possibly can, 
feeling sad only because it can not do any 
more mischief. 

The worst robbing time seems to be after 
the heaviest or main honey flow is over, 
when bees become especially crazy if they 
get even a smell of honey left carelessly 
anywhere near the hives. One who has 
never seen such a state of affairs can have 
but little idea of the furious way they 
sting every thing and everybody. The 
remedy is to get a good smoker and put 
in enough fuel to insure dense smoke; 



660 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEE PLANT 



then, using one hand to work the smoker 
bellows, with the other, contract the en- 
trance of every hive that shows any symp- 
toms of being robbed. Shut up every bit 
of honey where not a bee can get at it, and 
do the work well; for at such times they 
will wedge into and get thru cracks that 
would make one think inch hoards were 
hardly protection enough. Be up betimes 
next morning to see that all entrances are 
close and small, and that all the hives are 
bee-tight. An experienced hand will re- 
store peace and quietness in a very short 
time to such a demoralized apiary. Black 
bees are much worse than Italians, for the 
latter will usually hold their stores against 
any number of assailants; good, strong, 
well-made hives, filled with Italians, with 
plenty of brood in each, will be in little 
danger of any such " raids," altho we have 
seen the wounded and slain piled up in 
heaps before robbers would desist and give 
up trying to force an entrance. See Axger 
OP Bees. 

BORROWING. 

Before closing this subject of robbing 
there are a few more points to be men- 
tioned. There is a kind of pillaging called 
borrowing, where the bees from one hive 
will go quietly into another, and carry 
away its storjes as fast as gathered; but 
this usually happens where the robbed stock 
is queenless, or has an infertile queen. As 
soon as they have eggs and brood, they 
begin to realize what the end of such work 
will be. This state of affairs seldom goes 
on long ; for it either results in downright 
robbing, or the bees themselves put a stop 
to it. 

Caution to Beginners. — The first year we 
kept bees there was constant fear that they 
would get to robbing, as we had read so 
much about it. One afternoon in May we 
saw a large number of bees passing rapidly 
out and in a particular hive, and the more 
they were examined the more we were per- 
suaded that they were being robbed. We 
contracted the entrance, but it seemed to 
make little difference. We finally closed it 
almost entirely, compelling the bees to 
squeeze out and in, in a way that must have 
been quite uncomfortable, at least. After 
awhile they calmed down, and we had only 
the ordinary number of bees going out and 



in. " There," we thought, " had we not 
read the books and known how, we might 
have lost our bees," and we undoubtedly 
felt very wise if we did not look so. On 
turning the head, behold, the robbers were 
at another colony, and they had to be put 
thru the same program; then another and 
another; until we concluded a host of rob- 
bers had come from somewhere, and made 
a raid on the apiary, and that, had we not 
been on hand, the whole of them would 
have been ruined. We had become very 
nervous and fidgety, and, when we found 
the whole performance repeated the next 
day, we began to think bee culture a very 
trying pursuit. Well, in due course of time 
we figured out that there was no robbing at 
all, but that it was just the young bees 
taking their afternoon playspell, for, as we 
have already stated, a playspell of young 
bees often looks like a case of robbing. See 
Playspells of Bees. 

ROCKY MOUNTAIN BEE PLANT 

{Cleome surrulataVwv^h.) . — This is a beau- 
tiful plant for the flower garden, to say 
nothing of the honey it produces. It grows 




Rocky Mountain bee plant. 

from two to three feet in height, and bears 
large clusters of bright pink flowers, as 
shown in the cut. 



SAGE 



661 



It grows naturally on the Rocky Moun- 
tains and in Colorado, where it is said to 
furnish large quantities of honey. Altho it 
succeeds easily under cultivation we can not 
learn that it has ever been a pecuniary suc- 
cess in our locality. With this, as with all 



other plants, it must be borne in mind that 
a fair test would require acres instead of 
little patches in the garden. 

ROYAL JELLY. — See Queens; also 

QUEEX-REARIXG. 



SAGrE. — Sage honey, which is widely 
known for its delicious flavor in Europe as 
well as in America, is a product peculiar to 
California. Practically the entire sage re- 
gion of this State lies south of a line drawn 
from the coast thm San Luis Obispo and 
Tehachapi. Sage honey is obtained princi- 
palh' from the black and white sages, altho 
there are several other species which j^ield 
a surplus in certain localities ; but the black 
sage, also known a.s ball, button, and blue 
sage, is by far the most important, and ranks 
as the chief honey plant of California. 

Black Sage {Salvia mellifera Greene) 
is so called because after the blooming sea- 
son is over the flowers and leaves tui-n dark 
and adhere to the bush until the next sea- 
son. It is abundant in southern California 
in sunny canyons and on the slopes of the 
Coast Ranges and the San Bernardino 
Mountains. Richter says that it ascends to 
an elevation of 5,000 feet. It is a shrubby 
plant with many herbaceous branches, from 
three to six feet tall, bearing narrow leaves 
which are green above and woolly beneath. 
The flowers are in dense whorls, of which 
there are from three to five on each branch 
as shown in the illustration. These whorls, 
the larger of which are an inch across, are 
known as buttons, and diminish in size 
toward the tip of the stalk. The flowers 
are white, or tinged with violet, two-lipped, 
and begin to open fii'st on the outer edge of 
the whorl or cluster of buds, and the plant 
continues in bloom until each " button " 
has wholly flowered out. A tiny drop of 
nectar can be squeezed from each corolla 
tube in the same way as from red clover. 

The honey flow lasts from the middle of 
March, or the first of April, until about the 



first of July. The crop is unreliable every 
other year, and a total failure once in three 
or four vears. Everv fifth vear a large 




crop may be expected, and if the rainfall 
has been ample a fair surplus is sometimes 



662 



SAGE 




A bush of Californin button sage. 



obtained three years in succession. The 
black sage does not yield nectar freely un- 
less there has been at least ten inches of 
rain during the winter, followed by a clear 
warm spring. The rainfall varies greatly 
in different years, presenting great ex- 
tremes; in 1882, Chadwick says that there 
was only 2.94 ins., while in 1905 it 
amounted to 22.12 inches. Altho the plants 
are well adapted to live in semiarid regions, 
if there is a long-continued drouth, they 
dry up and are valueless to the beekeeper. 
The flowers are often injured by the sage 
worm, and the foliage by rust. The honey 
is water-white, thick and heavy, and does 
not granulate. 

White Sage {Salvia apiana Jep.) be- 
gins to flower during the latter half of 
May, and the blooming period lasts from 



six to eight weeks. It is very abundant on 
the dry plains, or mesa lands, and foothills 
of southern California. There are thousands 
of acres of this beautiful shrub, and one 
may ride thru avenues of it for miles. One 
range is described as a mile wide and two 
miles long consisting practically of un- 
broken white sage. The shrubby plants 
are four or five feet tall, the foliage and 
stems are light green, and there are numer- 
ous flower stalks loaded with short lateral 
racemes of bilabiate, white flowers. The 
lower flowers on the stems expand flrst. 

A flower of the white sage secretes much 
less nectar than does one of either the black 
or purple sage. In districts where both the 
black and white sages were abundant bee- 
keepers have estimated that the black 
yielded ten pounds of honey to one from 
the white species. To produce a vigorous 



SAGE 



663 




Stems and blossoms of California white sage. 



growth and a profusion of flowers there 
must be a sufficient rainfall. The honey is 
white and heavy, does not candj' ; while the 
quality is nearly as fine as that of black 
sage. Much of the white-sage honey, so- 
called, comes from black sage. 

The purple sage {S. leucophylla) has its 
purple flowers clustered in whorls, or "but- 
tons" similar to the black sage. This species 
is not so abundant as the black and white 
sages, and is found chiefly in southeiTi Cal- 
ifornia westward of the Coast Ranges. 
None of the sages jield nectar more freely. 
The honey is water-white, does not crystal- 
lize, and its flavor is described as superior 
to that of all other sage honeys. The creep- 
ing sage (5". sonomensis) , or ramona, cov- 
ers the ground with a mat-like growth, 
from which arise flowering stems four or 
five inches tall bearing light violet flowers. 
The species is widely distributed in the 
Sierra Nevada and Coast Range, and in 
some localities is important. The honey is 
like that of the other sages. 



Annual sage {S. columbariae) , or chia, 
is also common on the foothills and 
mountains of the Coast Range, and in some 
districts yields a surplus. The seeds were 
fomierly used for food, and were also 
considered of medicinal value in cases of 
fever. The above three species bloom in 
April and May. 

LAXGSTROTH^S OPINION OP SAGE HONEY. 

The crops of honey secured from black 
sage ^-ithin the past 25 years have been so 
immense that fine sage honey is now offered 
for sale in almost aU the principal cities of 
the world, and a nice sample of well-ripened 
California honey, whether comb or ex- 
tracted, is enough to call forth exclama- 
tions of surprise and delight from any one 
who thinks enough of something good to 
eat, and pleasant to the taste, to commit 
himself so far. We well remember the first 
taste we had of the mountain-sage honey. 
Mr. Langstroth was visiting us at the time, 



GGl 



SCALE HIVE 



and his exclamations were much like our 
o\A'n, only that he declared that it was 
almost identical in flavor with the famed 
honey of Hymettus, of which he had re- 
ceived a sample some years before. This 
honey of Hymettus, which had been cele- 
brated both in poetry and prose for ages 
past, is gathered from mountain thjnue, 
and the botany tells us that thyme and 
sage not only belong to the same family, 
but are closely related. Therefore it is 
nothing strange if Mr. Langstroth was 
right in declaring our California honey to 
be almost identical in flavor with the honey 
of Hymettus. The California sages grow 
along the sides of the mountains, and blos- 
som successively as the season advances; 
that is, the bees first commence work on 
til em in the valleys, and then gradually fly 
higlier up, as the blossoms open on the 
mountain side, giving them a much longer 
season than we have in regions not moun- 
tainous. 

A peculiarity of this honey is that it is 
not inclined to cand}^, but remains limpid 
during the severest winter weather. We 
have taken a sample so thick that the tum- 
bler containing it might be turned bottom 
upward without its running at all, and 
placed it out in the snow, in the dead of 
winter, and failed to crystallize it. 

SAINFOIN. {Onohrycliis satha Lam.). 
— -This excellent farm crop has been grown 
for ages in Europe, and at the present day 
is raised ver}^ extensively, more particular- 
ly in England, France, and Belgium, where 
it is a standby. The name " sainfoin " lit- 
erally means healthy hay, presumably be- 
cause it does not bloat stock to which it is 
fed. It certainly makes fine hay — possibly 
the very best known. It also produces 
choice honey in liberal quantities — the 
honey almost identical with white-clover 
honey. Grown and cultivated verj^ much 
as alfalfa is in this country, it has this 
difference — it is not suited to a semiarid 
country. It has been grown quite success- 
fully at tlie Ottawa, Ontario, experiment 
station, and thruout all Ontario. Sainfoin 
does not yield as much hay as alfalfa, 
being finer in vine, and not so tall. It 
commences to bloom shortly after fruit 
blossoms fall, and stays in bloom long 
enough to allow bees ample time to gather 
a cro}). The blossoms do not come all 



together, l)ut in succession, hence it is not 
practical to cut it just before blooming 
time, as is now done with alfalfa. It would 
seem to be a good crop for those who raise 
fine horses and cattle, also poultrymen who 
feed cut clover. It is not likely it will ever 
yield so large a crop as alfalfa, but in 
every other respect it is probably superior. 

SCALE HIVE. — Many of our most 
prominent beekeepers have in their yards 
during the season when honey is coming 
a sort of barometer of the daily honey flow 
or, more exactly, a scale hive. This con- 
sists of a hive mounted on ordinary plat- 
form spring scales with a dial to indicate 
any increase or decrease in the weight of 
the colony. As the honey flow begins, it 
will be apparent that the hive will gain 
slightly in weight. This weight will in- 
crease during the day that there is a fair 
honey flow and decrease somewhat during 
the night owing to evaporation of the 
nectar. As the season continues it is very 
easy to determine the strength of the honey 
flow, w4iat days are best, what conditions 
are best for a honey flow, and when the 
season nears its close the dial will show a 
smaller and smaller increase until no gain 
is shown at all. 

For a scale hive it is advisable to select 
a strong colony — one of the very best in the 
yard, because a medium or indifferent one 
might not show any increase in weight, 
while the stronger colony would be able to 
record whether any honey at all were com- 
ing in. ^Tiile of course it is understood 
that this strong colony would not be a fair 
average of all the others in the apiary, it 
would indicate, to some extent, what the 
nectar secretion was in the field. If, for 
example, the best colony would record a 
pound or two pounds in a day, it might be 
assumed that the poorer or weaker colonies 
would show proportionately anywhere from 
a half to a full pound of nectar increase in 
weight. Still again, our best colony on the 
scale might not show more than a quarter 
of a pound increase. Correspondingly the 
other colonies of the apiary might not 
show any gain if they were on the scale. 
Therefore, it is important to have the best 
colony in the yard. 

One might naturally ask why it is im- 
portant to have a scale hive. It might be 
argued that an expert beekeeper would be 



SHIPPING BEES 



665 



able to determine by the flight of the bees 
going into the hives whether a honey flow 
was on, whether there was a good flow, 
whether it was increasing, or whether it 
was letting up. Very true, but the actual 
record of the best colony in the apiary, 
together with the observation of the flight 
of the bees at all entrances, gives an ex- 
perienced beekeeper a much more accurate 
idea of what is going on. In a practical 
way, the scale hive enables the apiarist to 
determine whether he should put his extra 
super on top of those partly filled, or 
whether he should place it under. See 
Comb Hoxey, to Produce. 

Suppose that it is at the beginning of 
the honey flow and that the bees have part- 
ly filled the first super given. If the scale 
hive shows a good record day by day, it 
would be advisable to place the next empty 
super under the one partly filled. If, on 
the other hand, the season is getting toward 
its close and the scale shows a gradual 
daily decrease, then it would be advisable 
to put the extra super on top of the one 
partly filled, or perhaps, better still, not 
put it on at all. 

The scale hive is very useful also in 
determining how far it is advisable to 
continue extracting in the yard. If the 
season is drawing toward a close and one 
desires to leave enough stores in the hive 
for winter, or to take care of brood-rearing, 
in anticipation of another honey flow to 
follow in another month or six weeks, then 
obviously it is not advisable to extract if 
such extracting would leave the hives with- 
out any stores, making it necessary later 
on to feed sugar syrup. 

The scale hive is of value to the honey- 
producer by enabling him to determine what 
policy to pursue during the season, so that 
in producing comb honey he will not have 
too many unfinished sections on his hands ; 
or, if he is running for extracted, he will 
not leave his brood-nests bare of honey, if 
he extracts at all from the brood-nest as 
some beekeepers do. Again, there are some 
producers who, tho they do not extract 
from below, desire to have left over for 
winter a large number of extracting combs 
well filled with sealed honey so that at the 
close of the season they can give the bees 
the necessary stores by simply giving these 
combs. In cool or cold weather they are 
invaluable. They save all feeding, and 



considerable extra time, besides the cost of 
sugar. 

The yield per day for a strong colony of 
bees may vary all the way from half a 
pound to ten or even more pounds. 

SCOUTS PRECEDING SWARM.— See 

Abscoxdixg Swarms^ also Swarming. 

SECTIONS.— See Comb Honey, Appli- 
ances FOR and Hives. 

SELLING HONEY. — See Bottling 
Honey, Extracted Honey, Comb Honey, 
Shipping Cases, and Specialty in Bees. 

SELF-SPACING FRAMES. — See 

Frames; also Frames, Self-spacing, and 
Hives. 



SEPARATORS. 

Appliances for. 



See Comb Honey, 



SHADE FOR HIVES.— See Apiary. 

SHIPPING BEES.— Under Migratory 
Beekeeping mention is made of the advan- 
tage of moving bees from one locality to 
another to catch the honey flow. The prac- 
tice has been extended so that bees are 
sometimes moved from one state to another 
in carlots. This enables the owner to gather 
two or three crops of honey; whereas if 
he were to remain in one locality he would 
secure only one. 

Shipping bees in carlots from one place 
to another has been practiced more in the 
West and North than in the East ; but some 
beekeepers in the Northern States, just 
before winter sets in, move their bees to the 
extreme South, build them up during the 
early winter or spring, catch a crop of 
honey, then move them back north to catch 
the clover flow. 

The publishers of this work have moved 
several carloads of bees in this way. In 
our first two shipments we succeeded; but 
later ones were not as successful, for the 
reason that the seasons both south and 
north were unfavorable. Unless there is a 
fairly good crop of honej^ to be secured at 
both ends of the route the practice of 
moving bees in carlots is not a paying one ; 
and as the seasons are somewhat uncertain, 
the movement of bees from north to south 
and from south to north is attended with 
considerable risk. 



666 



SHIPPING BEES 



Usually the freight alone on a carload 
of bees from Florida to Ohio will run 
somewhere about $1.00 per colony provided 
there are 350 colonies to the car. The 
larger the number of colonies, the lower is 
the freight relatively. Unfortunately the 
railroad companies require that the attend- 
ant who goes with the bees pay regular 
railroad fare. This ruling is decidedly un- 
just, because the attendant in a carload of 
horses can go free. The freight rate on the 
bees themselves, the loss of some bees and 
brood during shipment, railroad fare of 
attendant, his time on a basis of twenty 
hours a day,* makes the expense of mov- 
ing from the extreme South to the North 
about $2.00 per colony. If the bees are 
moved back to the North there must be 
entered a charge of about $4.00 against 
each colony. In order to cover this expense 
the season will have to be good at both 
ends of the route to yield a profit. 

In some cases the weather is extremely 
hot when the bees are moved. If the tem- 
perature ranges around 80 or 90 in the 
shade, the loss of bees and brood will be 
considerable in spite of the precautionary 
measures on the part of the attendant in 
spraying the bees with water, as will be 
explained further on. This loss may 
amount to nearly 50 per cent of the bees 
and brood. If colonies are worth, with 
the queens, $5.00 each, it will be seen that 
in addition to the charge of $2.00 there will 
have to be entered another of $2.50. 

It sometimes happens that the car is un- 
necessarily delayed en route; and every 
day of delay means the loss of bees as well 
as brood. Ordinarily a car of bees will not 
stand more than four or five days of hot 
weather. 

While the moving of bees from Florida 
to some Northern State is attended with 
considerable risk, so much so that such 
long-distance shipments to and from these 
points have been practically discontinued, 
it is comparatively easy to move bees from 
Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming into Cali- 
fornia in the fall or early winter. (See 
Migratory Beekeeping.) The distance is 
much shorter and one is much more sure of 
catching a crop at either end of the route 
than he is when he moves a car to Florida 
and back to his own State, in the North. 

* He won't get much sleep, as he will have to be on 
the alert almost night and day. 



No one should attempt to move bees in car- 
lots anywhere without reading this article 
very carefully. If possible he should con- 
sult those who have already moved bees 
successfully. 

Where one desires to move only 100 or 
150 miles and the roads are suitable, using 
a large traction motor truck with a trailer, 
will be cheaper than sending by rail. Even 
tho one has to pay at the rate of ten or 
fifteen cents a mile, the cost of moving will 
be less than moving by rail. Usually a 
motor truck with a trailer can be secured 
that will m.ove one or two hundred colonies 
at a trip. The cost of loading will be very 
much less, because when bees are shipped 
by rail they must be securely fastened to 
take care of the severe end jolts of a 
freight train that are heavy enough to jar 
every colony loose from its moorings and 
let loose the bees. The motor truck, on the 
other hand, will be under the direct control 
of the owner of the bees. It can start 
gradually, and be run slow enough to avoid 
jolts over the " thank-you-ma'ams " and 
chuck-holes. 

HOW TO PREPARE A CARLOAD OF BEES FOR 
SHIPMENT. 

An important requisite in shipping a 
load of bees is to get the local agent to 
make arrangements all along the line to see 
that the bees are moved with all possible 
speed. At transfer points it is especially 
important to get an order from the operat- 
ing lines to have the bees transferred with- 
out delay. Arrangements should be made 
at least a week or two in advance, as it 
takes time for the correspondence to get 
over the lines. It is also important that 
the rate of freight be determined in ad- 
vance. 

If there are not more than 250 colonies 
to be moved, a small car should be secured, 
in order to reduce the minimum weight on 
which freight must be paid. Usually the 
average gross weight of the hives of bees 
will be below minimum freight; therefore 
the more bees there are loaded on to a car 
the less the relsitive cost per colony. The 
average 36-foot car will take about 350 
colonies, piled four tiers high, two rows on 
a side, leaving a small alleyway between 
the tiers of colonies and an entrance-way 
opposite the car doors, for there must be 



SHIPPING BEES 



667 



room for the attendant to place a cot-bed 
where he can sleep, when conditions will 
permit, either night or day. The minimum 
weight on a 36-foot car is*^ 14,000 lbs. The 
average shipping weight of a colony is 
about 50 lbs., including the crate. This 
will make the gross weight 17,500 lbs., or 
3,500 lbs. in excess of the minimum. If 
one were to ship only 200 colonies he would 




Fig. 1. — Crating on platform ready to load. 

have to pay freight on the minimum of 
14,000 lbs., and on this basis he would be 
paying for 4,000 lbs. of freight, with noth- 
ing to show for it. Hence it is important 
to load up to the minimum. 

AiTangements for se- 
curing the car should 
be made at least a week 
in advance. During 
warm weather or when 
the weather is not cold, 
a cattle-car should be 
secured. For fall ship- 
ment an ordinary box 
car should be selected. 
Not all cars furnished 
by the railroad com- 
pany will be strong and 
well built. 

Formerly it was 
thought necessary to 
build a series of shelv- 
ing made of 4 x 4's and 
2 x 4's to hold the hives 
one tier above another, as it was supposed 
that some colonies might need individual 
treatment en route. But experience shows 
that this is impracticable. Moreover, the 
arrangement of shelving wastes space, and 



makes the loading and unloading very dif- 
ficult and expensive. 

On our later shipments from north to 
south and back we discovered a better plan. 
A series of cratings were made of 2 x 4^s 
and long %-inch strips 4 inches wide. The 
cratings were put together in such a way 
that the 2 x 4's stood on edge. For cool or 
cold weather they might be laid flatways 
and thus save a little room. The long 
strips were nailed on each side, making in 
all a framework 4 inches thick plus two 
ys-inch strips, or a total of 5% inches. 

Figs. 1 and 2 show how the crating is 
put together. Each crate should be long 
enough to run from the ear door to the 
end of the car, and wide enough to take 
two tiers of hives side by side the narrow 
way. The %-inch strips are nailed on each 
side at intervals, center to center, equal to 
width of hive. The two by fours are 
spaced a distance equal to the length of 
the hive. A crate is set do\vn on the car 
floor to provide bottom ventilation. Two 
rows of hives are piled on the crate side by 
side, with the front and rear of the hives 
pointing to the front and rear of the car. 
If everything has been done right the 
edges of each hive will rest upon the long 
4-inch strip. Every other 2 x 4 in the 
crate is made a little longer so that it can 




Fig. 2. — One section in the car ready for the hives. 

be bolted to an upright 2x4 that binds the 
four tiers of hives together. The operation 
of loading is as follows : 

One crate is placed on the car floor. Two 
rows of hives with screens at top and bot- 



SHIPPING BEES 




Fig. 3. 



-Interior of first car of bees from Vir^nia, May 21, 1915, just before the work of unloading. 



torn are loaded on the crate. In hot weather 
it is not advisable to try to get along with 
only a top screen. Over the first tier is 
then placed another crate; on top another 
tier of hives until there are four tiers. The 
other sides of the ear are loaded in pre- 
cisely the same way. When all are in 
place, the upright 2 x 4's as long as the 
height of four tiers are bolted to the pro- 
jecting end of the horizontal 2 x 4's in 
each crate. Bolts are used because they are 
more easily removed than nails and are 
stronger. Thus there is a set of two tiers 
of hives on each side of the car with an 
alley way between these sets. The two 
sets are then braced from each other by 
means of ties across the top and bottom. 
To stand the end shocks the two sets of 
tiers in each end of the car are securely 
braced apart by 4 x 4's. These ties or 



braces must be at the top and bottom so 
that the operator can reach every colony 
with a watering pot. 

There will be a space in the alley way of 
about 14 to 15 inches between the two sets 
of tiers lengthwise and a space of the 
width of the car between the car doors and 
between the ends of the tiers. This latter 
space is occupied with tools, cot-bed, bed- 
clothing, lanterns, hammer, saw, nails, a 
few extra bolts, a brace and bit, and a lit- 
tle extra lumber. Usually it is an advan- 
tage to carry along a little oil stove to heat 
water for coffee or do a little light cooking, 
as one gets a little tired of all " cold grub " 
on so tedious a journey. It is important 
that each of the hives should be screened 
top and bottom as explained under Moving 
Bees Short Distances. That makes it 
necessary to remove covers and bottoms. 



SHIPPING BEES 



669 



These should be piled on top of the tiers of 
hives just under the car roof. They should 
be secured by means of a rope or wire. 

Where a cattle-car is used the crates can 
be wired to the frame of the sides of the 
car. This helps to hold each tier to itself, 

SPRAYING THE BEES TO KEEP THEM COOL. 

Mention was made of the fact that the 
operator should have room enough so he 
can go back and forth between the hives to 
sprinkle them with a watering-pot or force- 
pump. It is important to have in each car 
at least one or two barrels of water along 
with the bed and tools. During hot weather 
on a trip of six daj's bees will use up 
several barrels of water en route. When 
the car stops and the weather is hot, bees 
will be thickly clustered over the wire 
cloth ; and to prevent their becoming over- 
heated the wire cloth should be sprayed. 
Care should be taken not to overdo it, as 
the young brood will be chilled. As a gen- 
eral thing, unsealed brood, either on ac- 
count of too much heat or chilling in bad 
weather, will be killed, altho we have 
brought shipments thru from the South 
with all the brood in good condition; but 
the weather was cool, and the hives were 
sprayed only when the ear was not mo\dng. 

The attendant must make up his mind 
that a trip with a carload of bees is not a 
Pullman ride. He will have to watch the 
framework very carefully, especially after 
each end shock. Whenever the ear stops 
he will have to look after the spraying. 
When the car has to stand on a side track 
for a few houi^s he may be compelled to 
tack some sheeting on the exposed side of 
the car to shut out the hot rays of the sun. 

While one can get 350 single-story colo- 
nies of bees in a 36-foot car, he can load 200 
two-story colonies, in the same space. This 
saves some crating and time in handling 
individual units. Colonies that are verv 
strong will not go thru as well as those that 
are lighter. Ordinarily 3 lbs. of bees and 
six or seven frames of brood are enough 
for a single-story hive. Colonies, however, 
may be proportionally stronger in cool or 
cold weather. 

MOVIXG BEES IX REFEIGERATOR CARS. 

When bees are moved in cool weather, 
say along in the fall, a cattle-car of the 



kind already described is as good as any- 
thing that can be used ; but if it is desired 
to move them in hot weather, the cattle-car 
can still be used, provided the hives are 
placed far enough apart to insure ventila- 
tion and the screens are wet down with 
water. 

Some beekeepers have used very success- 
fully, for hot weather, refrigerator cars 
packed with ice. The bees are put in the 
car in much the same manner as already 
described, except that not as much ventila- 
tion is required and therefore less space is 
needed between the several tiers of hives. 
The several rows of hives one on top of the 
other, should be securely braced and the 
car iced at the starting of the journey. In 
this case an attendant does not stay in the 
car, but should go along with the train 
crew to see that the car is not side-tracked 
and that it does not get out of ice. 

Difficulty has been experienced in get- 
ting ice along the route in a few instances. 
Before one attempts to ship in refrigerator 
cars he should make sure that he can get 
ice along the route when needed. For 
short distances no extra ice would be re- 
quired. 

The idea of using a refrigerator car, of 
course, is to reduce the temperature so as 
to keep the bees quiet; but the mistake 
should not be made of putting on the cov- 
ers of the hives supposing that the icing 
will be sufficient. The constant moving of 
the car keeps the bees stiiTed up so it is 
advisable to use wire screens the same as 
when an open cattle-car is used. 

The gi'eat problem of moving bees, 
whether in cattle cars or refrigerator cars, 
is to keep them from getting overheated. 
There is no trouble during the fall of the 
year or during winter. In mo\'ing bees 
during cold weather a closed box car is 
preferable to a cattle-car. In no case 
should refrigerator cars be used except 
during extremely hot weather when for ex- 
ample bees are moved from southern Cali- 
fornia in June or July to Idaho, Montana, 
or Wyoming to catch the later flow of 
honey from alfalfa. 

SHIPPING BEES IN CARLOTS WITHOUT COMBS. 

Under Beginning with Bees, men- 
tion is made of bees being sent by express 
without combs. Some experiments have 



670 



SHIPPIXG BEES 




Loading the bees on the steamer. 

been made showing that, even I ho express 
rates are considerably higher, a 3-lb. pack- 



age of beeS; or, rather, a crate of 12 of 
them, can be sent by express cheaper than 
the equivalent capacity of bees and brood 
in the regular hives by fi-eight, and the 
time on the road will be very much less. 
I>ut during extremely warm weather, such 
packages of bees, possibly a dozen or more, 
do not go thru in good order. But in early 
spring they can be sent from the South to 
build up colonies in the North very nicely. 
A large business has developed in ship- 
ping bees by express in one-, two-, and 
three-pound packages without combs, and 
this business is pro\ang to be highly profit- 
able. See Beginning with Bees. 

SHIPPING BEES BY BOAT. 

Where water privileges are available, 
bees can often be shipjDed best by boat, 
either up or down river or down bays. In 
1914 we shipped bees up the Apalachicola 
River. The ordinary flat-bottom boats used 
on those shallow rivers answer a very ex- 
cellent purpose. The hives are loaded on 
the outside platforms; and as there is no 
jolt, the indi^'idual hives do not need to be 
braced together. Bees on boats like this 
can be carried one or two hundred miles 
very easily. As the air on water is usually 
cooler, there is but very little danger from 
suffocation, but they will need to be sprayed 
at intervals. 




On the boat down the Apalachicola River, between Bainbridge and Randlett's Landini 



SHIPPING CASES FOR COMB HONEY 



671 




Loading three-frame nuclei on launch preparatory to trip five miles up the river to the Nucleus yard. 



For migratory beekeeping small boats 
can be used, carrying forty or fifty colonies 
at a time for ten or fifteen miles. The 
illustrations show bees that we loaded and 
moved on the Apalachicola River in 1914. 

SHIPPING CASES FOR COMB 
HONEY. — It is one thing to produce a 
fine crop of comb honey with sections nice- 
ly filled out, w^ell scraped and gi'aded, and 
another thing to deliver that honey to mar- 
ket without leakage or breakage. It should 
be borne in mind that a section of honey is 
exceedingly fragile, much more so than a 
bottle containing pickles, syrups, or any 
other commodity. For many years back 
comb-honey producers have been putting 
their nicely built sections in poorly de- 
signed cases, and the result has been a 
large amount of breakage and leakage. 
This loss is usually assessed against the 
producer, and sometimes the item alone is 
enough to wipe out the entire profit of the 
season. When he gets his returns he is so 
disgusted that he either quits the business 
entirely or produces extracted honey only 
thereafter. 

If beekeepers would be as careful in 
packing their product as the manufacturer 



of bottled goods, there would be very little 
complaint of broken-down combs or leaky 
sections, and the result would be a much 
larger consumption of comb honey because 
the dealer would then be willing to take it 
and push its sale. Unfortunately, there 
has been so much ignorance and * careless- 
ness on the part of comb-honey producers 
that many dealers say they will not handle 
comb honey again. This is most unfortu- 
nate, because the consumers demand comb 
honey. Some years there is an over-supply 
of extracted and a great deficiency of 
honey in the comb. In 1915 and 1916 the 
reverse was true. 

The old-style shipping cases were made 
of light thin stuff having a glass front with 
a paper tray in the bottom and cross-cleats 
to support the sections of honey. This 
case was altogether too light to protect its 
fragile contents; and the bottom of the 
case, or, rather, the cleats supporting the 
sections, were rigid, so that whenever the 
case received a bump or jar from any 
cause, some sections were liable to be 
broken. The patent-medicine men and bot- 
tlers of canned goods put up their product 
in such a way that each separate bottle will 
be cushioned or protected from the ordi- 



672 



SHIPPING CASES FOR COMB HONEY 



nary rough usage that the whole box re- 
ceives in the hands of the truck men and 
the express handlers, to say nothing of the 
damage received when shipped by freight. 
The cut shows one of the old-style cases 
that provided a rigid or unyielding sup- 
port for the sections to rest on; namely, 




Old-style shipping case with paper drip pan and no 
drip cleats. 

the wooden cross-cleats. The next two 
illustrations show a much more strongly 
built case. It will be noticed in the lower 
cut that the bottom is padded with ordi- 
nary corrugated paper, the same material 
that is used by the patent-medicine men in 
packing their bottles of medicine. In fact, 
the shippers of all bottled goods are using 
corrugated paper, not only around the bot- 



any of the concussion. Experience has 
also demonstrated that it is wiser to use 
narrower glass. It shows off the honey to 
better advantage, and at the same time 
permits of the use of wider cleats and 
more nails in the front. When these are 
properly nailed, the case is much stronger. 

Sometimes cross-partitions of corrugated 
paper are used, and at other times cartons 
of cheap strawboard, such cartons slipping 
around each individual section. If these 
are a little larger than the sections, and 
especially if a little deeper, they will sus- 
tain all the weight that may be placed on 
top of the case, leaving the sections which 
they contain without any strain upon them. 
The cartons have the further advantage 
that they can be sold with the individual 
sections. In this way the delicate comb is 
protected, not only during shipment, but 
while in the market basket on the way 
from the groceiy to the home. 

If there is anything that disgusts the 
housekeeper, it is a leaky section of honey 
that besmears all her other groceries, mak- 
ing a broken, sticky mess of everything. 
If, therefore, the comb-honey producer 
would have the consumer pleased as well 
as the large dealer and buyer, he must 
make sure that his goods are protected 
clear to the consumer. 




Regular 12-lb. shipping case. 

tie, but in the bottom. This material makes 
an excellent cushion, not only under the 
sections but at the tops, ends, and sides as 
well, so that when the case is dropped or 
receives a sudden jar the cushion of the 
corrugated paper absorbs a large part, if 
not all, of the shock. Comparative tests 
show that sections in a case having corru- 
gated paper will stand much rougher usage 
without breakage than similar sections 
placed in a case having rigid cleats across 
the bottom that, of course, cannot absorb 



Regular single-tier 24-lb. shipping case. 

The above illustration shows how the 
cover-boards are halved together, and how 
the glass is let into the strips top and 
bottom. (For enlarged detail engraving, 
see next page.) The strips should be thoroly 
nailed, two nails in each end; in fact, the 
case should be well nailed all over. So far 
as possible it should be made very rigid, so 
that it will not spring nor twist, for if the 
case is at all frail the sections are almost 
sure to receive damage, particularly so if 
corrugated paper and cartons are not used. 



SHIPPING CASES FOR COMB HONEY 



673 



The accompanying illustration shows the 
details of what are called safety cases. These 
contain the cartons already mentioned, and 
also the corrugated paper at the bottom, 
top, sides, and ends. 

While shipping cases containing cartons 
and corrugated paper and built on scientific 
lines cost more, as a matter of course, than 
the old-style cases, yet the producer can 
well afford to use them, and he will save a 
considerable breakage, leakage, and no end 
of complaint, and, besides, avoid practical- 
ly all trouble with the commission mer- 
chants or the dealers who buy the goods. 
It generally happens when the comb honey 
goes thru in bad order that there is con- 
siderable correspondence as to what would 
be a proper adjustment. Should the serv- 
ices of an attorney be needed, and suit 
brought, still greater expense is incurred. 

WHY IT PAYS TO USE BETTER SHIPPING 

CASES. 

One large buyer of comb honey who buys 
honey in car lots made the statement that 
his breakage carefully figured up in one 
season showed a loss to the producer of not 
less than 11 3-10 per cent. If 
the shipments that are made 
from all parts of the country, 
in all kinds of shipping cases, 
should be taken into considera- 
tion, this loss would reach nearer 
25 per cent; but call it 20 per 
cent. The safety cases with car- 
tons and corrugated paper cost 
about 6 or 7 cents more than the 
ordinary old-style cases that re- 
sult in a breakage of about 20 
per cent. If the breakage and 
leakage amount to about 20 per 
cent on the average, and if an 
allowance is made for about 50 
per cent for salvage on the 
broken product, there is still a 
loss of anywhere from 35 to 50 cents per 
case of honey when the investment of 7 or 
8 cents for a better case will save practical- 
ly all of it. Let it be assumed that the loss 
from leakage and breakage in the ordinary 
case is 35 cents per case of 24 sections. On 
a crop of 20,000 pounds it would mean a 
loss of $300, while the extra cost of using 
the safety cases or those equally good 
would amount to only about $50.00. Plain- 
ly, here would be a saving of about $250. 
22 



Moreover, the beekeeper using these better 
cases would get quick returns, and a satis- 
fied customer for another year's business. 

But there are a large number of bee- 
keepers who feel that they cannot even 
afford to purchase the cheap factory-made 
cases. If the loss should be from 10 to 




24-11). Safety shipping case. 

20 per cent with the cheap cases, it may 
be figured that the loss would be at least 
from 25 to 50 per cent with the ordinary 
home-made cases or cases made at planing 
mills. The great trouble with the home 
product is the poor sawmg, inaccuracy, 
and their miserable appearance. Even if 
the honey goes thru safely, the cases look 
so cheap and poor that the average buyer 
will deduct at least one or two cents per 




The covers are halved at the joints to 
keep out ants and other insects. 

Note that the pieces holding the glass 
are fastened securely to the ends by two 
nails in each. 



pound on the honey. The honey may be 
ever so nice; but if it is put up in a 
roughly made container it will bring a 
correspondingly lower price. 

The most serious objection to homemade 
cases is their variation in size. Some of 
them will be too shallow, and the result 
will be that when the cover is nailed down 
it will break nearly every section in the 
case. Another case will be too deep and 
too long, with the result that the sections 



674 



SHIPPING CASES FOR COMB HONEY 




/ \ 



J 



h 



>s ^ 






■^SiiiiriZ 




\ 



w^ 




/ 



SKEP 



675 



will rattle about in the case and break 
down nearly as badly. The average 
planing-mill man does not understand the 
importance of making the case absolutely 
accurate. The saws have very coarse teeth 
making rough edges, and his gauges ai^e 
not accurate. His product will be any- 
thing but satisfactoi-y for shipping so ex- 
pensive and fragile a product as comb 
honey. When a good factory-made case 
with cartons and corrugated paper can be 
bought for a little more money, it is folly 
to pay a planing-mill man a few cents less 
for a case that will bring a loss in break- 
age and leakage amounting to 50 per cent 
on the honey. 

SHIPPING CASES MADE OF CORRUGATED 
PAPER. 

During the last few years some effort 
has been made to use shipping cases made 



Various styles of these cases have been 
proposed. The two upper ones shown are 
those used by Mr. Crane. Those shown at 
the bottom can be purchased at the ordi- 
nary paper-box factories, for putting up 
eggs and bottled goods. 

The last named provide a double thick- 
ness under the bottom and over the top of 
the sections, and in the knockdown or flat 
take less room. The design also makes a 
stronger case. 

TVhile such cases seem to answer very 
well for honey in bottles, it should be re- 
membered that a bottle of honey or a bottle 
of syrup or pickles will stand very much 
rougher handling than the ordinary section 
of honey. Paper cases can be bought for 
less money than the wooden ones, espe- 
cially those of the safety kind; but ex- 
perience of the last two years has shown 
that it would perhaps be wise not to use 
too manv of them at the start at least. 





Safety carton in the 



it. Safety carton ready to receive sections, and how a rubber 
band is slipped over section and carton. 



out of corrugated paper or strawboard — 
the same material that is used in the safety 
cases, to cushion the sections. J. E. Crane 
of Middlebury, Vt., has used this kind of 
case for several years, and is well pleased 
with them; but some of the large commis- 
sion houses and buyers of honey protest 
against their use. They claim that they 
are not strong enough to stand the rough 
handling of the railroad men; that as it 
is not practicable to put glass in them, the 
fragile contents of the package are not 
understood, and, as a result, they receive a 
much rougher handling. Again, it has been 
claimed that the paper cases will not stand 
rain or wet like the wooden cases. If a 
single section is broken down, it is liable 
to cause the bottom of the case to soak up 
with honey, and this weakens the case so 
that it is of but little use to protect the 
rest of the sections. 



They may come into general use in time, 
but comb honey is so fragile an article 
that a wooden box is none too strong. See 
BoTTLixG Honey ; also Marketing Honey. 

SIZE OF FRAMES.— See Hi\-es. 

SKEP.— The tenn " skep " is often used 
by old-fashioned beekeepers to refer to a 
colony of bees in any kind of hive; but 
more properh' it applies to box hives and 
straw skeps — the last named meaning bas- 
ket in old English. In England and even 
many of the countries on the continent of 
Europe, the old straw skep is still used 
quite largely, because lumber is expensive 
and straw cheap. The bees are allowed to 
build the combs just the same as mentioned 
under the head of Box Hi\"ES ; also Hi\'es^ 
Evolution of. On top of the flat-top 
type of skeps, modern supers containing 



676 



SMOKE AND SMOKERS 




Straw keeps the hives cool in summer nnd \\arm in winter. 




specialists Inspecting bargains at the bee market in Holland. 



sections are sometimes used. The making 
of straw skeps for cottagers is quite a little 
business of itself — requiring a certain de- 
gree of skill and industry. 

Straw skeps are not used in this country 
at the present time; and if it were not for 
the familiar pictures of " ye olden times " 
Americans would know but little about 
them. See Box Hives. 



SMARTWEED.— See Heaktsease. 

SMOKE AND SMOKERS.— One can 

drive cattle and horses, and, to some ex- 
tent, even pigs, with a whip ; but one who 
undertakes to drive bees without smoke 
will find to his sorrow that all the rest of 
the animal kingdom are mild in compari- 
son, especially so far as stubbornness and 



SMOKE AND SMOKERS 



6: 



fearlessness of consequences are concerned. 
One ma}' kill them bj^ thousands or may 
even burn them up with fii^e; but the 
death agonies of their comrades seem only 
to provoke them to new fury, and they 
push on to the combat with a relentlessness 
which can be compared to nothing better 




Bingham smoker. 

than a nest of yellow- jackets that have 
made up their minds to die, and to make 
all the mischief they possibly can before 
dj'ing. It is here that the power of smoke 
comes in ; and to one who is not conversant 



mouth-piece at one end, and a removable 
cap with a vent at the other end for the 
issuing of smoke. By blowing on the 
mouth-piece, smoke can be forced out. 
Others, again, have used a tin pan in 
which was some buraing rotten wood. This 
is put on the windward side of the hive so 
as to blow smoke over the frames. All of 
these, however, were crude makeshifts in 
comparison with the improved smokers 
which are on the market toda}'. 

Moses Quinbj^ (see Quixby) has the 
credit for first giving us a bellows bee- 
smoker. This was a most decided step in 
advance over the old methods of introduc- 
ing smoke among the bees. In principle 
his original smoker did not differ essential- 
ly from the Bingham and the L. C. Root, 
which were introduced later. It had, how- 
ever, one serious defect; and that was, it 
would go out, the fire-pot not bemg prop- 
erly ventilated to insure a good draft. 
Some years after, T. F. Bingham of Far- 
well, Mich., and L. C. Root, son-in-law of 
Quinby, then of Mohawk, N. Y., but now 
of Stamford, Ct., introduced bee-smokers 
to the world on the principle of the origi- 
nal Quinby bellows smoker, but with sev- 
eral decided improvements. The fii'e-cups, 
at the same time, were made rather larger, 
with a blast vent near the bottom. Thru 
this vent a continuous draft could be 



r^^^f^^ 




Three sizes of Root smokers. 



with its use, it seems simply astonishing 
to see them turn about and retreat in the 
most perfect dismay and fright, from the 
effects of a puff or two of smoke from a 
mere fragment of rotten wood. What could 
beekeepers do with bees at times, were no 
such potent power as smoke knowTL? See 
Bee Behavior; also Anger op Bees. 

There have been various devices for get- 
ting smoke on to the bees, such as, for 
instance, a common tin tube having a 



maintained, even when the smoker was not 
in use, thus preventing them from going 
out like the original Quinby. 

Of the two smokers, the L. C. Root was 
taken off the market some years ago. The 
Bingham is still sold, and is now furnished 
in various sizes by dealers. 

All the smokers of today employ what is 
known as the hot-blast principle — that is, 
the blast of air from the bellows is blown 
thru the fire. This makes a heavy volume 



SMOKE AND SMOKERS 



of smoke — volume enough with the proper 
fuel to subdue the worst kind of hybrids. 

The improved Root smoker on the same 
principle with its new snout is very neat 
and substantial. The old-style nozzles were 
somewhat top heavy, having a tendency to 
tip over or flop open at a most incon- 
venient time. The ones here shown are 
not only compact in appearance, but will 
hold their position on top of the stove 
without danger of toppling over, no mat- 
ter how roughly used. There is no reason 
why the nozzle or snout should be large 
and heavy, having a capacity rarely if ever 




Details of the Root smoker. — A. — Metal projection 
to aid the fingers in holding bellows; B. — Coiled wire 
handle; C. — Hook; D. — Lock nvits for legs; K. — 
Stamped metal legs ; F. — -Flexible hinge. • 

needed. The hinge is a light skeleton 
stamping, ^delding just enough to make it 
fit nicely on the smoker-barrel, and yet 
crowd the creosote out of the way. A very 
neat wire-coil handle, which will remain 
cool under all circumstances, is riveted se- 
curely in place on the back of the snout at 
a point that is most convenient for lifting 
and shutting the cap. It works so easily 
that it is not necessary to bang or pound 
the nozzle to open the smoker. The legs 
are of skeleton sheet-metal stamping with 
a projecting brace which is very strong and 
rigid. They are riveted to the stove and 
bolted to the bellows-board. No matter 
how rough the usage, these bolts and rivets 
"\A^11 not let go. The shield has been omit- 
ted as it has been learned by experience 
that the cylinder comprising the stove 



burns out under the shield, destroying the 
actual life of the metal itself. An anti- 
spark tube is situated just below this grate, 
as shown, and of such construction as to 
prevent the suction of sparks into the bel- 
lows or out into the air, setting fire to 
clothing. The bellows itself is metal-bound 
(see A), a feature which is greatly appre- 
ciated for several reasons. It serves to in- 
crease the life of the bellows, protecting 
the leather edges from wear; prevents ab- 
solutely the warping of the bellows-boards 
themselves, and the binding is of such con- 
struction that it forms a very convenient 
hold to the bellows-boards while the smoker 
is being operated. This feature makes it 
possible to reduce the tension of the spring, 
permitting of a bellows that will respond 
instantly with a good strong blast, and yet 
the action is perfectly easy. The hook, C, 
is for hanging the smoker on a hive or car- 
rying by the little finger when the hands 
are full of other stuff. There are three 
sizes of these smokers, comprising stoves 
4, 31/4? and 2^/2 inches in diameter. 

The object of the deflected nozzle on all 
three of the leading hot-blast smokers is to 
prevent fire dropping. In the old-style 
smokers it was necessary in blowing smoke 
to tip the barrel almost upside dowm, or at 
such an angle that the fire-embers would 
sometimes fall on the brood-frames and the 
bees. The new nozzle permits one to use 
the smoker almost right side up, and yet a 
stream of smoke can be poured on the 
combs. 

FUEL FOR SMOKERS. 

It will be unnecessary to give directions 
for using these hot or cold blast smokers, 
as printed directions accompany all smok- 
ers sent out by each manufacturer; yet it 
may be well to allude to the different kinds 
of fuel that have been used. Rotten wood 
is good, and accessible to all, but it burns 
out too rapidly. Mr. Bingham recommends 
sound hard wood for his smoker. Dr. Mil- 
ler and some others prefer turning-lathe 
hardwood shavings, or, if these are not 
available, planer shavings. In certain lo- 
calities peat can be obtained very cheaply, 
and it makes an excellent fuel. Some use 
old rags; others old discarded hive-quilts 
that are covered with propolis. These last 
make a very pungent subduing smoke. In 



SMOKE AND SMOKERS 



679 



some parts of the South, dry pine needles 
are used. 

W. L. Coggshall, one of the most exten- 
tive beekeepers in the world, uses a special 
fuel made out of old phosphate sacks rolled 
around a half-inch stick, tied at regular 
intervals, and then chopped into convenient 
lengths with a sharp ax. The rolls should, 
of course, be of the right diameter and 
length to fit inside the smoker used. The 
sacking must not be rolled too tightly nor 
made too snug a fit, or else it will choke the 
draft and put out the smoker. The reader 




Choppinar up rolls of burlap for smoker-fuel. An 
old sack is rolled up, tied at intervals, and then cut 
in pieces between the strings. 



is, therefore, recommended to make a few 
experimental rolls before he makes up a 
lot for a season's use. 

To facilitate lighting with a match, one 
end of the roil is dipped half an inch into 
a solution of saltpeter, and allowed to dry. 
If a little red lead be sprinkled in the solu- 
tion it will be very easy to tell which end of 
the roll is for lighting, 

A quantity of old sacking, says Mr. 
Coggshall, will be sufficient for one sea- 
son's use, and the fuel gives a lasting 
smoke without sparks. He further says 
that he can take a cold smoker, and in ten 
seconds have all the smoke he requires, as 
the saltpeter ignites instantly. 

When old sacking cannot be obtained, 
old carpets or old burlap can doubtless be 
used. Even new burlap would not be ex- 
pensive, altho Mr. Coggshall says the fab- 



ric should be partly rotted to give the best 
results. He lays his old phosphate sacks 
out in the weather for about three months, 
and then rolls them up. 

THE BEST SMOKER FUEL. 

The authors have been using greasy 
waste in a smoker with great success. It 
requires no treatment with any chemical to 
make it light easily, and it is almost impos- 
sible to extinguish it after it is once lighted, 
even tho it be stamped in the mud. There 
is no question but that this is perhaps the 
very best smoker fuel, altho in some places 
it may be somewhat difficult to obtain. It 
furnishes a strong subduing smoke, and is 
almost free from creosote. It can usually 
be had for the asking at any machine shop 
or printing shop, and it may be picked up 
along railroads, altho as a iTile it would 




A tool house for smokers, tools, veils, and fuel, 
fuel is kept in the lower part under the shelf. 



The 



take too much time to hunt up greasy 
waste in this way. A piece could be found 
here and there, but generally not enough 
to pay for the trouble. A supply can be 



680 



SMOKE AND SMOKERS 



obtained at any factory to last a whole 
season. It gives a strong, pungent smoke; 
does not make a hot fire ; is easily lighted ; 
will not go out, even tho the smoker be left 
standing for four or five hours at a time. 

ABUSES OF A SMOKER. 

A good smoker should last a number of 
seasons, but it will veiy quickly cease to be 
a good implement if it is not well taken 
care of. 

One of the most common abuses of a 
smoker is to leave it out in the rain. We 



no danger of setting fire to anything. The 
fuel is kept below this shelf. There is 
room enough usually to hold a supply for 




It is very seldom the grate becomes so filled up 
that it has to be cleaned ; but when this does happen 
it is the work of only a moment to insert the point 
of a file in one of the holes and lift out the grate, 
as here shown. It pays to keep the grates clean. 
There are a larger number of holes near the outside 
of the grate than in the center, consequently the fuel 
burns evenly and does not throw sparks until it is all 
consumed. 

have seen many smokers left out in all 
kinds of weather; and it is needless to say 
that the bellows leather soon becomes hard, 
and cracks, and the fire-box gets rusty. A 
good many beekeepers keep their smokers 
in an empty hive and thus avoid the dan- 
ger of a costly fii-e. If the whole hive 
should burn, the loss would not be so very 
great. 

A better plan than this is to build a 
small tool house. This need not be over 
five or six feet high. There is a substantial 
shelf, as shown, on which smokers, hive- 
tools, veils, etc., may be kept. It is a good 
plan to provide a piece of heavy sheet iron 
about half an inch above the shelf for the 
smokers to stand on, so that there will be 




Fig. S.^How to hold the smoker when raising the 
cap. Compress the bellows in order to give the fingers 
a firmer hold. 

a whole season ; and when it is kept in this 
way it is always dry and read}^ for use. 




Fig. 6. — Tlie convenience of a hook in the back of 
the bellows. The smoker is always at hand at a sec- 
ond's notice. 

We have such small buildings at all our 
out-yards, and consider them almost indis- 
pensable. 



SMOKE AND SMOKERS 



681 



Another common abuse of the smoker is 
to allow creosote to collect at the top until 
the cap will not fit down over the fire-box. 
In a new smoker wdth the flexible hinge 
there is not apt to be so much trouble in 
this way, but at the same time it is well to 
spend about ten seconds once a week or so 




Fig. 7. — Cnrrying- a smoker willi the little finger 
when the hands are full. 



with a screw-driver in cleaning off this 
accumulation. 

Sometimes beginners in their eagerness 
to test new smokers work the bellows so 
vigorously as to blow fire from the nozzle, 
and before they knew it the fire-box is red- 
hot. This means, of course, that the tin 
is all burned off, leaving the bare iron to 
rust thru in a short time. There is usually 
no need of having a hot flame in the fire- 
box, for this implies perfect combustion; 
while the secret of getting lots of smoke 
is to have imperfect combustion. Some- 
times this is a fault of the fuel. For this 
reason it is best to use fuels that burn 
slowly. 

While it is impossible to avoid dropping 
.a smoker once in a while, as a rule bee- 
smokers are handled pretty roughly. It 
does not take long to learn to use reason- 



able care in handling a smoker, whereby it 
will last enough longer to pay. 

When a fuel is used in which there is a 
good deal of pitch it is sometimes difficult 
to raise the cap or nozzle after the fire is 
out and the metal has become cold. There 
are numerous instances in which the cap 
has been battered almost out of shape after 
being stuck down solid. It is always best 
where such fuel is used to raise the cap 
when putting the smoker away. If it is 
left open there will be no sticking. 

The gi'ate will usually keep clean ; but in 
some cases when it gets stopped up, insert 
the point of a file into one of the holes and 
lift it out. It can then be easily cleaned 
and replaced. 

HOW TO USE A SMOKER. 

Perhaps the majority of beekeepers un- 
derstand using a smoker without any spe- 
cial instructions, but, as a rule, too much 




Fig. 8. — Holding a smoker between the knees while 
manipulating frames. 



smoke is used. It is best to use just as 
much as is necessary and not any more. A 
beginner so often stupefies the bees that 
they become practically demoralized. It is 
needless to say that this is a very bad plan. 
Very often colony after colony can be 
opened without the use of smoke, espe- 



682 



SOLITARY BEES 



cially when the bees are working; but at 
the same time it is well to have a smoker 
near at hand. 

It is not considered good practice to 
smoke bees out of comb-honey supers, as 
they are frightened at the smell of smoke, 
and, in their desire to save honey, uncap 
some of the cells and thus spoil the appear- 
ance of what might otherwise be fancy 
honey. 

In looking for a queen, use little or no 
smoke, as it is very easy to set the bees 




Fig. 9. — Manipulating frames while holding the 
smoker between the knees and working the bellows. 

running all over the combs, making it next 
to impossible to locate the queen. At such 
times the frames should be handled slowly 
and carefully, the beekeeper doing nothing 
to disturb or excite the bees. See last part 
of A B C of Beekeeping and Manipula- 
tion OF Colonies. 

Fig. 5 shows the most natural way of 
holding the smoker when the cap is opened. 
A better hold is secured with the left hand 
if the bellows is compressed as shown. 
Take hold of the coiled-wire handle with 
the right hand and it will be seen that the 
cap can be raised very easily without the 
least danger of burning the fingers. The 
coiled-wire handle remains cool, no matter 
how hot the fii'e is. 



SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOR. 

Wax, also Bottling Honey. 



See 



SOLITARY BEES.— The bees, or An- 
thophila, according to their economy, may 
be divided into two groups, the social bees 
which live in communities, as the honey- 
bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees; and 
the solitary bees, among which each female 
builds her own nest and provides alone 
for her brood. The social bees are de- 
scribed elsewhere in this work. 

Up to the present time there have been 
recorded in North America over 2,000 spe- 
cies of native bees. This is about one-quar- 
ter of the described species in the world, 
which are estimated at 8,000. In Europe 
there also occur about 2,000 species, 200 
are known in England, 440 in Germany, 
510 in Hungary, and 413 in Algiers. The 
majority are solitary forms, since the social 
families do not include over 500 species. 
But the indigenous bees of North America 
are as yet only partly known. Immense 
tracts still remain unknown, so far as 
their bee fauna is concerned. Manitoba, 
British Columbia, the whole tier of South- 
ern States along the Gulf of Mexico, as 
well as many Western States, are as yet 
practically unexplored, and will doubtless 
afford a rich harvest to the diligent collec- 
tor. The number of species found in any 
one locality is usually not large, and is 
greatly influenced by the climate and soil. 
In Maine there are about 200 species, in 
Illinois 300, and in New Mexico 500. The 
Antliophila may be classified in fourteen or 
more families according to the conception 
of family adopted by the mellitologist. In 
this division the more important characters 
employed are the structure of the mouth- 
parts, and the pollen-brushes, and the vein- 
ing of the wings. 

SOLITARY BEES AND FLOWER POLLINATION. 

In their relations to flowers bees may be 
divided into two series, the short4ongued 
forms and the long-tongued forms. The 
long-tongued bees are able to reach the nec- 
tar in nearly all flowers except those 
adapted to butterflies, moths, and birds, 
but they confine their attention chiefly to 
bee flowers which have the nectar more or 
less concealed, such as the columbines, lark- 
spurs, clovers, vetches, many mints and 
figworts, thistles, and many other Com- 
positae with long corolla tubes. The short- 
tongued bees are compelled to visit open. 



SOLITARY BEES 



683 



rotate flowers with the nectar exposed or 
only slightly concealed, as the plum, straw- 
berry, blackberry, raspberry, pear, apple, 
and basswood, or to flowers with very short 




Fir:. 1. — Primitive bees: 1. Prosopis modesta; a, 
female; b, male. 2. Sprecodes ranunculi; a, female; 
b, male. Tongues short, bodies smooth and nearly 
hairless, without pollen-brushes. The pollen and nec- 
tar are masticated as collected, and the regurgitated 
liquid is stored in the cells as food for the larvae. 

corolla tubes like the goldenrods. In North 
America the more common genera of short- 
tongued bees are Prosopis^ Colletes, Sphe- 
cocles, TIalictus, Andrena, and Macropis. 

THE SHORT-TONGUED BEES AS FLOWER 
VISITORS. 

The most primitive bees belong to the 
genus Frosopis, and are closely allied to 
the sand wasps from which probably they 
are derived. Among these small coal-black 
bees there are no adaptations for visiting 
flowers. Their nearly hairless bodies are 
destitute of pollen-brushes, and they have 
short, broad, emarginate tongues like the 
wasps. Were it not that thej" feed their 
offspring on a paste of pollen and nectar 
and consequently visit flowers more fre- 
quently, they would be of no more value 
than the wasps as pollinators. The semi- 
liquid paste stored in their cells consists of 
partially digested pollen and nectar, which 
has been regurgitated. The bees of this 
genus tunnel in the pithy stems of bram- 
bles, and naturally are common on the 
flowers of blackberries, but they are also 
often found on the blossoms of the stone- 
crop {Sedum acre), prickly sarsaparilla 
[Ardlia hispida), goldenrod, mignonette. 



and collecting pollen on wild roses. Al- 
most equally primitive is the genus Sphe- 
codes, except that they have acquired a short 
pointed tongue. They are nearly hairless and 
are without pollen-brushes, and the food 
supply furnished their brood is similar to 
that of Prosopis. Great interest attaches 
to these two genera since they show the 
early stages of bees before they were much 
modified as the result of flower visits, and 
doubtless closely resemble ancestral forms 
of the honeybee (Fig. 1). 

No other genera of the solitary bees are 
represented by so many species and indi- 
viduals as Halictus and Andrena. They 
show a marked advance over the preceding 
genera in their adaptations to flowers. The 
tongue is longer, the thorax is thickly pu- 
bescent, and the hind legs for nearly their 
entire length are covered with a dense 
scopa of hairs. They carry the pollen dry 
and chiefly on the thighs, while the honey- 
bees moisten it with honey and pack it on 
the tibiae. The ground bees are very im- 
portant in wild regions where there are no 
honeybees, and before the discovery of 
America probably played the chief role in 
the pollination of fruit bloom. On warm 
days in spring clouds of these bees fill the 
air around the bloom of the willows, plum 
trees, cherries, blackberries, and at times 
nearly all fruit trees and shrubs. Obser- 
vations made at the experiment station of 
Connecticut showed that in that locality 
they were by far the most common visitors 
to the apple, pear, quince, gooseberry, cur- 
rant, blackberry, and raspberry. For in- 
stance, out of 359 Hymenoptera taken on 
the sweet cherry 349 belonged to Andrena 
and Halictus. But in very large orchards 
and in general, honeybees are the most 
valuable. The ground bees are also com- 
mon on blueberries, cornels. Viburnum, 
roses, sumacs, goldenrods, and hundr^s of 
others (Fig. 2). 

All of the genera of short-tongued bees, 
thus far described, carry the pollen dry; 
but Macropis is the first genus to moisten 
it with honey. The brush on the hind tibise 
is long and dense and is often heavily 
loaded with damp pollen. A common spe- 
cies of this genus is M. ciliata, or the loose- 
strife bee, so called because it is usually 
found on the flowers of the common loose- 
strife {Lysimachia vulgaris), a pollen 
flower (Fig. 2). 



684 



SOLITARY BEES 




Fig. 2. — Short-tongued bees. 1. Macropis ciliata; a, female: h, male. 2. Ilalictus lerouxii ; a, female; 
b, male. 3. Halictus hortensis ; a, female; b, male. 4. Agapostemon radiatus; a, female; b, male. 5. An- 
drena crataegi ; a, female; b, male. 6. Andrena erythrogaster ; a, female; b, male. 7. Nomia heteroptera, 
female. 8. Megacilissa electa, male. 



THE LONG-TONGUED SOLITARY BEES AS 
'FLOWER VISITORS. 

The long-tongued bees include all the 
social bees as well as many genera of soli- 
tary bees. The length of the tongue varies 
greatly, the medium length being 6 mm., 
as found in the honeybee, and the extreme 
length 21 to 22 mm. in some female bum- 
blebees. They restrict their visits chiefly 
to bee flowers and thus avoid the competi- 
tion of many short-tongued insects and are 
likel;f to find a more ample supph' of nec- 
tar. The long-tongued solitary bees may 
be divided into two series in accordance 
with the way they collect and carry pollen. 
One series has the pollen-brushes on the 
hind legs, and the other on the under side 
of the abdomen. 

The leaf -cutting bees (Megachile), the 
mason bees (Osmia), and the cotton bees 
{Antkidium) have on the under side of the 
abdomen a stiff brush of unbranched hairs 
inclined backward. When they move over 
iovel-topped flower-clusters, like the sun- 



flower and many other Compositae, this 
abdominal brush sweeps up the pollen 
while the bees are at liberty to suck nectar. 
They are also well adapted to pollinate 
leguminous flowers, as the pea, bean, vetch, 
and their allies, where the anthers lie on 
the under side of the irregular flowers and 
come directly in contact with the abdomi- 
nal scopa. The tongue in this group is 
usually less than 6 mm. long, and the pol- 
len is, of course, always carried in the dry 
state. (Fig. 3.) 

A part of the long-tongued bees with 
polleniferous scopa on the hind legs carry 
the pollen on the femora, or thighs, as 
Parmrginus, and the carpenter bees {Xylo- 
copa) ; while a part carry it on the hind 
tibiae. The Anthophoridae, or cliff bees, 
have a worldwide distribution, and in their 
senses and general appearance resemble 
bumblebees, but are smaller in size, and 
there are no flowers especially adapted to 
them. The collecting hairs in some genera 
are extremely long, as in Dasypoda, and 
great balls of pollen, half the size of the 



SOLITARY BEES 



685 



abdomen, are carried on them. The com- 
mon genera Anthophora and Melissodes 
visit the same flowers as bumblebees 
(Fig. 4). 

Many bees with a short term of flight 
visit only one or a few allied species of 
flowers, which are abundant and in bloom 
during the time the bees are on the wing. 
Certain vernal species of Andrena visit 
only the flowers of the willows, while other 
autumnal flying species confine their visits 
to the goldenrods and still others to the 
asters. There are indeed a number of bees 
which obtain their supply of nectar and 
pollen exclusively from the Compositae. 
These flowers, as in the ease of the golden- 
rod and thistles, are very common, yield 



at a favorable opportunity in the cells of 
the nest-builders. The latter are often 
called host bees and the former guest bees. 

HABITS OF THE XEST-BUILDING BEES. 

The genus Prosopis, says Knuth, stands 
at the lowest level among bees and belongs 
to them only because it feeds its young on 
pollen and nectar. The female builds a row 
of cells in the hollow stems of blackberry 
bushes from which she has excavated the 
pith. The cells are lined with a thin coat- 
ing of saliva, which hardens into a smooth 
cement, and are provisioned with a semi- 
liquid paste of partially digested nectar 
and pollen. An Qgg is laid in each cell. 




Fig. 3. — Long-tongued bees with ahdominal pollen-brushes. Mason bees: 1. Osmia mandihularis, female; 
2. Osmia megacephala, female; ;1 Osmia at:iventris ; a. female; h. male. Leaf-cutting bees: 4. Mefjachile 
latimanus; a. female; b, male; 5. Meyarhile vidua: a, female; b. male; 6. Anthiniani cu/juaium, female. 



ample food supplies and are easy to visit. 
This habit has arisen because of the advan- 
tage thus gained by the bees and is called 
oligotropism. 

HOST BEES AND GUEST BEES. 

According to the way in which they pro- 
vide for their young, bees may be divided 
into nest-builders and brood parasites. The 
nest-builders are industrious insects, con- 
structing their nests with great care and 
skill, and provisioning them with food for 
the use of the brood. The brood parasites 
on the contrary neither build nests nor 
gather stores for their offspring, but in the 
case of the solitary bees they lay their eggs 



After the tunnel has been closed the 
mother bees still linger in the vicinitv 
(Fig. 1). 

The two commonest genera of the short- 
tongued bees are Halictus and Andrena. 
The species of Halictus^ often called 
" sweat bees," vary in size from some of 
the smallest bees known to forms as large 
as the honeybee. The sexes mate in the 
fall, and the females (like the queen bum- 
blebees) hibernate during the winter. They 
reappear in the spring and dig burrows in 
the ground which are five or six inches in 
depth and have several short branches, in 
each of which and at the lower end of the 
tunnel a cell is built. In each cell a little 
ball of beebread, composed of pollen and 



SOLITARY BEES 



honey, about the size of a small pea, is 
stored for the use of the larvae. Halictus 
does not close the entrances to the cells. 
Fabre has apparently shown that the first 
generation of several species consists wholly 
of females. He is probably right. The eight 
or ten sisters, the offspring of one mother, 
continue to return to their cells at night 
and to share together their old home. Be- 
ginning with the cell in which she was 
born, each female digs a new group of 
cells connected with the main tunnel. 
Altho there are then no males in existence, 



Andrena is our largest bee genus, and 
more than 250 species have been described 
in America. Thousands often tunnel in 
the same sandy bank of earth until the 
ground appears as tho filled with shot- 
holes. It is, says Smith, a village or city 
of homes. A part of the species are ver- 
nal and fly only in the early part of the 
season, and a part are autumnal and fly 
only in autumn. Each burrow has a num- 
ber of short lateral branches. In these 
passages and in the enlarged lower end of 
the burrow the female stores a small mass 




Fig. 4. — Long-tongued bees with pollen-brushes on tlie hind legs. Anthophoridae : 1. Antho- 
phora smithii, male. 2. Anthophora occidentalis, female. 3. Centris apicalis, female. 4. Melis- 
sodes atripes; a, female; b, male. 6. Melissodes dessponsa; a, female; b, male. 



she provisions her cells with balls of bee- 
bread and lays eggs, which by partheno- 
genesis give birth to both males and fe- 
males. There are thus two generations 
among the Halicti. The autumnal genera- 
tion, consisting of both sexes, produces the 
following spring only females, which, altho 
unable to mate, yet produce by partheno- 
genesis both sexes, and in like manner the 
cycle is repeated from year to year. 
(Fig. 2.) 



of pollen and honey and lays an egg. The 
species are closely allied and are called 
ground bees. (Fig. 2.) 

The mason bees of the genus Osmia vary 
greatly in the manner of building their 
nests. Some make use of the stumps of 
hollow reeds, tubes, or empty snail shells, 
while others build their cells in small cav- 
ities in stone walls or posts. Several 
American species build earthen cells about 
half an inch in diameter which, tho rudely 



SOLITARY BEES 



687 



fashioned of mud on the outside, are beau- 
tifully polished and glazed within. In 
France, according to Fabre, the Sicilian 
Chalicodoma builds its clay cells beneath 
projecting tiles which in the course of 
years cover five or six square yards, and 
with their great weight threaten the de- 
struction of the roof. (Fig. 3.) 

The observations of Fabre show that the 
mother Osmia determines the sex of her 
offspring and can lay at will either a male 
or female egg. The males of Osmia are 
much smaller than the females, and their 
cells are consequently smaller and contain 
a less amount of stores than those of the 
latter. When an old nest is used a second 



pieces of leaves or flower petals. They do 
not dig burrows for themselves, but make 
use of the burrows of other bees or of the 
straight tunnels of large earth-worais. If 
the shaft is longer than is needed the ap- 
proach from below is blocked by fragments 
of leaves piled in irregular order. After 
this barrier come five or six pockets or cells 
composed of elliptical and round sections 
of leaves which the female Megachile cuts 
out with her mandibles. The sides of the 
cell are formed of six or eight oval pieces 
in one or two overlapping rows, with the 
lower ends bent inward to form the bot- 
tom. Any little crevices are covered with 
small ovals to render the leaf-pot water 




1. Coelioxys rufitarsus; 
3. Triepeolus donatus ; 



female ; 
female ; 



b, male; 2. yomada 
h, male ; 4. Melecta 



time female eggs are invariably laid iu the 
large cells and male eggs in the small cells. 
Fabre induced a large number of females 
to build their cells in glass tubes of various 
sizes. When the tubes were sufficienth^ large 
the bees always laid fii'^t a series of female 
eggs and then male eggs. By varying the 
size of the tubes he succeeded in obtaining 
series in which the order of laying was re- 
versed and began with males; or in which 
the entire laying contained only males. 
" The egg, as it issues from the ovary, has 
not yet a fixed sex. The final impress that 
produces the sex is given at the moment of 
laying, or a little before." 

The leaf-cutting bees of the genus Mega- 
chile build their cells of round and oval 



tight. The top of the cell is closed by two, 
three, or six, or even ten circular pieces 
which, by some marvel of geometry, are 
the exact size to fit the cell. The sections 
of leaves are taken from a great variety 
of plants, and no special preference is 
manifested for any particular species. The 
cells are provisioned with pollen and 
honey. (Fig. 3.) 

The thimble-shaped cells of the cotton 
bees of the genus Anthidium are made of 
white cottony hairs gathered from various 
kinds of thistles, mulleins, and the cotton 
rose. Only dried hairs from dead plants 
are used since hairs containing sap would 
be likely to mildew. The little packets of 
cotton, the results of many journej^s, are 



688 



SOLITARY BEES 



felted or matted into a layer which forms 
the entire cell. So firmly are these little 
bags woven together that they may all be 
removed without separating. The cotton 
bees make use of the tunnels of Antho- 
phora, or the holes of earth-worms, or the 
stumps of hollow reeds. Other species of 
Anthidium employ empty snail shells, and 
are called resin bees since they divide the 
hollow spiral into cells by partitions of gum 
gathered largely from conifers, especially 
the juniper. (Fig. 3.) The economy of 
the carpenter bees is described under 
Xylocopa. 

The Anthophoridae, or cliff bees, are dis- 
tributed over the entire globe and are one 
of the largest of bee families. The females 
of Anthopliora drive tunnels six inches or 
more in length in the sides of precipitous 
cliffs, extensive colonies selecting the same 
location. In the chalk pits at Northfleet, 
England, there was a colony so large that 
in the month of April the countless num- 
bers assembled cast a dark flickering 
shadow on the ground. The inner walk of 
their cells are glazed with a thin cement of 
saliva applied with the tongue, which on 
hardening becomes impervious to moisture. 
An eg^ is laid on the surface of the stores, 
which are in a semi-liquid condition. The 
larvas pass the winter in the cells and 
change to jDupsB the following spring. 
Common genera are Anthophora, Melisso- 
des, and Xenoglossa. (Fig. 4.) 

THE PARASITIC SOLITARY BEES. 

Notwithstanding that the bees are pro- 
verbial for industry beyond any other 
group of insects except, perhaps, the ants, 
there are many parasitic genera which no 
longer gather stores of pollen and nectar, 
but rear their brood at the expense of the 
nest-building genera. They are variously 
called guest bees, brood parasites, inquilines, 
or cuckoo bees while their unconscious vic- 
tims are known as host bees. The guest 
bees are usually allied in structure with 
their hosts, and both are probably derived 
from the same primitive stock. Thus the 
bumblebees (Bombus) and the false bum- 
blebees (Psithyrus) doubtless have a com- 
mon ancestry. Common genera of para- 
sitic bees are Nomada (parasitic on An- 



drenn), Coelioxijs (parasitic on Mega- 
chils), Stelis (parasitic on Anthophora). 
(Fig. 5.) 

The manner in which a cuckoo bee enters 
the nest of her host varies greatly with 
different genera. Melecta boldly enters the 
burrows of Anthophora^ even when the 
female is present, and the latter seems 
wholly unconscious of the danger. Triepeo- 
lus more prudently waits until her host 
Collet es has departed for the field before 
entering the tunnel. In France, according 
to Fabre, Stelis nasuta opens with great 
difficulty the hardened cells otChalicodoma, 
sealed with clay cement, lays several eggs 
and again closes the opening with a pellet 
of clay. The American parasite Stelis sex- 
macidata lays her eggs in the nests of Alci- 
damea product a, which are found in the 
stems of the blackberry or sumac. The 
lawful owner Alcidamea lays her Qgg on 
the top of a conical mass of beebread, but 
the parasite Stelis places her egg near its 
base where it is likely to escape notice. 
There may be as many as four cells, each 
closed with a felt-like mass of chewed 
strawberry leaves. 

Graenicher has observed and described 
the tragic end of the host larva. The larva 
of the parasite is armed with long sharp 
mandibles, but those of the host larva are 
blunt and bifid and not well adapted either 
for defense or attack — so the latter is 
doomed from the beginning. When the 
two larva?, while feeding on the beebread, 
meet, the parasite seizes the body of the 
host larva between its sharp mandibles. 
The host larva may struggle a little but 
soon succumbs, and after sucking out its 
liquid contents the parasite again turns to 
the beebread. If there are two larvae of the 
parasite Stelis sexmaculata a combat be- 
tween them is sure to occur, and the victor 
is the larva obtaining the first hold on the 
body of the other; but two larvae of Alci- 
damea can not injure each other. 

The handsomest parasitic bees belong to 
the genus Nomada, and Smith calls them 
the most beautiful of all the bees found m 
Great Britain. They are often called wasp- 
bees, because of their gay coloring. They 
are dark red in color, often suffused witli 
black, and maculated with bright or pale 
yellow. Their larv£e are often found in tfn'. 
nests of Andrena. 



SOURWOOD 



689 



In the pollination of flowers the para- 
sitic bees are of much less importance than 
the nest-builders. Since they have no oc- 
casion to gather pollen, they have largely 
lost theii' pollen-brushes and visit flowers 
only to procure nectar for themselves. A 
part of the species restrict their visits 
largely to the Compositae which yield nec- 
tar freely. 

SOURWOOD [Oxydendrum arhoreum 
(L.) DC). — Also called sourgum and sor- 
rel tree from the acid leaves. A tree gi'ow- 
ing 60 feet high, belonging to the heath 
family {Ericaceae) with vers- nimierous 




Sourwood leaf, flowers, and seed-pods. 

small white flowers in racemes. The corolla 
is um-shaped, closely resembling that of 
the hucklebeny ; pendulous, and contracted 
at the mouth so that the ample supply of 
nectar is protected both from rain and un- 
desirable insects. It grows in rich woods 
from Pennsylvania southward to Florida 
and Louisiana. In Georgia it flourishes 
chiefly in the northern part of the State, 
where it blooms in June and July, and is 
one of the best honey-producers. The 
honey is medium amber in color, and of 
excellent quality. 

Soui-wood is considered a great honey- 
bearing tree in some localities, especially 
in the South. It is sometimes called sorrel, 
and is a fine tree from 40 to 60 feet in 
height, and about a foot in diameter; altho 
it sometimes reaches 70 feet in height and 
a foot and a half thni. The popular name, 
sourwood, is derived from the odor and the 
peculiar sour ta^te of the leaves and small 



twigs. The tree commences to bloom the 
latter part of June, and the han-est from 
this source lasts until the middle of July. 

It is entii'ely distinct from the black-gum 
and sour-gum, or pepperidge, with which 
it has been unwittingly classed by some 
writers on honey plants, much to the in- 
JLU-y of sourwood. The former are honey- 
I)roducers to a small extent, but are not 
worthy to be compared with soui^wood, 
which, we are convinced, after li\-ing where 
basswood, poplar, clover, buckwheat, 
goldenrod, pei*simmon, and aster abound, 
has not its superior among the honey- 
producing plants of America, either in the 
amount of j^ield, or in its beautiful appear- 
ance. Basswood is more important only 
because of its widely extended growth. 
Bee-masters are familiar with the flora 
which aboimds where those who have writ- 
ten our books on bee culture reside, yet 
few are aware of the merits of sourwood, 
outside of the regions where it is found. 

It abounds in the native forests from 
southern Pennsylvania into Georgia and 
Mississippi. It seems to be more abundant 
along the whole mountainous tract of 
country on both sides of the Alleghenies 
and the Blue Ridge, reaching, in places, . 
even as far as the tide-water on one side, 
and to central Tennessee on the other. In 
many sections where poplar abounds and 
much buckwheat is raised, sourwood is 
considered the honey plant, and yields the 
largest amoimt of surplus hone}'. It seems 
to flourish best on high, dry soil, and is 
often common on poor woodland ridges, 
which can be purchased at a nominal 
price; tho the forests along the rivers, in 
rich cultivated soil, are often beautifuU^- 
checkered with the white blossoms in July. 
Being a forest tree, it is tall and generally 
spare of branches along the trunk, except 
when it grows in the edges of fields, where 
it rields the greatest amoimt of honey. 
The trunk preserves its unifomiity of size 
for some distance up from the ground. 
The wood is white with straight grain, 
which splits nicely. It is brittle and quite 
fine-grained, and is used for posts by 
cabinet-makers. 

The flowers (see engraving) are produced 
on racemes five or six inches long, which 
hang in clusters on the ends of the 
branches. !Many of these flower-bearing 
racemes are thrown out from one central 



690 



SPACING FRAMES 



stem, and are all strung with white, bell- 
shaped flowers, rich in honey. The flower 
is midway in size and appearance between 
the whortleberry blossom and the lily of 
the valley. Unless there is a failure of the 
blossom, the honey yield is sure to be abun- 
dant; for, being in the woods with good 
roots, the flow is not checked by ordinary 
drouths, nor do the rains wash out the 
honey from the pendant, cup-shaped flow- 
ers. Often have we regaled ourselves, while 
riding along the road, by breaking off a 
bunch of blossoms, shaking out the honey 
in the hand, and licking up the delicious 
nectar. Each flower, as it dixies up, pro- 
duces a brown seed-pod about the size of a 
large grain of wheat, which separates, when 
ripe, into five parts, and permits the very 
fine seed to fall to the earth. 

We are inclined to think that the tree 
would thrive in our more northern lati- 
tudes; perhaps anywhere in our land. It 
is found abundantly in many parts of the 
Allegheny Mountains, where it is very cold, 
the thermometer often indicating several 
degrees below zero. 

SPACING FRAMES.— In nature combs 
will be found spaced from 1%, 1^/^, 1%, 
and sometimes up to two inches from cen- 
ter to center. Dzierzon, one of the very 
first to conceive the idea of a movable 
comb, gave 1% as the right distance until 
Wyprecht made accurate measurements in 
straw hives having straight combs built in 
them. Out of 49 measurements, the aver- 
age distance was scant 1% inches.. Baron 
von Berlepsch, by 40 other measurements, 
verified this result. In the United States, 
prominent apiarists have found the dis- 
tance of natural-built combs averaged 1^/^ 
inches from center to center. It has been 
observed that, in the center of the brood- 
nest, the combs are spaced more closely 
than those on the outside, the latter rang- 
ing anywhere from 1% to 2 inches to 
centers. 

It has been urged that nature be fol- 
lowed in ihe spacing of brood-frames. But 
it seems a very poor guide, inasmuch as 
there is such a diversity of measurements. 
The beekeeper should adopt that spacing 
which will give him the best results — the 
most brood and surplus honey. Quite a 
number of beekeepers are using 1^2 spac- 
ing for their frames. The reason for this 



is, principally, because they happened to 
start with this spacing. But those who 
have given special attention to the mat- 
ter, trying both spacings, agree almost uni- 
formly that the right distance is 1%, or, if 
anything, a trifle scant, and some use quite 
successfully 1^-inch spacing. Many, in- 
deed, who had self-spacing frames adapted 
for 1^/2 inches, have gone to the enormous 
expense of changing over to the 1%. The 
advantages of this latter spacing are so 
evident that very few deny that better re- 
sults can be obtained with it. Brood comb 
is found to be, on an average, % inch 
thick; capped brood, one inch thick. On 
1% spacing, this will allow V2 iiieh be- 
tween uncapped combs and % between 
combs of capped brood. 

The following paragraph is taken from 
an article published in Gleanings in Bee 
Culture, page 673, Vol. XVIII., written 
by Julius Hoffman, inventor of the Hoff- 
man frame, and it applies here exactly: 

If, for instance, we space the combs from 
center to center so as to measure 1^ instead 
of 1% inches, then we have an empty space 
of % inch between two combs of brood in- 
stead of ^/2, as it ought to be; and it will 
certainly require more bees to fill and keep 
warm a % than a ^2 space. In a % space, 
the breeding bees from two combs facing 
each other will join with their backs, and 
so close up the space between the two brood- 
combs; if this space is widened, however, to 
%, the bees cannot do this, and more bees 
will be required to keep up the needed brood- 
ing temperature. What a drawback this 
would be in cool spring weather, when our 
colonies are still weak in numbers yet breed- 
ing most desirable, can readily be under- 
stood. 

Where wider spacing is adopted, there is 
apt to be more honey stored in the combs, 
and less of worker (but more drone brood). 
Close spacing, on the contrary (1%), tends 
to encourage the rearing of more worker 
brood, the exclusion of drone brood, and 
the storage of less honey below. This is 
important. 

Under the head of Swarming^ subhead 
'• The Dadant System of Swarm Control,'' 
it Avill be seen that C. P. Dadant be- 
lieves that 1^/2-inch spacing tends to re- 
duce swanning, and tliat the regular 1%- 
spacing is too close. On the other hand, 
it may be said that the self-spacing Hoff- 
man frame adapted to 1% spacing will 
gradually, on account of propolis aecumu« 



SPECIALTY IN BEES 



691 



latious, increase to 1^2- Eor further in- 
formation on the spacing of frames see 
Frames, Self-spacing ; Hive-makixg ; 
HwEs; Honeycomb. 

SPANISH NEEDLES, large-rayed {Bi- 
dens aristosa (Michx.) Britton). — This spe- 
cies should not be confused with the small- 
rayed Spanish needles Bidens bipinnata 
L. The plant with the showy, large-rayed 
heads yields nnmense quantities of honey 
along the low bottom-gi'ounds of the Mis- 
sissippi and Illinois Rivers. The following 
from Gleanings in Bee Cidture, page 162, 
Vol. XVI., is from the Hon. J. M. Ham- 
baugh, and tells all about the plant, and 
the innjiense quantities of honey that are 
often produced by it. 

Something over a year ago I wrote a letter 
for Gleanings, claiming that the honey gath- 
ered from this plant is superior to that pro- 
duced from other fall flowers, and that it 
should rank among the very best grades, and 
command the same price in the markets as 
clover and linden honey. My peculiar loca- 
tion has, fortunately, placed me in a position 
to understand pretty thoroly the nature of 
this plant, and the quality of the honey it 
produces. Located at the foot of the bluffs 
of the Illinois Eiver, there is a broad ex- 
panse of low marshy lands to the east and 
south, from three to five miles in width. 
These lands are subject to overflows from 
the river once a year, which usually take place 
in early spring. This renders a large portion 
of the soil unfit for tilling purposes; and 
the consequence is, the Spanish needles have 
secured a permanent foothold, almost to the 
exclusion of nearly all other plants. Early in 
September they begin to open their beautiful 
bright-yellow rays, and in a short time whole 
districts are aglow, and their dazzling bril- 
liancy reminds one of burnished sheets of 
gold. It is now, should the weather prove 
favorable, that the bees revel in their glory, 
and the honey comes piling in ; and the 
beauty about this kind of honey is, it needs 
but little * ' boiling down, ' ' and the bees no 
sooner fiU their cells than it is cured and 
ready to seal. This is one great advantage, 
and saves the bees lots of labor, making the 
storage of honey more rapid. I had one col- 
ony of bees that stored 63^ lbs. of honey in 
six days; another one, 86 lbs. in nine days, 
while 43 producing colonies netted me 2021 
lbs. in ten days — an average of 47 lbs. to the 
colony. Tho not quite as clear as clover or 
linden, the honey has a golden hue, an exqui- 
site flavor, and a very fine body, weighing 
fully 12 lbs. to the gallon, and, as previously 
stated, I can not see why it should not rank 
on the market in grade and price with clover 
and linden honey. 



SPECIALTY IN BEES.— The question 
of making beekeeping a side line or hobby 
has already been pretty thoroly discussed 
under the head of Begixxixg with Bees, 
Backlot Beekeeping, Beekeeping tor 
WoMEN^ Bees and Fruit Growing, Bees 
AND Poultry, and Farmer Beekeepers. 
Lender this head, "Specialty in Bees," will 
be discussed the feasibility of making bees 
the sole means of livelihood. 

There are farmers who produce potatoes 
only. Others grow small fruits; still oth- 
ers, onions and celerJ^ In the line of pro- 
fessions there are phj'sicians who make a 
specialty of the eyes, some of the ears, and 
others both of the ej'es and ears. Others 
give their whole time to the treatment of 
the lungs or the throat, and others to dis- 
eases of the skin. While it is true that 
some beekeepers specialize on queen-rear- 
ing and others on extracted honey, the 
number who confine their attention solely 
to the keeping of bees is not large and is 
mainly in the West. 

Whether one shall keep more bees and 
drop all other pui^suits will depend on a 
good many conditions. First is the ques- 
tion of locality; second, the man; third, 
the state of his finances. 

LOCALITY. 

Xo one should attempt to make a living 
entirely from bees unless he has a locality 
that is capable of supporting a large num- 
ber of colonies. (See Locality and Over- 
stocking.) In some places, probably not 
more than twenty-five or fifty colonies 
could be maintaiaed to a yard. Two hun- 
dred parceled out in five or ten apiaries 
two miles apart would increase the expense 
of operation. To put a man at each yard 
would be out of the question. A horse and 
wagon would be too slow, because the 
apiarist would thus be one-third of the 
time on the road. An automobile truck is 
expensive. If one has a locality that will 
support five hundred to a thousand colo- 
nies in from ten to twenty yards, the gross 
earnings would warrant the purchase of an 
automobile track and a runabout, perhaps, 
for making quick trips. (See Moving 
Bees and Out-apiaries.) As a rule, a few 
bees as a side line can be kept profitably 
almost anywhere ; and therefore if one has 
a notion of making beekeeping an exclusive 



692 



SPECIFIC GRAVITY IN HONEY 



business he should seek some locality where 
there is an abundance of flora capable of 
furnishing a good table honey that will 
bring a good price, and a locality which, 
at the same time, is not already occupied 
by other beekeepers, thus overstocking. 
See Overstocking. 

THE QUESTION OF THE MAN. 

Some men who do well with a small busi- 
ness would make a failure with a large one. 
Going into beekeeping extensively not only 
requires capital and brains but a large 
amount of business ability. With the ele- 
ment of business ability comes the question 
of experience. Certainly no one should 
engage in the bee business in an extensive 
way unless he has had a large amount of 
practical knowledge of a kind that starts 
from the bottom and works upward. (See 
Beginning with Bees; also Backlot 
Beekeeping.) A large business gi-adually 
built up from a small beginning is much 
more sure of success, especially if the man 
who made the start is still the presiding 
genius of the large business. While one 
can sometimes hire a man of successful 
experience, it is better for the boss to have 
the know how himself; otherwise, if his 
man leaves him for any cause he would be 
sadly crippleji. Moreover, if he knows the 
business himself, his help can not impose 
on him by pretending to "know it all." 

CAPITAL. 

Capital is another important requisite. 
This need not, however, be a serious obsta- 
cle if one would be willing to start with a 
small beginning and make the bees pay 
their own way, as is taught all thru this 
work. One will be much more likely to 
meet with success if he gradually enlarges 
his business, bearing in mind the danger of 
trying to expand too fast. 

specialist beekeepers; where located. 

The number of persons who make bee- 
keeping a specialty is constantly increas- 
ing; but most of the specialist beekeepers 
are located west of the Mississippi. Where 
alfalfa is grown extensively there will be 
found beekeepers who number their colo- 
nies by the thousand. The m.ountain-sage 



districts of California sometimes make spe- 
cialized beekeeping a possibility'. As a 
general proposition, however, it may be 
stated that where there is one specialist 
beekeeper there are a thousand who com- 
bine the business of honey production with 
some other profession or business. 

SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF HONEY.— 

Ordinary extracted honey when ready for 
the market should run about 12 lbs. to the 
gallon at normal temperature. If, how- 
ever, it is heated to 135 or 140 Fahr., to 
prevent granulation (see Granulation of 
Honey), the specific gravity while at this 
temperature will be about 11 lbs. 10 oz. to 
the gallon. As the average gallon can will 
not hold 12 lbs. of honey at a temperature 
sufficiently high to prevent gi^anulation, the 
consumer Avill not get a gallon of honey. 

There are some honeys that run about 
IIV2 lbs. to the gallon, but they should 
never be put in sealed cans nor marketed 
when as thin as that, as they are almost 
sure to sour. They should rather be stored 
in open vats or cans in a dry room for a 
few weeks, so that the excess of moisture 
can escape. Honey exposed in a damp at- 
mosphere will take on more moisture. It 
is, therefore, important that the artificial 
ripening process take place in a warm dry 
room, heated artificially if necessary. As 
a rule it is not wise to extract honey in the 
Eastern States unless three-fourths of all 
the cells are capped over; and sometimes 
then the honey should be left on the hive 
until all the cells are sealed. In the West- 
ern States where there is a drier atmos- 
phere, or during extremely hot dry weather 
in the East, a larger percentage of un- 
sealed cells may be permissible at the time 
the combs are extracted; but it is best to 
store in open cans for a short time before 
shipping. See Honey, Analysis of. 

When honey is not thoroly ripened — 
that is to say, when it runs a little short 
of 12 lbs. to the gallon, the thinner portion 
is apt to rise to the top while the heavier 
part will settle to the bottom (see Ex- 
tracted Honey) . The top will have a ten- 
dency to sour, and it will not be long be- 
fore the whole mass will be involved. If 
the souring or fermenting process has not 
gone too far, the honey may be saved by 
heating, thus destroying the yeast plant. 
But if it has gone too far, nothing can be 



SPRING DWINDLING 



done but convert it into vinegar. See Vin- 
egar. 

SPRAYING FRUIT TREES. — See 

Fruit Blossoms, 

SPRAYING DESTRUCTIVE TO THE 
BROOD. — See Fruit Blossoms. 

SPREADING BROOD.— As is very well 
known, queens are inclined to lay their 
eggs in circles in the comb, the circle being 
larger in the center combs and smaller in 
the outside ones. The whole bulk of eggs 
and brood in several combs thus forms 
practically a sphere which the bees are 
able to cover and keep warm. When the 
queen has formed this sphere of brood and 
eggs she curtails her egg-laying for the 
time being until enough brood is hatched 
out to increase the size of the cluster; 
when she will gradually enlarge the circles 
of brood to keep pace with the enlarged 
ball of bees. 

Yet the queen very often is overcareful 
— that is, she errs on the safe side, so that 
when warm weather has fully set in she 
sometimes lays fewer eggs than she should 
in the judgment of the apiarist, and ac- 
cordingly he inserts a frame of empty 
comb in the center of the brood-nest. In 
this comb the queen may commence laying 
at once to unite, as it were, the two halves 
of brood. More often she does not. In 
that case more harm than good has been 
done. If the queen does fill the first one 
given she will be likely, if the weather is 
not cold, to go into the second comb and fill 
it with eggs on both sides; for nice clean 
empty cells are very tempting to her. In 
a word, this operation of inserting empty 
combs in the center of the brood-nest is 
called " spreading brood," its object being 
to increase the amount of brood, and thus 
insure a larger force of workers for the 
prospective harvest. While this spreading 
of the brood may be done by practical and 
experienced beekeepers, because it stimu- 
lates the queen to gTeater egg-laying ac- 
tivity, yet when practiced by beginners and 
the inexperienced it generally results in 
much more harm than good as already 
stated. A beginner without previous ex- 
perience might, on a warm day in early 
spring, think it high time to put empty 
comb in the center of the brood-nest. The 



queen, we shall say, immediately occupies 
it, filling it with eggs. This, of course, re- 
quires a large force of nurse-bees to take 
care of the young bees and hatching larvae. 
A cool spell of weather is almost sure to 
come on, with the result that the cluster 
of bees is contracted, leaving the brood that 
was forced outside, out in the cold, where 
it chills and dies. The outside edge of the 
cluster, in its effort to take care of this 
brood, is likewise chilled, and the colony 
suffers a check and setback far worse than 
had it been left to its own devices. 

Oi'dinarily the spreading of brood can 
be practiced safely only after settled warm 
weather has arrived. The beginner who 
desires to give extra combs for egg-laying, 
especially in early spring, would do well 
to put those extra combs at the outside; 
but after settled warm weather has come, 
when the temperature does not go below 60 
degrees Fahrenheit at night at any time, 
he may insert a frame of empty comb at 
the center of the brood-nest. 

It should be borne in mind that the prac- 
tice of spreading brood has been largely 
abandoned, even by experienced beekeep- 
ers. When the queen has plenty of room 
somewhere in the brood-nest (and that 
"somewhere" should be outside the brood- 
cluster), both bees and queen will ordi- 
narily rear as much brood as they can 
safely and profitably care for. 

SPRING DWINDLING.— This is con- 
fined to bees outdoors or those just set out 
of the cellar, and appears only in springs 
hence the name. It was once supposed to 
be a disease ; but it has now been definitely 
determined to be only the natural result of 
a severe winter on a colony too weak or a 
normal one not protected to stand the cold. 
Gradually the individual members die off 
until the original bunch of bees is reduced 
to a few dozens. This decimation may be 
due to a low vitality on the part of the 
old bees that are inclined to die off any 
way before spring, or it may be due to 
dysentery. (See Dysentery.) If it is 
caused by the first mentioned, it shows that 
the colony went into winter quarters with 
almost no young bees; that is to say, the 
great force representing the colony was 
made up of old bees whose length of days 
would naturally expire at the beginning of 
the spring, even under good or the best 



SPRING DWINDLING 



conditions ; when, therefore, the conditions 
are not favorable, naturall}" these old bees 
die off much the sooner. 

On the other hand, if spring dwindling 
is due to dysentery, the condition of the 
colony in the fall previous, if it could be 
known, would probably show an insufficient 
protection, or a cluster too weak in the fii^st 
place to stand even an ordinary winter, to 
say nothing of one that is exceptionally 
cold. Under Dysexteey it is shown that 
this disease or malady, rather, is the result 
of overfeeding. Overfeeding is caused by 
an attempt on the part of the bees to keep 
themselves warm. A cluster too small, or a 
normal cluster in a single-walled hive, in a 
cold climate, will overeat; and as the bees 
have no opportunity for flight, their intes- 
tines become overcharged, resulting finally 
in purging, and this purging fouls up the 
whole hive. An examination down in the 
brood-nest at about this stage in the spring 
shows a small weakened cluster, bees un- 
easy and somewhat scattered, and combs 
emitting an ill-smelling odor of excrement. 
The bees have greatly distended abdomens, 
showing that they are overloaded with fecal 
matter, as explained under Dysentery. A 
normal colony should show a compact quiet 
cluster of bees. 

A good flight in warm weather will en- 
able diseased bees to cleanse themselves 
and make a rrew start. In fact, continuous 
warm weather is a relief for spring dwin- 
dling. But, unfortunately, in many locali- 
ties there will come a week or two of warm 
weather at which time bees will start 
brood-rearing. When a cold spell comes 
on, the already greatly attenuated force 
attempts to hover its brood, with the result 
that both brood and bees die. A change- 
able condition of weather, therefore, is 
hard on nuclei that are suffering from 
spring dwindling. 

In this connection, spring dwindling 
caused by dysentery may be due to bad 
food; but in most cases it is caused by 
insufficient housing — that is, a lack of 
proper packing. See Spring Manage- 
ment. 

There is a form of spring dwindling, or 
perhaps more properly speaking icinter 
dwindling, that occurs in semi-tropical cli- 
mates, particularly in California. It is 
similar to the kind of spring dwindling 
that one encounters in the Northern States 



of the East. In California, Virginia and 
many of the Southern States the bees can 
fly every day in the year. The sources that 
furnish nectar and pollen not only entice 
the old bees out of the hive, some of which 
never get back on account of a sudden 
chilling of the atmosphere, but they start 
breeding. It very often occurs that the 
hatching of the young bees does not keep 
pace with the old bees dying in the fields, 
with the result that the colonies become 
weaker and weaker, until a ten-frame col- 
ony will get down to about three frames of 
bees and little brood about the time that 
the fii'st real honey flow comes on. In some 
localities in California the eucalyptus, fur- 
nishing both nectar and pollen, is thought 
by some to do more harm than good, in 
that it starts brood-rearing during mid- 
winter and forces the old bees into the 
fields, many never returning as explained. 
In most parts of California there is a 
severe change of temperature during mid- 
winter from the middle hours of the day to 
two or three o'clock in the morning before 
daylight. These sudden drops in tempera- 
ture cause a gi'eat deal of the brood to 
chill and at the same time hold back the 
queen. 

Much of the weather in the semi-tropical 
States is similar to spring weather in the 
Northern and Eastern States. In general 
characteristics the winter dwindling in 
these States is almost precisely the same as 
spring dwindling, with this difference, that 
there is never any dysentery. 

There is another kind of winter dwin- 
dling that is due to an entire lack of pollen 
both in the hives and in the fields. When 
that condition occurs, in semi-tropical cli- 
mates, the colony will dwindle very rap- 
idly even tho there is plenty of honey in 
the hive. The remedy, of course, is to lay 
aside a set of combs containing pollen, 
when pollen is coming in freely, and put 
them in the hives during February or 
March or earlier if necessaiy. 

remedy for spring dwindling. 

Sometimes several of the nuclei that have 
been reduced by spring dwindling may be 
united; but in most cases this does little 
or no good. While the combined force of 
bees all in one hive look well at the time 
of uniting, yd in a few days this large 



SPRING Management 



695 



force seems to have diminished very rap- 
idly, and, unfortunately, it is no better so 
far as strength or appearance is concerned 
than any one of the several nuclei that 
went to compose it in the first place. 

Probabh' the best way to unite is on the 
Alexander plan, as given under the head of 
UxiTiXG. If practiced early it will prevent 
spring dwindling. 

As a further prevention colonies should 
be made to rear brood as late in the fall as 
possible. If there is any fall flow, bees 
will rear brood naturally, and the hives 
will be filled with a large force of young 
bees. If there is no fall flow, stimulation 
should be practiced. (See Feeding.) This 
stimulative feeding may not start up brood- 
rearing if the queens are two or three 
years old. As a rule, it does not pay to 
keep queens longer than two years; and 
many think that they should not be older 
than one year. Young queens will lay 
readily in the fall if given stimulative 
feeding, while old ones may require consid- 
erable coaxing. It follows that one of the 
best preventions for spring dwindling is a 
young queen in the fall. Such queens will 
lay until a large amount of stores is used 
up in August and September, in the North- 
ern States, and the beekeeper should, there- 
fore, see to it that thej^ have sufficient after 
they cease brood-rearing. This brings up 
another important matter; and that is, 
there is nothing better than good sugar 
stores for the prevention of spring dwin- 
dling or dysentery; and these should by 
all means be given in the fall early enough 
to be sealed over, rather than in the spring. 

For particulars on how to protect the 
colonies to avoid spring dwindling, see 
Spring Management and Wintering. 
For the causes that induce dysentery in 
colonies that spring dwindle, see Dysen- 
tery. For particulars on how to feed in 
the fall, see Feeding and Feeders^ sub- 
head, " Feeding to Stimulate." For the 
consideration of the question of uniting, 
see the Alexander method under the head 
of Uniting. 

SPRING MANAGEMENT. — All colo- 
nies should be gone over very carefully as 
soon as bees can fly, to determine their 
stores. Unless they have two or tkree 
combs of honey, stores should be taken 
from some other colonies that can spare 



them. If no hive has a surplus, the needy 
should be fed a thick syrup consisting of 
two parts of sugar to one of water. See 
Feeding^ especially those instructions urg- 
ing fall rather than spring feeding. 

Feeders should be placed on top of the 
frames, and covered with packing. It may 
turn cold shortly after; and even if the 
syrup is left in the feeder, starvation wdll 
be averted, for the bees will cluster around 
it and help themselves as they have need. 
When the weather is cool or cold the syrup 
should be given hot. 

If colonies have been well housed and 
fed in the fall as they should be, there will 
be no occasion for feeding or equalizing of 
stores. Of course, there is liable to be 
occasionally a colony which, by reason of 
bad stores, may have dysentery. In that 
case the front of the hive will be soiled 
with dark-brown* spots, and there will be a 
quantity of dead bees in front of the en- 
trance and on the bottom of the hive. Such 




Outer case used for spring protection. 

a colony, even with the best of nursing, 
may die before settled warm weather comes 
on. If considerable honeydew has been 
gathered during the previous summer, one 
is likely to find some spring dwindling and 
dj-sentery in some of the hives. Some 
honeydews will make a very fair winter 
food; but the majority of them, especially 
those gathered from hickory and oak, are 
bad. If this is the case as much of it as 
possible should be used in brood-rearing in 
the summer, and then sugar sj^rup should 
be fed. 

Some springs the weather will turn 
warm very suddenly with no natural pollen 
available. The warm weather may last sev- 
eral days. During this time brood-rearing 
will start up rapidly; and if there is no 



696 



SPRING MANAGEMENT 



pollen in the hives the bees will be hunting: 
around in the barns and stables and 
chicken-coops for bran or chopped feed. 
It is necessary at such times to give artifi- 
cial pollen. Trays should be set out in 
sunny places, under cover if possible, con- 
taining a tew quarts of rye or pea flour. 

Unless bees can have natural or artificial 
pollen when brood-rearing starts, consider- 
able brood will be found dead. On seeing 
this the beginner is apt to conclude his bees 
have some form of bee disease — possibly 
foul brood. If the brood dies shortly after 
a sudden warming-up spell, during which 
there is very little natural pollen in or out 
of the hives, the owner of the bees should 
await further developments. See Pollen, 
subhead, " Substitutes for Pollen.'' 

When bees are taken out of the cellar it 
may be advisable to put. them in double- 
walled packed hives. Generally one would 
consider that such hives are too expensive 
to maintain; but if they enable the bee- 
keeper to get a crop of honey they would 
be a good investment, because the first cost 
should be divided over a period of 
yeal^s. If one feels that he cannot afford 
double-walled hives he can very often use 
to advantage newspaper wrappings, as 
shown under Wintering. 

If the cluster of bees can not fill the 
whole hive * it should be confined to the 
number of combs that it can occupy, after 
which layers of newspaper should be folded 
over the frames, covering top and sides 
down to the bottom-board, when waste pa- 
per or leaves may be put in on the two 
sides and the spaces filled up. 

Another plan is to wrap a newspaper 
vertically around a frame of ordinary comb, 
and then tie with a string. The newspaper 
should be long enough to project beyond 
the end-bars on each end, so as to close up 
spaces between end-bars and the ends of 
the hive. When the wrapped comb is in- 
serted the bulging fold at top and bottom 
of the comb should close up the space be- 
tween the cover and the bottom-board. 
This makes a close-fitting serviceable divi- 
sion-board at little expense. Additional 
laj^ers of paper can now be put over the 
top of the frames. It would be advisable, 
in addition, to set on top a half-depth or 
full-depth super and fill this with planer 



shavings or leaves. When the frames 
wrapped in paper are inserted on each 
side of the cluster, combs of honey can be 
put on the outside. As soon as the bees 
need more room or stores they will eat 
away the paper and occupy the whole hive. 

The newspaper packing above described 
costs nothing except the time employed, 
and that certainly would paj' a big divi- 
dend, not only in the colder climates where 
bees dwindle m the spring, but in semi- 
tropical climates where bees suffer from 
chilly weather. 

If colonies wintered in the cellar are 
very weak it may be advisable to unite be- 
fore they are set out. See Uniting. 

One difficulty in uniting outdoor bees is 
that those moved to a new stand are quite 
inclined to go back to the old hive. This 
can be overcome to a great extent. (See 
Uniting.) Uniting in the spring is often 
unsatisfactory. Never unite two weak ones, 
but add a weak one to a medium, and thus 
make it strong. Unless the colony is very 
weak take out the surplus of combs that it 
does not occupy or use, and crowd the little 
cluster on as few frames as it can occupy. 
In that case, division-boards should be 
moved over, and the frames set over on the 
other side. The hive should be warmly 
packed, and the entrance contracted dow^n 
to one inch wide to prevent robbing and to 
conserve heat. 

In going over the yard in early spring 
one is likely to find, if the bees are win- 
tered outdoors, one or more dead colonies. 
Their entrances should be shut up bee-tight, 
for otherwise on the first warm flight day 
they will be robbed out by the other bees, 
resulting in a general disturbance of the 
whole yard. (See Robbing.) Combs on 
which bees have died may be used later on 
by putting fresh bees on them. Unless 
thej^ are very badly soiled with dysentery 
so they are fairly smeared over with a 
brown excrement, or the stores are very bad, 
they can be used again. But badlj' soiled 
comb, or otherwise undesirable ones, should 
be put thru the wax-extractor. See Wax; 
also Dysenteey. 

In early spring it may be necessary to 
rake out the dead bees in the entrances of 
some colonies. If a colony is strong it will 
usually do its own house-cleaning; but 
sometimes the dead accumulate in such 



STATISTICS CONCERNING THE BEE AND HONEY BUSINESS 



697 



numbers as actually to block the entrance. 
In all such cases there is danger that the 
few survivors may die outright. 

Perhaps very weak colonies may be 
found with a queen; while there will be 
another colony fairly strong without any 
queen. In that case it is best to unite 
these two, moving the weak colony over to 
the strong one. See Uxiting ; also Ixtro- 

DUCIXG. 

Some experienced beekeepers can "spread 
brood" in early spring; but the beginner 
will do well not to practice it. See Spread- 
ing Brood. 

It sometimes happens that there will be 
weak and strong colonies in the same yard. 
The latter will be too strong and the weak 
too weak. Some have practiced exchang- 
ing places with the two colonies. If they 
are next adjoining, this can be done very 
nicely; but the exchange should never be 
made except during warm weather. The 
flying bees of the strong colony will then 
enter the hive on their old stand where the 
weak colony has been placed. This will 
build it up while the old colonj^ on the 
stand of the weak one will be depleted of 
bees. No harm to the brood will be done 
if the weather is warm and the entrance 
contracted. 

This plan is practiced to a considerable 
extent by some of our large beekeepers and 
particularly by Ira D. Bartlett of Michigan. 

STATISTICS CONCERNING THE 
BEE AND HONEY BUSINESS.— It is re- 
grettable that there are no accurate figures 
concerning the number of beekeepers and 
number of colonies of bees in the whole 
United States. "While the census reports 
beekeeping among other industries of the 
country, yet an examination of the figures 
for 1900 'and 1910 show that they should 
not be taken too seriously. They may be 
accurate for some individual States, but it 
is nevertheless a fact that they are very 
inaccurate for other States. Attention to 
this will be called a little later. 

But why should not the census bureau 
figures be taken too serioush^ ? In some 
States at least it is apparent that the cen- 
sus enumerators were much more careful 
in gathering their data than in others. 
Take a case in point. In 1900 the United 
States census figures showed that one of 
the States in the Union, namely, North 



Carolina, where beekeeping is a compara- 
tively neglected industry, was actually re- 
porting more bees and more honey than the 
great State of California, where it is known 
there is more honey produced, at least in a 
good season, than in almost any other State 
in the Union. The explanation of this is 
doubtless due to the fact that the census 
enumerators for North Carolina were care- 
ful to get in their record evei'j^ beekeeper 
and every farm where bees were kept, 
while in the more important State of Cali- 
fornia, where beekeeping is a large and 
flourishing industry, the census enumera- 
tors did their work very poorly. Many of 
the largest bee ranches in the United States 
are located up in the mountains in the sage 
districts of California. The enumerators 
probably did not get track of these. It 
may be said in this connection that many 
of the most extensive beekeepers of the 
world are located in out-of-the-way dis- 
tricts apart from the general public, and 
for that reason the enumerators probably 
failed to get any record of them. In these 
same districts sometimes honej' is produced 
by carloads. It is apparent that the census 
people did not get any record of some of 
the largest bee ranches in the world. 

Again, it is well to call attention to the 
fact that the census for both 1900 and 1910 
takes into account only the bees on farms. 
There are a very large number of people 
who keep bees, that are located in the towns 
and cities, and some of these are quite ex- 
tensive producers of honey. Attention will 
be called to this later. 

Another case in point shows that the 
United States census is not to be taken 
seriously. At one of the principal State 
beekeepers' conventions it was found that 
approximately three-fourths of the bees 
there represented had not been included in 
the 1910 census account. A similar condi- 
tion has been found in other conventions 
so that it is no small wonder that the 
United States census does not adequately 
represent the bee and honey industry in 
the United States. 

It is to be hoped that ere another ten 
years rolls by the United States Census 
Bureau will appreciate the importance of 
the beekeeping industry and will see to it 
that its employees or enumerators in every 
State alike take as much pains in getting 
data concerning bees and honey as they do 



698 



STATISTICS CONCERNING THE BEE AND HONEY BUSINESS 



of the other large industries in the country. 
Unfortunately, the census people appear to 
have had the impression that the keeping 
of bees is a very small industry, and hardly 
worth taking into account." It is time they 
knew that there are millions in the business. 

Fortunately, the authors are in posses- 
sion of data showing the amount of the 
beekeepers' supplies sold thruout the 
United States, and these data enable us to 
form a fairly accurate idea of the relative 
importance of the industry. When the 
United States census figures are very much 
at variance with our data, it is apparent 
that there must be some mistake, and this 
mistake is due rather to the manner in 
which Uncle Sam has secured his figures. 

Knowing that the census figures for 1900 
were grossly inaccurate, all the manufac- 
turers of beekeepers' supplies in the United 
States agreed to turn over a record of their 
complete output of sections to Dr. C. C. 
Miller of Marengo, Illinois. As there would 
necessarily be some rivalry between the 
various manufacturers, it was agreed on 
the part of all that the relative output of 
each factory would be kept entirely secret, 
and that only the total or gross aggregate 
should be given out to the public. The fig- 
ures were duly turned over to Dr. Miller, 
and he subsequently made public the total 
aggregate, showing that there are annually 
manufactured in the United States sixty 
million section honey-boxes. As these fig- 
ures were based upon an average taken 
from a period of years, the actual annual 
output of sections as here given is fairly 
accurate. As each honey-box holds slightly 
less than a pound on the average, it is fair 
to assume that the actual yearly output of 
comb honey in the United States is some- 
where around fifty million pounds. So 
much for comb honey. 

At the time these figures were taken by 
Dr. Miller it was generally estimated that 
there was three times as much extracted 
honey as comb, but at the present time it 
would be conservative to say that there is 
at least five times as much. If the multiple 
of three is used, the total amount of ex- 
tracted honey would be one hundred and 
fifty million pounds ; or if the multiple of 
five is used the total would be two hundred 
and fifty million pounds. Take the lower 
figure and consider that the actual amount 
of extracted honey produced in any one 



year is one hundred and fifty million 
pounds. To this should be added the fifty 
million pounds of comb honey, making a 
total of two hundred million pounds. 

Extracted honey sells anywhere from ten 
to twelve cents per pound, and comb any- 
where from fifteen to thirty cents per 
pound. But let us take the conservative 
figure of ten cents as an average price that 
honey sells for, both comb and extracted. 
This would make twenty million dollars' 
worth of honey that is annually produced 
in the United States in any single year. 
During the period of the Great War when 
honey reached 20 and 25 cents per pound 
in car lots, the value of the honey would 
be nearer fifty millions. As the average 
mind cannot comprehend these figures let 
these two hundred million pounds of honey 
be loaded into freight cars of thirty thou- 
sand pounds to a forty-foot car. Let all 
these cars be put together into one solid 
train and there will be a train fifty miles 
long. The average person when he consid- 
ers these figures, especially when it is 
loaded into freight cars like this, thinks 
there must be some mistake, and that it 
cannot be possible that any amount of 
honey like that was produced in the United 
States alone. Even if the United States cen- 
sus figures (which we are satisfied take into 
account only about half the amount of 
honey produced in the United States) be 
accepted there will still be as the annual 
production ten million dollars' worth of 
honey. Considering the fact that the cen- 
sus enumerators skip large areas, and in 
many cases omit to take into account the 
product from extensive apiaries located in 
out-of-the-way districts, as well as the 
large number of bees located in towns and 
cities, it is fair to assume that the figures 
of twenty million dollars' worth of honey 
annually produced in the United States are 
much more accurate than those given us by 
the government. 

The question arises, how many colonies 
of bees are there, and how many beekeepers 
in the United States'? If the average out- 
put per hive each year is somewhere about 
twenty pounds, and if the figures of two 
hundred million pounds are taken as the 
total aggregate production in the United 
States, there would be about ten million 
colonies of bees. If each beekeeper in the 
country has on the average about ten col- 



STATISTICS CONCERNING THE BEE AND HONEY BUSINESS 



onies, there would then be a million bee- 
keepers in the United States. The United 
States census shows that there were nearly 
six hundred thousand farms reporting bees 
in 1910, and seven hundred thousand in 
1900, showing a falling-off of one hundred 
thousand during the ten years. Attention 
will be called to this later. As these figures 
do not take into account the large number 
of persons keeping bees in cities and to^vns, 
many of whom produce honey by the car- 
load, it is safe to estimate that the total 
number of persons keeping bees in the 
United States is somewhere around one 
million, or the same number arrived at by 
the other calculation based on the total 
aggregate of honey produced in the country. 
Thirty or forty years ago, most of the 
honey in the United States was produced 
east of the Mississippi from clover. In 
many parts of this section of the country 
the pasture lands have given way to in- 
tensive agriculture, and while it is no doubt 
true that more clover honey is produced 
now east of the Mississippi than during an 
earlier time, because there are more bees, 
yet it is safe to say that the clover area is 
becoming less and less. However, this re- 
duction in white clover is being offset to a 
great extent by the sowing of alsike clover 
on farms where red clover grows only 
sparingly. (See Clover.) In the mean 
time, irrigation has opened immense tracts 
where alfalfa is being grown, so that at the 
present time most of the honey being pro- 
duced in the United States comes from the 
country west of the Mississippi. At all 
events, the markets are better supplied with 
mountain sage and alfalfa than they are 
with clover honey. Over against this it 
must be taken into consideration that the 
great centers of population are east of the 
Mississippi, and the probabilities are that 
most of the clover honey produced in that 
part of the country is consumed locally. 
In the West the country is much more 
sparsely settled; but, on the other hand, 
beekeeping is carried on in a much more 
extensive way. The result is that the West 
produces more than it can consume, and it 
is shipped eastward. Even when all these 
factors are taken into consideration the 
fact remains that the great bulk of the 
honey comes from the West. For example, 
in a good year California would doubtless 
lead off. Indeed, there have actually been 



shipped out of that State after a good 
season as high as five hundred cars of 
honey. This does not take into account the 
large consumption of honey within the 
State. Texas in a good year would follow 
as a close second. Then would come next 
in order Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, 
Montana, Wyoming, and, in general, those 
States where alfalfa is grown very largely. 
According to the United States census 
figures Missouri and Illinois follow very 
closely after the two great States of Texas 
and California in the matter of honey pro- 
duction. This may or may not be true ; but 
if Illinois, Missouri, New York, and Penn- 
sylvania produce as much honey as is cred- 
ited to them by the census, there are certain 
other States with conditions practically as 
good that should produce almost as much. 
But a comparison of the table shows in 
most cases that they are away below. If 
the census enumerators did their work as 
faithfully in these States where the show- 
ing is light, as was done in Illinois, Mis- 
souri, New York, and Pennsylvania, it 
would show that the poor States mentioned 
were much better. But the facts are that 
the soil, conditions, climate, and other fac- 
tors are about the same in a number of the 
States, and there should not be such a dif- 
ference as we find between Kansas and 
Missouri, for example, or between Minne- 
sota and Wisconsin, or Minnesota and Illi- 
nois. 

In respect to the amount of beeswax an- 
nually produced in the United States, the 
Bureau of Entomology has estimated that 
there is about two million dollars' worth, 
or about one-tenth of the value of honey 
annually produced in the country. But 
beeswax sells anywhere from 30 to 35 cents 
per pound, and that is two and a half or 
three times as much as honey brings, if we 
figure 10 cents as the average price of both 
comb and extracted. On this basis, for 
every pound of wax produced there would 
be from 25 to 30 lbs. of honey; and this 
proportion would not be far from correct. 
The presumption is that the census enu- 
merators were more careful to get the exact 
account or the amount of beeswax on hand 
at the farms because of its larger relative 
value. 

A little way back reference is made to 
the fact that the United States census for 
1910 should not be taken too seriously; 



700 



STATISTICS CONCERNING THE BEE AND HONEY BUSINESS 



but it should be said that it is valuable for 
the purpose of comparison. We herewith 
present a comparative table of the census 
for 1900 and 1910. The student will be 
interested in comparing the figures. For 
instance, there has been a marked falling 
off in the number of farms where bees were 
reported. That there has been a decrease 
in the number of farmer beekeepers there 
can be no question. Whether the table 
showing the decrease by States is accurate 
cannot be proven ; but decrease there sure- 
ly has been in the aggregate. This is prob- 
ably due to two causes; viz., 1. To a reduc- 
tion in the amount of clover grown, either 
because intensive agriculture has crowded 
it out, or because soil that once grew clover 
luxuriantly has become "clover-sick" — that 
is, too acid. Clover is the main dependence 
for honey in most of the States east of the 



Mississippi and north of the Ohio. It is a 
notable fact that clover has not yielded as 
it did in the olden days before the lime had 
been exhausted from the soil. (See Clo- 
ver.) When "bees don't pay" on the 
farm, they die off because the farmer won't 
feed them. We shall have more to say 
about this at a later time. 2. The other 
cause for reduction in the number of 
farmer beekeepers is clearly traceable to 
bee disease that has made such rapid 
spread. The obvious remedy is to work 
for more extensive bee-inspection work, 
and, besides, preach the doctrine of putting 
lime in the soil. That can be done cheaply, 
and make clover grow as before. While 
lime can have no effect on bee diseases it 
will make clover grow as it did in days of 
old. 

Attention should be called to the fact 



state 



Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District of Columbia 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois . 

Indiana 

Iowa 



Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Mar}'land 

Massachusetts _. 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 

New Mexico 

New Jersey 

New York 

North Carolina 
North Dakota _. 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 
Rhode Island _. 
South Carolina . 
South Dakota _. 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Washington 

West Virginia _ 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 



Farms 

reporting 

bees in 

1910 I 1900 



Per 

cent 

of 

gain 

or loss 



23,911 

441 

19,692 



34 



3,563 

1,798 

1,119 
13 

4,345 
23,167 

2,368 
29,741 
19,487 
28,935 
16,869 
36,854 

4,928 

1,371 

4,186 

1,597 
16.892 

9,522 
16,028 
40,1101 41 

7951 

12,5381 12 

1761 

1,002| 1 
4181 

1,6271 2 
15,2791 22 
36,2581 41 

79 
23,203 34 

4,816 3 

8,86l| 8 
22,2971 28 

2851 
12,5281 16 

1,347 
30,7121 38 
37,8751 60 

1,873 3 

1,124| 1 
22,4371 25 

5,886 4 
24,035| 25 
10,3911 10 
579 



100—25. 
489 — 9. 
182—11. 
915 — 0. 
5181—21. 



—20. 
—33. 
t 85. 

— 3. 
—28. 

— 0, 
—14, 
—31. 

— 0, 

— 7. 
—18. 
—19, 

4961-45. 
098—17, 
799—11, 
1221— 6, 
078 t 56, 
9901—10, 
1451— 2, 
234|t239. 
130|t 3, 
2781—36, 
2881—22, 



Colonies 

reported 

in 

1910 I 1900 



Per 

cent 

of 

gain 

or loss 



410 
,327 
,738 
,051 
30 
,458 
,438 
,895 
,962 

370 
,272 

387 
,225 
,0431 



t 2, 
—30, 
—32, 
—11, 
tl63. 
—32. 
t 40, 
— 0. 
—23, 
—23, 
—23, 
t248 
—19 
36 



,0371—49 
,878—40, 
,7741—12 
,435 t 32 
,240|— 4 
,5351— 1, 
153 1278, 



135,1401 

23,770 

92,731 

200,718 

71,434 

9,445 

6,410 

151 

38,895 

130,549 

21,903 

155,846 

80,938 

160,025 

73,737 

152,992 

'^9.591 

7,592 

23.1561 

7,464! 

115,2741 

56,6771 

74,3501 

203,5691 

6,3131 

45,625 

8,40l| 

4,6441 

10,052! 

10,4841 

156,360 

188,998 

495 

98,241 

19,411 

47,2851 

124,8301 

1,267| 

75,4221 

6,553 

144,479 

238,107 

26,185 

10,215 

104,005| 

33,8841 

110,673! 

95,6381 

4,5961 



205,269 

18.991 

111,138 

129,444 



-34.2 
25.2 
16.6 
55.1 



59,756 t 19.5 



—17.4 
—37.1 
tl55.9 
— 2.2 
—30.5 
t 13.8 
—13.4 
—30.91 
t 15.31 



11,438 

10,187 

59 

39,753 

187,919 

19,240 

179,953 

117,148 

138,811 

88,5941—16.8 

203, 820|— 24.9 

35,23l|— 16.0 

10,8571—30.1 

28,0131—17.3 

8,38l|— 10.9 

100,397|t 14.8 

45,877|t 23.5 

95,257—21.91 

205,110!— 0.8! 

I,80l!t250.5| 

52,1431—12.51 

5,692lt 47. 6| 

5,520!— 15.91 

6,164!t 63.l| 

14,1181—25.71 

187,2081—16.51 

244,5391-22.7! 

279!t 77.41 

151,391!— 35.1! 

20,137 — 3.7! 

55,585!— 14.91 

161,6701—22.8! 

1,6811-24.61 

93,9581—19.71 

2,063lt217.6| 

222.7881— 36. 0| 

392,6441—39.4! 

33,818—22.61 

12,8361-20.41 

139,0641—25.21 

30,870|t 9.8| 

111,4171— 0.7 

106,0901— 9.9 

l,020|t350.6 



Value in dollars 
1910 I 1900 



Per 

cent 

of 

gain 

or loss 



213 
104 
200 
728 
309 
41 
13 



187 

100 

487 

230 

517 

218 

419 

58 

30 

61 

39 

446 

221 

144 

585 

32 

153 

48 

23 

46 

41 

647 

387 

3 

276 

64 

150 

478 

6 

135 

31 

341 

675 

123 

44 

303 

127 

388 

360 

20 



,000 
,000 
,000 
,000 
,000 
,800 
,600 

790 
,500 
,000 
,000 
,700 
.5001 
,3001 
,6001 
,000 [ 
,2001 
,400i 
,600l 
,700! 
,500! 
,800 
,000| 
,0001 
,1001 

0001 
,500 
,600 
,300 
,600 
,0001 
,000 
,086l 
,000! 
,3001 

,000! 

,0001 

,100! 

,0001 
,600 

,ooo| 

,0001 
,6001 
,3001 
,0001 
,0001 
,900! 
,5001 
4931 



288,000 

66,600 

204,000 

364,000 

195,000 

40,500 

20,244 

199 

83,800 

243,000 

65,000 

486,200 

278,900 

443,9001 

278,000 

527,000| 

54,300| 

51,5001 

61,000] 

35,8001 

352,5001 

167,3001 

159,000! 

508,0001 

8,1001 

200,0001 

20,100! 

24,7001 

20,8001 

39,2001 

594,0001 

430,000! 

1,4741 

403,0001 

45,400| 

160,0001 

532,0001 

6,800 

143,0001 

10,100! 

487.000! 

749,0001 

111,500] 

47,000| 

308,000] 

107,000 

375,600 

377,0001 

5,3221 



—26.0 
t 56.7 
t 2.1 
1100.1 
t 58. 5 
t 3.2 
—32.8 
t297.0 
t 17.5 
—22.9 
t 54.1 
t 0.3 
—17.4 
t 16.5 
—21.4 
—20.4 
t 7.1 
—21.0 
7 1.0 
t 11.0 
t 26.7 
t 32.6 

— 9.1 
t 15.0 
7294.5 
—23.5 
tl40.7 

— 4.3 
tl22.6 
t 6.0 
t 8.9 
—10.1 
tl09.4 
—31.5 
t 41.5 

— 6.4 
—10.0 

— 9.7 

— 5.6 
t213.1 
—30.0 

— 9.9 
t 10.9 

— 5.5 

— 1.9 
t 18.8 
t 3.5 

— 4.4 
1285.1 



Grand total 



.1590,9071707.3151 



,462,52014,258,2391 



!10,372,978]10,179,839] 



A dash ( — ) before a number indicates a loss ; t shows a gain. 



STINGS 



701 



already mentioned, that these data are for 
bees on farms only, and that bees in towns 
and cities are not included. The official 
designation of a " farm " actually includes 
many apiaries in towns; but, as is well 
recognized, most of the large town apiaries 
have not been included in the enumeration. 

The only States showing any increase in 
beekeepers worthy of consideration are 
Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, 
Washington, Montana, Wyoming, and 
North Dakota— all Western States. The 
gi-eatest reported loss is in Utah, where 49.5 
per cent decrease is shown in the number 
of farms reporting bees. It is worthy of 
mention that the loss in number of farms 
reporting bees is usually greater than the 
number of colonies, indicating that those 
now in the business are keeping more bees. 
On account of bee diseases already men- 
tioned, farms that used to keep bees in a 
small way have now been obliged to give 
up the business because bee disease will not 
allow bees to work for nothing and board 
themselves as they used to do in the olden 
days. The result is now that there is a 
smaller number of beekeepers in the coun- 
try, perhaps, but a larger number of colo- 
nies of bees. In some of the Western 
States there are not a few beekeepers who 
count their colonies by the thousand and 
who produce honej^ by the carload. 

Taking everything into consideration, the 
beekeeping industry is certainly growing. 
The bee-supply factories all over the coun- 
try show a healthy increase ; and the busi- 
ness of selling honey is being organized 
and developed now as it never was before. 
While there are fewer bee journals in the 
United States than there were ten years 
ago, yet these bee jouraals are of a much 
higher class with a much larger circulation. 
This would indicate a larger interest in 
bees, not on the part of everybodj^, but on 
the part of those who are making the busi- 
ness more of a study. 

STINGLESS BEES.— See Bees, Sting- 
less. 

STINGS. — Many persons, doubtless, 
would keep bees were it not for the natural 
fear of stings; but when their habits are 
thoroly understood this fear disappears al- 
most entirely. The average beekeeper pays 
no more attention to a sting: or two re- 



ceived on his Angel's than the mechanic who 
bruises his knuckles when a wrench slips. 
When bees are properly handled the num- 
ber of stings can be reduced to a verj- low 
percentage. Very often one can work all 
day among his bees and not receive a smgle 
jab; and at other times, if he is a little 
careless, or if he takes chances, he may get 
a regular onslaught of a dozen at a time. 
When, however, one exercises ordinary pre- 
caution he will receive only an occasional 
sting; and even the effects of that, if he is 
quick enough, can be minimized to such an 
extent that it will be difficult for him to 
find it an hour afterward. The writer once 
worked a whole month without a sting. 

As will be pointed out later, the moment 
a stmg is received it should be removed 
instantly — the sooner the better. If it is 
left in the wound it will gradually work 
itself into the flesh by muscular contract- 
tion, discharging the contents of the poison- 
sac, and the result .will be far more severe 
than if it had been removed immediately, 
care being taken, of course, not to squeeze 
the poison-sac duiing the operation. 

It is always advisable for the beginner 
to wear a bee-veil and a pair of gloves at 
the start. A good bee-smoker, with the fuel 
burning well, should be at hand. The time 
selected for handling the bees should be 
between 10 o'clock in the morning and 4 in 
the afternoon of a wami day. The opera- 
tor should never stand m front of the en- 
trance — always to one side. A little smoke 
should be blown in the entrance. The cover 
should next be lifted gently and more 
smoke blown between the cover and the 
hive before the hive is opened. More par- 
ticulars in regard to opening the hive are 
given further on under this head; also 
under Maxipulatiox of Coloxies, sub- 
head " How to Open a Hive ; " and in the 
last part of the "A B C of Beekeeping." 

Even after one does receive a sting he 
should go about his work as tho nothing 
had happened. If he does not allow his 
mind to dwell upon the pain he will not find 
it bad. If a sting is received thru the 
clothing or a glove, it will be a mere prick, 
and can be instantly removed without get- 
ting very much of the effects of the poison. 

If one expects to be a beekeeper he 
should make up his mind that he can over- 
come his natural fear. He should und^-^ 
stand that when properly hand^-' 



702 



STINGS 



directions being carefull}^ followed out as 
to time and conditions, bees will be as gen- 
tle as kittens; that even when their hive is 
torn to pieces, and their combs scattered 
here and there, they will not make a pro- 
test. If, however, Mr. Beginner thinks he 
knows it all, and proceeds to open up a 
hive without suitable protection, he may be 
severely stung, with the result that he will 
conclude beekeeping is an exceedingly haz- 
ardous business. On the contrary, it is one 
of the safest that one can enter into. The 
average young horse or a Jersey cow is 
more dangerous than a colony of bees; for 
either one of them, unless their habits are 
thoroly understood, can cause loss of life. 
If one attempts to step into a stall on a 
dark night, surprising the horse without 
saying " whoa ! " or giving notice of his 
presence, he may be kicked clear across the 
barn. In the same way, a stranger who 
does not know the pranks of a Jersey cow 
will be dealt with so severely that he may 
conclude that the animal ought to be 
slaughtered rather than to be allowed to 
live. In the same way street cars, automo- 
biles, row-boats, are all sources of danger; 
and it would be just as reasonable to avoid 
horses, cows, street cars, and automobiles 
as it would be to avoid bees because some 
people have been stung or even have lost 
their lives thru gross carelessness. Any 
one of them is safe when properly handled. 
Perhaps it may be urged that the pain of 
the sting could be endured provided there 
were no further swelling or disfigurement 
of the features. If one will wear a bee- 
veil carefully fitted to his clothing, there 
will not be the slightest excuse for having a 
swollen eye or a distorted lip. As a matter 
of fact, after one has been stung a certain 
number of times his system will become 
hardened or immune so there will be but 
'ittle or no swelling. The average bee- 
keeper can be stung on his face or hands a 
great many times; and beyond the mere 
momentary pain there will be no after- 
effects except a slight soreness for a few 
hours at the point where the sting was re- 
ceived. The number of stings that one 
must get before he becomes immune de- 
pends somewhat on the individual himself. 
A very few never have any swelling, and 
others will become immune after a com- 
paratively small number of stings. Usual- 



ly in a season's operations one will become 
proof against swelling after a sting. 

Too much emphasis cannot be placed on 
the absolute importance of removing the 
sting the moment it is given. This can be 
done by quick rubbing or mashing motion, 
and very often one can parry or prevent a 
sting altogether by smashing the bee or 
brushing it off before it can get in its work 
The bee, in order to sting, must take time 
enough to sink in its claws before it can 
force its weapon thru the epidermis of its 
foe. At the precise instant that one feels 
the claws of a bee sinking into the skin he 
should dislodge it if he is in position to do 
so. Sometimes when he is holding a frame 
with a valuable queen on it he must " stand 
and take; " but even then the frame can be 
set down gently and the sting removed. 
Usually, if there is just a mere prick of the 
skin there will be little or no swelling, and 
the pain will be hardly noticeable. 

THE PROPER WAY TO REMOVE A STING. 

With the blade of a knife, scrape the 
sting loose, being careful not to break it off 
nor to press on the poison-sac. A pressure 
on the latter will force the poison into the 
wound, making it much worse. 

When a knife is not handy, push the 
sting out with the thumb or finger nail in 
much the same way. It is quite desirable 
that the sting be taken out as quickly as 
possible, for if the barbs (to be described 
further along) once get hold of the flesh, 
muscular contraction will rapidly work 
the sting deeper and deeper. Sometimes 
the sting separates, leaving part (one of 
the splinters, so to speak) in the w^ound. 
It has been suggested that care should be 
taken to remove every one of these tiny 
points ; but after tiding many times to see 
what the effect would be, the author con- 
cludes that they do but little hann, and 
that the main thing is to remove the part 
containing the poison-bag before it has 
emptied itself into the wound. When very 
busy, or having something in the other hand 
to make it inconvenient to remove the sting 
with a knife or finger-nail, we have rubbed 
the sting out against the clothing, in such a 
way as to push the poison-bag off side- 
wise; and altho this plan often breaks off 
the sting so as to leave splinters in the 



STINGS 



703 



wound, we have found little if any more 
trouble from them than usual. 

REMEDIES FOR BEE-ST! NGS. 

Medicines of all kinds are of so little 
avail, if of any use at all, that the best way 
is to pay no attention to any of them. This 
has awakened a great deal of arguing, and 
the remedies that have been sent, which the 
writers knew were good, because they had 
tried them, have been enough to fill this 
whole chapter. We have tried a great 
man.y of them, and, for a time, we im- 
agined they were of value ; but after giving 
them a more extended trial, we have been 
forced to conclude that they were entirely 
futile. They not only did no good, but if 
the directions with the remedy were to rub 
it in the wound, they did positive harm. 
The friction would diffuse the poison more 
rapidly into the circulation, and make a 
painful swelling of what would have been 
very trifling, if let alone. It should be 
borne in mind that the poison is introduced 
into the flesh thru a puncture so minute 
that the finest cambric needle could by no 
manner of means enter where the sting did, 
and that the flesh closes over so completely 
as to make it practically impossible for 
the remedy to penetrate this opening. Even 
if there is a remedy that will neutralize the 
poison in something the same way that an 
alkali neutralizes any regular acid, how is 
it possible to get it directly in contact with 
the poison? There is no way of doing it 
unless resort is had to a surgical operation. 
There is no remedy except to remove the 
sting immediately, and then let the wound 
alone, and going on with the work without 
even thinking about it. But, suppose one 
gets under the eye a sting that closes up 
that very important organ; shall he go on 
with his work? That depends. If it 
brings on headache or causes great discom- 
fort, rest a while, and in the mean time 
apply a cold wet cloth until the local fever 
is allayed. Sometimes applying a hot and 
cold wet cloth alternately brings relief. 

Kerosene was suggested as a remedy, and 
two of our friends regarded it of such im- 
portance that they almost got into a con- 
troversy about who was entitled to the 
honor of the discovery. After having re- 
ceived a very bad sting on the hand, we 
went for the oil can and dropped oil on the 



spot for some time. As kerosene will re- 
move a rusty bolt or screw when nothing 
else will avail, and as it seems to have a 
wonderful power of penetrating all cracks 
and crevices, we began to have faith that 
it might follow the sting of the bee, and in 
some way neutralize the poison. But the 
only result was one of the most painful 
and lasting w^ounds we ever had. 

WHAT TO DO WHEN HORSES ARE STUNG A 
GREAT NUMBER OF TIMES AT ONCE. 

Severe cases of stinging are usually the 
result of carelessness, either from allowing 
combs to be scattered, causing robbing, or 
because a hive has been bumped over by 
careless driving, or by some animal allowed 
the range of the apiary. There are a num- 
ber of cases on record where horses have 
been stung to death; and it is hardly safe 
to hitch such animals within a few feet of a 
hive, nor yet to let them run loose in a 
bee-yard, altho a few sheep may be let in 
to keep the grass down to advantage. 

Chalon Fowls of Oberlin, 0., left a horse 
hitched near some hives of what he thought 
w^ere gentle Italians; but by some means or 
other the animal bumped one of the hives, 
irritating the bees, causing them to msh 
out and sting. The horse, of course, began to 
plunge and kick, with the result that he 
demolished completely all the hives within 
reach. Mr. Fowls said the horse, when he 
could get to him, was almost literally cov- 
ered with stings. He unhitched and led 
him away, and immediately called for a 
boiler of hot water. This was brought out 
as soon as it could be heated. Cloths and 
blankets were immersed in it, almost boil- 
ing hot, wrung nearly dry, and laid over 
the animal, now writhing in the severest 
agony. The moment Mr. Fowls applied the 
hot blankets he says the horse quieted 
down. During the escapade he himself was 
terribly stung in the face and on the hands ; 
and he says that, as soon as the hot cloths 
were applied to his face he felt almost in- 
stant relief. The cloths were applied to the 
horse on every portion that was stung, and 
Mr. Fowls had the satisfaction of knowing 
that he could save his horse, which was 
soon as well as ever. 

During the summer of 1902 at one of our 
outyards we had an experience which we 
thought at the time would be fatal to both 



704 



STINGS 



man and beast. It came about somewhat 
in this way. A neighbor of ours who had a 
field of timothy near our yard had allowed 
his horse to eat grass within a few feet of 
the yard while he went to the further end 
of the field to look after some work. In 
the mean time the horse had managed to 
get over among the bees. The result was, 
she knocked over five hives, and was liter- 
ally covered with stings when our neighbor 
came up. Being a practical beeman as well 
as a horseman himself, he rushed into the 
fray, freed the horse, and started her for 
the barn. The animal was beginning to 
swell badly, and it was evident to him that 
she would die before relief could be given 
by a veterinary, even if called. He accord- 
ingly rolled up about a pound of common 
table salt in a paper, opened the animal's 
mouth, and with the left hand grasped her 
tongue, pulling it out as far as he could. 
He then with his right hand shoved the salt 
clear down her throat, reaching to his 
elbow. This done, he quickly closed her 
moiith and elevated her head until he saw 
the wad of salt go down the gullet. In a 
short time the horse showed relief, for the 
salt probably neutralized, to some extent, 
the effect of the acid poison. It also acted 
as a physic ; for when a horse is sick at the 
stomach he can not vomit, and it is neces- 
sary to give him something at once to keep 
the bowels 'open. In three or four hours 
the horse was greatly relieved. 

Our neighbor did not apply wet blankets 
wrung out of hot water ; but the veterinary 
who was consulted afterward, said that the 
giving of the salt was one of the best things 
that could have been done, and added that 
he would have wrapped the animal up in a 
blanket wrung out of hot water. If to this 
water is added a small quantity of am- 
monia, all the better. 

The moral of this is to keep bee-yards 
fenced off so that no stock or horses can 
get in. It is also advisable to locate the 
apiary a few rods from any line fence or 
hitching-post. See Apiary. 

WHAT TO DO WHEN A PATIENT SUFFERS 
SEVERELY FROM ONE OR MORE STINGS. 

It is rare indeed that one sting causes 
any more than a local pain. Red blotches 
may break out all over the body. In other 
cases there may be shortness of breath, a 



faintness, some nausea, and a weak heart 
action. When the heart is affected it is 
very important to keep the patient quiet 
and cool, and to get the services of a physi- 
cian at once to administer some heart stim- 
ulant. If the patient has been stung a 
great many times, cloths should be wrung 
out of hot water and applied to the body. 
Feet and hands should be kept warm, and 
the patient, if he has a weak pulse and 
difficulty in breathing, should be placed 
near an open window, or, better still, out 
on the porch where the cool breezes can 
strike him. If there is no air stirring, it 
would be well for some one to keep up a 
vigorous fanning of the face. The body 
should be warmly covered and protected 
until the doctor arrives. Where electricity 
is available an electric fan may be made to 
play across the face of the patient. 

When one suffers a shock and shows a 
weak pulse (and these cases are rare) he 
should, after he recovers, carefully refrain 
from attempting to do any hard manual 
labor for two or three weeks as he will 
probably suffer from the shock. He should 
avoid becoming overheated, and for a day 
or two after being stung he should be very 
quiet, keeping as cool as possible. Any 
exertion may bring back the old trouble of 
weak pulse, and this of course introduces 
an element of danger, if not the danger of 
leaving a pennanent legacy of a bad heart. 

Where there is no . weak action of the 
heart, that is, the pulse seems to be good, 
but one suffers from a general fever over 
the body with red blotches all over, appli- 
cations of cold cloths wrung out of water 
sometimes are sufficient to bring relief. 
Sometimes hot applications are better still, 
and very often it happens that hot and 
cold in alternation prove beneficial. 

HOW ONE WHO IS SERIOUSLY AFFECTED 

BY A SINGLE STING MAY BECOME 

COMPARATIVELY IMMUNE TO THE 

POISON. 

There are some who are so seriously 
affected by the bee-sting poison that even 
a single sting Avill cause the body to break 
out in red blotches. Only one person in ten 
thousand is thus affected. So rare are the 
reported cases that the editors of Gleanings 
in Bee Culture, a journal with a circulation 
of over 20,000, do not hear of them once in 



STINGS 



705 



ten years. But there are quite a number of 
others who are less affected, but who inform 
us that a single sting produces great dis- 
comfort. While there is no danger of loss 
of life, the results of a sting are such that 
they have been obliged to give up the 
delightful pastime of keeping bees, very 
much to their regret. We have formerly 
advised all such persons when going among 
bees to be veiled and to wear gloves. But 
in late years we have found a better remedy. 
It was suggested by the fact that the aver- 
age person becomes less and less affected 
by the bee-sting poison; and it occurred 
to us that, inasmuch as the human system 
has the power to withstand increasing 
doses of manj' poisons, after the first one, 
why should it not be able to make itself 
immune to a certain extent against the 
virus of a bee-sting? It is a well-known 
fact that opium and morphine fiends are 
able to take doses of those drugs in 
amounts that would kill ten people who 
are not in the habit of taking them. The 
same thing is tine of alcohol. It is evident 
if one who is very seriously affected by 
bee-sting poison would just merely prick 
himself with a sting and then brush it off 
before it has had time to throw much of 
its virus into the wound, the after-effects 
would not be very serious; and that if the 
dose were repeated some four or five days 
afterward, or about the time the effect of 
the previous sting had passed away, one 
could, by continuing this process, ultimate- 
ly apply the dose at more frequent inter- 
vals until in time his system would be no 
more affected than that of an ordinary 
person. 

An interesting case came under observa- 
tion. A boy, when stung, became so af- 
fected that his body would break out in 
great red blotches ; his breathing grew dif- 
ficult, and his heart began to pound like a 
sledge hammer. It was really a question 
whether there was not danger of losing his 
life. Nevertheless he was very desirous of 
engaging in beekeeping, and determined 
to work with bees. A live bee was pressed 
on the back of his hand until it merely 
pierced his skin with the sting. It was 
removed immediately ; and since no serious 
effect followed another sting prick was ad- 
ministered inside of four or five days. This 
was continued for some three or four 
weeks, when the patient began to have a 
23 



sort of itching sensation all over his body. 
The hypodermic injections of bee-sting 
poison were then discontinued. At the end 
of a month they were repeated at intervals 
of four or five days. Again after two or 
three weeks the itching sensation came on, 
but it was less pronounced. The patient 
was given a rest of about a month, when 
the doses were repeated as before. He 
then went to school and was not back for 
eight or nine months. On his return the 
applications were given again, when it was 
plainly noticeable that the after-effects 
were becoming markedly less. He then 
went out into the bee-yard and was stung 
occasionally, but, beyond a small local 
swelling, there was no unpleasant effect. 

Some months afterward he was assisting 
one of our men at one of our yards, when, 
without warning, a colony of bees that was 
being handled made a most furious attack 
on both the men. The young man who had 
been taking the immunizing doses of bee- 
virus received, he estimates, ten or a dozen 
stings all over his bod5^ He had no veil 
nor gloves, for the other man was doing 
the work with the bees. He expected 
serious consequences; but, greatly to his 
surprise and gratification, no unpleasant 
effects followed. What was more, there 
was no swelling. It should be remembered 
that this person used to be so seriously 
affected that a single sting would cause his 
parents to worry, for they feared he would 
not be able to survive the attack. He now 
handles bees with the same freedom that 
any experienced beekeeper does. 

HOW TO AVOID BEIXG STUNG. 

If the reader will turn to the A B C of 
BEEKEEPI^^G^ also Manipulation of Colo- 
nies^ subhead " How to Open a Hive," and 
if he has read carefully the beginning of 
this article, he will have a general knowl- 
edge of how to avoid stings. It will be 
proper at this point to amplify some things 
already said, and to add others not already 
covered. The subject is so important that 
it cannot be gone over too fully, even at 
the risk of repetition. Whether one will 
be able to make a success of beekeeping or 
not, will depend very largely on how care- 
fully he follows the directions given below. 

1. He should have a good bee-smoker 
with the fuel well ignited. The author 



706 



STINGS 



prefers greasy waste, which is procurable 
at almost any machine shop or garage, and 
can usually be had for the asking. See 
Smokers. 

2. He should have a bee-veil that is 
securely attached to the hat and to the 
waist or shirt (see Veils). 

3. His clothing should be loose, not fit- 
ting closely to the body; a blouse or shirt 
with sleeves buttoned or tied securely 
around the wrists should be worn. If he 
is shaking bees from the combs, he should 
have his trousers stuck in his socks or 
folded around the ankles, holding them in 
place by means of strings. The shoes 
should be high enough to project under the 
trousers; and in the case of a woman the 
skirt should be long enough to reach the 
tops of the shoes. Or, better yet, let her 
wear a farmerette suit. Some of these 
suits are very neat and becoming. When 
bees are shaken on the ground care should 
be taken not to allow them to crawl up on 
the feet. If perchance they do get on the 
foot, it should be stamped on the ground, 
jarring them off. When the weather will 
permit, the man should have both his coat 
and vest off. A very good suit is that 
worn by garage men and railroad engi- 
neers in the form of a union overalls suit. 
Those who are very timid should wear 
gloves or gauntlets. See Gloves. 

4. One should never stand in front of a 
hive — always at one side or in the rear. 
When bees are flying to the fields back and 
forth they are more liable to sting, appar- 
ently working on the assumption that the 
obstruction has no business to be in the 
way. 

5. A good hive-tool is important. In the 
absence of a special tool, a screwdriver or a 
knife with a strong blade may be used. 

6. The middle hours of the day, if one is 
a beginner, should be selected for the 
manipulation of bees. The novice should 
never attempt to open a hive on a cool or 
chilly morning, or late in the afternoon, 
and never after a chilly rain. 

7. One should avoid opening a hive or 
going out into the apiary at a time imme- 
diately after a heavy rain or after any 
other cause that suddenly checks or stops 
the honey flow. Either a rain or a cold 
spell may stop the secretion of nectar. The 
more sudden the stoppage, the crosser will 



be the bees; and when they work on buck- 
wheat or honeydew, they are apt to be 
cross when the flow stops along during the 
middle hours of the day, until it begins 
again during the afternoon. 

8. Having selected a favorable time for 
the manipulation, the beginner should blow 
one or two puffs of smoke into the 
entrance of the hive. With a hive-tool, 
screwdriver, or knife, he should separate 
the cover from the hive by merely entering 
the blade, leaving a gap wide enough for 
the entrance of smoke, but narrow enough 
to prevent the exit of bees. A couple of 
puffs of smoke should be forced into the 
crack made by the hive-tool, after which 
the cover may be lifted and more smoke 
blown over the frames. The cover may 
be set down by the side of the hive. How- 
ever, it is usually advisable to jar the bees 
from the cover by giving a sharp blow on 
the ground just in front of the entrance, 
when they will quickly run in. This is im- 
portant, because the crawling bees on the 
ground are quite liable to get under the 
clothing; and a crawling bee always moves 
upward. 

9. Before proceeding further, the opera- 
tor should carefully note the behavior of 
the bees. If they crowd up closely between 
the frames, making quick movements, and 
one or two start flying up as if about to 
attack, more smoke should be blown over 
the combs. If, however, a few of them 
crawl leisurely over the combs, apparently 
paying no attention to anji;hing, the frames 
may be separated with a hive-tool or a 
screwdriver; but the smoker should be 
kept conveniently in the other hand; and 
if at any moment the bees show a disposi- 
tion to rush out or sting, more smoke 
should be used. 

10. If there is a division-board in the 
hive it should be removed. The frames 
should be separated on either side of the 
one that is to be taken out. If the operator 
or beginner is timid he should blow smoke 
over the tops of the frames, and then very 
quietly lift the frame selected, being care- 
ful to avoid jerks or quick movements, and 
especially careful not to roll the bees over 
when pulling it out. This cannot be em- 
phasized too strongly. Crushed or maimed 
bees may stir up the colony to a fighting 
pitch. This should be avoided by all means. 



STINGS 



707 



After the first comb is removed, the others 
may be taken out very easily. 

11. The operator should not only avoid 
mashing or killing bees, but he should 
never jerk the hands back, even if two or 
three bees do rush out and make a bluff 
as if they were about to sting, which they 
will frequently do. If the hand is held 
stationary when they make these onslaughts 
they will seldom sting; but if the hand is 
jerked backward it may be stung by two 
or three bees. Just the moment that a 
bee inserts its claws the hand should be 
withdrawn, and, when away from the hive, 
quickly rubbed against the clothing in such 
a way as to brush the bee off before it can 
sting. 

12. One should learn to distinguish be- 
tween bees that are angi-y and those that 
are flying about aimlessly. Cross bees will 
be detected by their high keynote and their 
quick darting movements in flight. A bee 
that nervously flits back and forth before 
the face, giving out a high keynote, is 
cross, and will sting unless the operator 
has his face protected by a veil. The best 
thing to do with such bees is to pay no 
attention to them. 

13. When replacing the frames, they 
should be put back in the same order they 
were in originally, being careful not to 
pinch any bees. 

14. Bees are much more inclined to sting 
during a time when there is a dearth of 
honey, and when robbing has been allowed 
to get started. (See Robbing.) One 
should not leave a hive open very long 
vvhen stray bees from other hives are hov- 
ering over the tops of the combs, now and 
then darting into the hives or on to the 
combs and stealing more or less of the 
sweets. 

15. After the hive has been opened up 
and has stood for a while without any 
manipulation, the remainder of the frames 
left should receive two or three puffs of 
smoke before handling. This is to drive 
down the guards. 

16. Hot breath from a human being or 
an animal when combs are handled very 
often starts beos to rush off the combs by 
the dozen and alight on the veil. If one 
has no face protection he may receive a 
dozen stings in the fraction of a second. 

17. Ordinarily bees will sting a man or 
an animal when he is sweaty and gives off 



a strong odor. However, the practical 
beekeeper pays but little attention to what 
his condition may be. His experiences 
will determine what to do if the bees show 
a disposition to be cross. At such times 
the smoker should always be ready. It is 
the indispensable implement in the yard, 
and should be in condition to give off a 
volume of smoke at any instant — not that 
one's life depends on it, but rather to save 
time and to avoid stings. 

18. Children should not be allowed to 
race thru a beeyard when bees are busy in 
going to the field, or at any other time 
when they might be a little cross. They 
should be cautioned to go around the 
apiary. While the children of beekeepers 
sometimes become careless, they should 
avoid, as far as possible, doing anything 
that will cause unnecessary irritation to the 
bees, thereby provoking them to sting. 

19. Never hitch a team or a horse near 
a hive of bees. A single sting will some- 
times cause a horse to break loose, rush 
thru the yard, knocking over hive after 
hive. If for any reason he becomes en- 
tangled in his harness he will be stung to 
death, and at the same time the life of the 
owner may be in danger in trying to save 
the animal. When hives are knocked over 
as the result of a runaway horse or team, 
there is liable to be a general stinging 
fracas. The owner should not be tempted 
to go into a yard at such times without 
veil and gloves, and a smoker well ignited- 
To do so without protection is only inviting 
disaster. 

WHAT KIND OF BEES STING WORST. 

The general decision now is, that pure 
Italians, Caucasians, and Carniolans are 
the most easily handled. (See Races of 
Bees.) Not only do they sting less, but 
as they keep their places on the combs 
without getting excited when the hives are 
opened properly, they are far less likely 
to get under one's clothing than common 
bees. Queenless bees are not as quiet. It 
maj'' be because they seldom work with 
energy, and have therefore no fresh ac- 
cumulation of stores that would tend to 
put them on their good behavior. All bees 
are much worse after a sudden stoppage 
of nectar secretion, especially after a bass- 
wood or buckwheat flow. A great many 



708 



STINGS 



stings are received from bees that are in no 
way badly disposed at all, simply from 
getting pinched accidentally while on the 
person of the beekeeper. 

The pure races may be handled all day, 
with no mishap ; but after working among 
the old-fashioned blacks or hybrids one 
often finds a dozen or more under the coat, 
in the sleeves, if they can get up, and, 
worst of all, up the trousers, unless the 
precaution has been taken to tuck them 
into the boots — or stockings when wearing 
low shoes. (See Veils.) This one thing 
alone should decide one in favor of the 
Italians, if they were simply equal to the 
blacks in other respects. Hybrids, as be- 
fore stated, are worse to sting than either 
of the races when pure ; while Cyprian and 
Holy-Land bees are so much worse still, 
that sometimes smoke has no effect on 
them. See Cyprians, under Italians; 
also Races op Bees. 

BEE-STING POISON. 



consider the matter a little, and then com- 
mences to walk around the sting, in a cir- 
cle, just as if trying to twist a screw out 
of a board. If one can be patient and let 
the bee alone, it may work it out, but in 
most cases the sting either tears out from 
the body of the bee or breaks off. In 
either case it should be removed from the 
victim at once. 

ODOR OF BEE-STING POISON. 

After one sting has been inflicted, there 
seems a much greater chance of getting 
more stings. Mr. Quinby has suggested 
that this is owing to the smell of the 
poison, and that the use of smoke will 
neutralize this scent. It is advisable to 
blow smoke on the wound. The heat re- 
lieves the pain somewhat, and the smoke 
does, no doubt, obscure the bee-sting odor. 

POISON OF THE BEE-STING AS A REMEDIAL 
AGENT. 



When bees are very angry and elevate 
that portion of their bodies containing the 
sting, a tiny drop of some transparent 
liquid can often be seen on its point. This 
liquid is the poison of the bee's sting. It 
has a sharp, pungent taste; and when 
thrown in the eyes, as sometimes happens, 
it has a stinging, acrid feeling, as if it 
might be a compound of cayenne pepper, 
onion-juice, and horseradish combined; 
and one who tastes it or gets it in his 
eyes concludes it is not so strange that 
such a substance, introduced into the cir- 
culation, should produce severe pain and 
local fever for a few hours. 

HOW IT IS DONE. 

It is quite an interesting experiment to- 
let a bee sting one on the hand, and then 
observe the whole performance without 
disturbing it. After the bee has worked 
the sting so deeply as to be satisfied, it 
begins to find itself a prisoner, and to 
consider means of escape. It usually gets 
smashed at about this stage of proceedings 
unless successful in tearing the sting — 
poison-bag and all — from the body; how- 
ever, if allowed to work quietly it seldom 
does this. After pulling at the sting to 
see that it will not come out, it seems to 



For some j-ears past there have been 
running in the daily press many reports 
in regard to the agency of bee-stings in 
the cure of certain forms of diseases, espe- 
cially rheumatism. From the facts put 
forth, any candid reasoner will have to 
admit that being stung frequently does 
have the effect of relieving certain forms 
of rheumatism, paralysis, and perhaps 
dropsy. 

Numerous accounts have also appeared 
of various persons affected with rheuma- 
tism being greatly relieved by stings, espe- 
cially on the affected parts. Some others 
have reported that they could discover no 
appreciable effect one way or the other. 

It has happened at various field-day 
gatherings of beekeepers that certain par- 
ties who read these reports, having suf- 
fered severely because of rheumatic pains, 
have presented themselves and asked to 
have experts cause the bees to stiog them 
on the affected parts. The operator picks 
a bee off a comb by the wings and presses 
it against the flesh until the sting is driven 
into the skin. This has been done on sev- 
eral occasions, and in each case the parties 
who came forward for this kind of treat- 
ment have said they experienced relief. 
At the Jenkintown field-day meeting, June 
26, 1906, an old gentleman got up on the 



STINGS 



709 



platform, and, before something like a 
thousand people, stings were applied to his 
arm until something like a hundred were 
imbedded deeply in the flesh. Did it hurt? 
Oh, yes! But the induced fever of the 
stings, he said, seemed to bring a warmth 
and toning of the muscles that was after 
all a relief; for, strangely enough, this 
large number of stings does not seem to 
affect a rheumatic leg or arm as it does a 
healthy member. 

It is a well-known fact that the homeo- 
pathic school has for many years used bee- 
sting poison in a remedy called " apis mel- 
lifica." There are large wholesale drug- 
houses that have made a business of buying 
stings taken from live bees, being dropped, 
as they are extracted, into small vials con- 
taining sugar of milk. We have filled 
orders from our apiaries for bee-stings to 
the extent of 10,000 in one lot. From a 
frame of live bees placed in a convenient 
position a bee is picked up with a pair 
of broad-nosed tweezers and immediately 
crushed. This act forces out the sting, 
when it is immediately grasped by another 
pair of fine-pointed tweezers. These are 
then given a sharp rap over a wide- 
mouthed bottle containing sugar of milk. 
In this way the stings are extracted one 
by one until the whole number has been 
pulled. But the operator, after havdng 
extracted four or five thousand, experiences 
a sort of tingling and itching sensation in 
the face, and finds he has to take a rest of 
some days before he can renew his work. 
At -other times it happens that he can ex- 
tract only a few hundred a day when that 
itching sensation will reappear. This is 
probably due to the fact that he inhales 
some of the fumes of the poison, which, 
entering the lungs, is absorbed by the blood 
and carried thru the system. 

At other times a pound or so of bees is 
put into a large wide-mouthed bottle or 
jar of alcohol. But the poison of the 
stings extracted in this way must neces- 
sarily be mixed with the other juices of 
the bees. 

Homeopathic physicians have "apis mel- 
lifica," thus made from bee-stings, supplied 
to them in the form of a liquid. It smells 
not unlike bee-sting poison, and is often 
given internally to relieve the pain of 
rheumatism or swellings in general. But 



it is evident that a hypodermic injection 
of the bees, given directly on the affected 
part, would be a hundred times more pro- 
ductive of good results, assuming, of 
course, the poison does have a remedial 
effect. 

SMOKE NOT ALWAYS A PREVENTIVE OF 
BEE-STINGS. 

There are some colonies that, under some 
conditions, can not be conquered, even with 
smoke. If the atmosphere is a little chilly, 
or immediately after a rain, or if the sup- 
ply of nectar has suddenly stopped short 
off, a few colonies may be very hard to 
handle. While most bees| under these con- 
ditions will yield to smoke, it seems to 
infuriate others. The only thing to do is 
to let them alone for the time being; then 
the next day or two, when the weather is 
favorable, blow a little smoke in at the 
entrance, raise the cover very gently, blow 
in a few whiffs more, when, presto! the 
fiends of the day before are as gentle as 
one could wish. 

MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION 
OF THE STING. 

After a bee has delivered its sting, and 
torn itself from that member, a bundle 
of muscles near by, and partly enveloping 
the poison-bag, will be noticed. The curious 
part of it is that for some considerable 
time after the sting has been detached from 
the body of the bee, these muscles will work 
with a kind of pump-like motion forcing 
the sting further into the wound, as if 
they had a conscious existence and burned 
with desire to wreak vengeance on the 
party attacked. Even after the sting has 
been pulled from the flesh, and thrown 
away, if it should stick in the clothing so 
the flesh will come in contact with it, it 
will commence working again, pull itself 
into the flesh, and empty the poison into 
the wound, precisely as if the living bee 
were itself working it. 

We have suffered manj^ times from a 
sting unconnected with any bee. A sting 
would hold life enough to give a very pain- 
ful wound, for some minutes afterward. 
Muscular contraction of the sting has taken 
place under the field of the microscope 20 
minutes after being detached from the bee. 



710 



STINGS 



This phenomenon is wonderful, and we 
have often, while watching the sting sink 
into the rim of a felt hat, pondered on that 
wonderful thing, animal life. Why should 
that isolated sting behave in this manner, 
when the bee to which it belonged was 
perhaps far away, buzzing thru the air? 
Why should this bundle of fibers and 
muscles behave as if it had a life to throw 
away ? 

Under the microscope the sting is found 
to be a beautifully fashioned and polished 
instrument, whose delicate taper and finish 
make a most surprising contrast with any 
instrument man has been able to produce. 
In shape it appears to be round ; but it is, 
in reality, egg-shaped, and is of a dark- 
red color, but transparent enough to show 
the hollow. 

The sting proper is composed of three 
parts — the outer shell, or husk, D, and two 
barbed spears that slide partly inside of it. 
Fig. 2 shows the spears. The barbs are 
much like those on a common fishhook; 
and when the point of one spear. A, pene- 
trates far enough to get one barb under the 
skin, the bee has made a hold, and has no 
difficulty in sinking the sting its whole 
length into the wound; for the pumping 
motion at once commences, and the other 
spear, B, slides down a little beyond A, 
then A beyond B, and so on. With a 
motion like 'that of a pair of pump-handles, 
these spears are operated by small but 
powerful muscles attached thereto. These 
muscles will work, at intervals, for some 
time after the sting has been torn from 
the bee, as we have explained. They work 
with sufficient power to send the sting 
thru a felt hat or into a tough buckskin 
glove. We have often watched the bee 
while attempting to get its sting started 
into the hard cuticle on the inside of the 
hand. The spears often run along the 
surface diagonally, so that it can be seen 
how they work down by successive pumps. 

It was formerly supposed that the duct 
was for the purpose of conducting 
the poison from the poison-bag up the 
barbs; but Snodgrass, of the Bureau of 
Entomology, has shown that this is a mis- 
take. 

Fig. 3 is a transverse section, sliced 
across the three parts, at about the dotted 
line D. A and B are the barbed spears; 
F and G, the hollows to give them lightness 



and strength ; H, H, the barbs. It will be 
observed that the husk, D, incloses but lit- 
tle more than one-third of the spears. The 
purpose of the main shaft C is to hold the 
spears in place, and to allow them to slide 
easily up and down, also to direct them 
while doing this work. To hold all to- 
gether, there is a groove like a sliding 
dovetailed joint in both spears, with a 
corresponding projection in the husk, 
which fit each other as shown. This allows 
the barbs to project to do their work, and 
yet holds all together tolerably firm. We 
say tolerably firm, for these spears are 
very easily torn out of the husk ; and after 
a sting is extracted they are often left in 
the wound, like the tiny splinters we have 
before mentioned. When torn out and laid 
on a slip of glass they are scarcely visible 
to the naked eye; but under the micro- 
scope they appear as in Fig. 2. 




Bee-sting magnified. 

Stings do not all have the same number 
of barbs. We have seen as few as seven 
and as many as nine. The two spears are 
held against each other as shown in Fig. 3, 
and you will observe that the shape and the 
arrangement of the three parts leaves the 
hollow, E, in their center. The working of 
the spears also pumps down poison, and 
quite a good-sized drop collected on their 



SUMAC 



711 



points while we saw them working under 
the microscope. J. R. Bledsoe found a 
valve that lets it out of the poison-bag 
into this wonderful little pump, but pre- 
vents its returning. We have not been able 
to see this, but have no doubt that it is 
there. The drop of poison, after lying on 
the glass a few minutes, dries down and 
seems to leave a gummy substance that 
crystallizes, as it were, into strange and 
beautiful forms, a diagram of which is 
shown in Fig. 4. 

SUCROSE.— See Cane Sugar. 

SUGAR. — The term sugar is applied by 
common consent to the white sugar com- 
mercially prepared from the sugar cane 
and the sugar beet, or sucrose. To the 
layman, and possibly to the chemist, the 
word " sugar " means white granulated 
sugar; if it is powdered, the adjective 
" powdered " is added to sugar as " pow- 
dered sugar ; " if it is moist and soft, and 
either white or only slightly yellow in 
color, it is termed " soft sugar ; " while if 
it is brown in color, moist and soft, it is 
termed " brown sugar." In distinction the 
w^ord " sugars " refers to the whole class 
of sugar, of which there are some 150 or 
more, many of which are rare and some of 
more common occurrence. Grape sugar is 
the sugar dextrose, while fruit sugar is the 
sugar levulose. See Invert Sugar. 

Common sugar is composed of the ele- 
ments in the following proportions: Car- 
bon, 12 parts; hydrogen, 22 parts; oxy- 
gen, 11 parts. It is found free in nature 
in many roots, as beets and turnips ; in the 
stems of plants, as sorghum, sugar cane, 
cornstalks, and in the sap of trees like 
maple, birch, etc., and in many fruits. It 
has never been commercially prepared from 
the elements. 

A white sugar or granulated sugar is 
practically pure sucrose, while the varying 
off-colored sugars ranging from light- 
yellow to brown are mostly mixtures of 
crystals of sucrose surrounded with molas- 
ses. These yellow or brown sugars are all 
produced by the refineries from the liquors 
after the production of the white grades. 
Formerly one had brown sugars direct 
from the cane, but now these are not pro- 
duced to any extent in this country. 
Louisiana sugars in hogsheads used to be 



these old brown sugars. 

There has always been a discussion as to 
whether white sugar made from beets was 
the same in every particular as that made 
from sugar cane. Both contain practically 
the same amount of sucrose, also water and 
mineral matter, but the organic impurities 
which may amount to from .05 to .1 per 
cent are often different in beet white sugar 
from those in cane white sugar. These im- 
purities ma}^ play a part in some manufac- 
turing processes, and prevent the use of 
beet sugar in all places where cane sugar 
has been used. However, as a sweetener 
and for table use or for jelly or preserving 
work it is doubtful whether there is any 
notable difference between beet and cane 
sugar. See Cane Sugar. 

SUMAC. — There are about 15 species of 
sumac in the United States : Shrubs, small 
trees, or vines, with handsome trifoliate or 
pinnate leaves, and not infrequently poi- 
sonous sap. The small white or green 
flowers are massed in large clusters. The 
stamens and pistils are often in separate 
flowers, and in the case of some species on 
different plants. 

In southern New England, especially in 
Connecticut, Ehus glabra L., called smooth, 
upland, or scarlet sumac, is very common 
in hillside pastures and along stone walls. 
It is an irregularly branched shrub, seldom 
more than 10 feet tall; but its graceful 
foliage is very attractive. The blooming 
period lasts for about three weeks from 
July 8 to the beginning of August. The 
flower secretes nectar most freely on hot 
clear days, but in cloudy weather the flow 
ceases entirely. Strong colonies will bring 
in 20 pounds during an ideal day, and will 
store a surplus of from 20 to 100 pounds 
according to the weather. At its height 
the flow is very rapid and heavy. While 
the bees are busy on the bloom there is a 
very strong odor about the apiary, and 
the new honey is more or less bitter to the 
taste. Fortunately, the bitterness is only 
transient, and by winter the honey is edible. 

One must eat sumac honey to appreciate 
it, says Latham. There is a richness but at 
the same time a mildness about it that will 
suit the most sensitive taste. Once a cus- 
tomer, alwaj^s a customer, if one buys 
siimac honey. When pure the honey has 
a golden color. If properly ripened, it has 



712 



SUMAC 



no noticeable odor, but is very heavy, and, 
like apple-blossom honey, waxes instead oi' 
candying. It is safe to say that much of 
Connecticut would be worthless to bee- 
keepers but for this plant. 




Sumac, smooth (Rhus glabra). 

R. typhina L., staghorn sumac, widely 
distributed thruout the eastern United 
States, is a small tree 10 to 40 feet tall. 
The young shoots are covered with velvety 
hairs like a stag's horn; hence the name. 
If more common, it would be important. 
R. toxicodendron L., poison ivy, poison 
oak, is a vigorous climbing vine. It is 
said to yield a surplus in certain localities. 

In Georgia there are several species of 
sumac which are valuable; but the most 
important is R. copallina L., known as 
dwarf sumac and mountain sumac. This 
species extends from Maine to Florida and 
Texas and westward as far as Minnesota. 
In a few localities in north Georgia it is 
the main source of marketable honey. In 
Texas in favorable seasons, depending 
upon rain, it also yields a surplus. In 
California R. diversiloba T. and G. is 
found thruout the State and yields an ex- 
cellent grade of white honey which, how- 
ever, granulates very readily. In southern 
California R. laurina Nutt. is common an^ 
yields one or more extractings of amber- 
colored honey of fine flavor but strong 
odor. 

Rhus Metopium L., coral sumac, poison 
wood, doctor gum, is a tree 40 or 50 feet 
tall, growing commonly on the extreme 
southern part of the Florida peninsula 



and on the Keys, but found as far north 
as Palm Beach. Its common names are 
very numerous and misleading. It is often, 
but erroneously, termed " manchineel," 
from confusion with the tree of that name, 
which it closely resembles in many particu- 
lars; but it is much more common than 
the real manchineel, which is much more 
poisonous. Both have an acrid sap which 
heightens the danger of confusion between 
them. Of the sap of R. Metopium Pro- 
fessor Rolfs says: "The juice is poison- 
ous to a great many people." It resem- 
bles poison ivy in being harmful only to 
certain skins. 

Coral sumac, or poison wood, yields 
honej^ of a high order and in great quan- 
tities. In some seasons the bees are said 
to go fairly wild with excitement over it. 
While the honey is of good quality, its 
exact color, body, and flavor can never, 
probably, be determined with exactness, 
for it blossoms simultaneously with several 
other honey-bearing plants or trees (nota- 




Sumac flowers and leaves {Rh7(s glabra). 

bly with the dogwood and also the pigeon 
plum), so that only a blend of several 
honeys is possible. The blend of the three 
is thick and appetizing, of good color, and 
usually brings good prices in the northern 
ttiarkets. It constituted most of the sur- 



SUNFLOWER 



713 



pins of 0. 0. Poppleton of Stewart, Flor- 
ida, whose crop in 1909 was 28,000 pounds. 

SUNFLOWER {Helianthiis annuiis 
L.). — An extensive American genus em- 
bracing 60 or more species. The common 
sunflower grows wild thruout the West, 
especially from Minnesota to Texas on the 
prairies and waste lands h'ing between the 
Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi 
River. In Nebraska it becomes " a verit- 
able herbaceous tree," and completely 
takes possession of large waste areas 10 to 
25 or more acres in extent. The tall plants 
also grow along the roadsides and about 
cities and towns. This species is likewise 
common in California, and one year M. H. 
Mendleson of Ventura extracted a carload 
of wild sunflower honey, but the yield had 
never before been so large. According to 
Richter, the honey is amber-colored, with a 
characteristic flavor not disliked by many. 
Scholl says that in Texas bees gather much 
propolis both from the flowers and leaves. 
The stems j^ield a textile flber, the seeds 
oil, and the flowers a yellow dye. Many 
other species of sunflower are exceedingly 
common both in the West and South. The 
Jerusalem artichoke {H. tuberosa L.) is a 
good honey plant, and bees visit the flowers 
in mjT.'iads. In Contra Costa County, Cal- 
ifornia, there are acres of this plant grow- 
ing wild. The tubers are used as a vege- 
table. 

^''WILD SUXFLOWER OF FLORIDA.-''' 

This name is rather loosely applied by 
beemen of Florida to various species of 
Composiiae that grow over the southern 
half of the peninsula, including Gaillardia 
lanceolata, Helianthella, Coreopsis, and 
buiT-marigold. South of a line drawn thru 
Stewart and Osprey, the one on the east 
coast and the other on the west, there are 
thousands of acres of these beautiful 
plants, which resemble the Spanish needles 
and Chrysopsis of the North. They extend 
as far north as Osceola, but beemen of the 
southern third of the State are most 
enthusiastic over them. The " savannas " 
about the edges of the Everglades seem to 
be their best habitat, while they are not 
common on high pine land. The blooming 
period is in September and October. The 
yield is rather unreliable, and nectar is 



secreted only during very dry falls. A 
fair crop can be counted on about every 
two or three years ; a " bumper " about 
once in five j'ears. The honey is amber, 
fairly good body and rather mild; but it 
is, after all, a fall-flower crop, and by no 
means ranks with the best honeys. It is 
fine for putting the colonies in good condi- 
tion for the close of the year. 

SUPERSEDURE OF QUEENS.— Su- 

persedure is the replacing of an old or 
failing queen with a young one and is the 
most natural impulse under which queen- 
cells are built. A colony in a large hive or 
hollow tree may not cast a swarm or be 
deprived of their queen by accident for 
several seasons. But every queen grows 
old and must be superseded. Cells built 
under the supersedure impulse are more 
uniform in size and better fed than any 
others. One can usually tell under which 
impulse the cells are built. If under the 
supersedure impulse, the queen will not 
lay fast enough to keep up with the hatch- 
ing brood. 

SUPERS.— See CoiiB Hoxey, Appli- 
ances FOR ; also Hi\^s. 

SWARMINa.— When for any reason a 
colony becomes dissatisfied with its home 
— usually because of insufficient ventilation 
or a crowded condition of the brood- 
chamber or supers — they start queen-ceUs 
in preparation for swarming (that is, for 
sending out the queen and part of the 
colony to start a new home elsewhere). 
After these queen-cells are sealed, and be- 
fore it is time for them to hatch, the swarm 
" issues," or leaves the old hive. If one 
happens to be near the hive just before the 
swarm leaves, he may notice unusual activ- 
ity of bees running about the front of the 
hive; and if the hive is opened, there he 
may find great excitement and a busy 
rushing of bees here and there in every 
direction. WTiat induces the bees to leave 
the hive at any precise moment, no one 
seems to know. One observer states that 
one or more bees in one portion of the hive 
will commence their hurly-burly rush back 
and forth. More bees will join in the gen- 
eral pow-wow, until the whole hive is in a 
furore of excitement. Then those nearest 
the entrance proceed to rush for it, fol- 



714 



SWARMING 



lowed by a stream of bees pouring from 
the hive by thousands, until in three or 
four minutes the air is filled with a great 
cloud of humming bees — probably two- 
thirds or three-fourths of the entire colony, 
together with the queen. These swarming 
bees are very good-natured, since they have 
filled their honey-sacs with honey, partly to 
sustain them until again able to gather nec- 
tar from the fields, and partly to convert 
into comb on arrival at the new home. 
After flying about for a few minutes they 
cluster, usually on the branch of a tree not 
far from their hive, waiting to make cer- 
tain that the old queen is with them before 
they leave for their new home, which, in 
most cases, has probably been chosen by 
the scouts sent out several days previously. 



ony, commonly called the " old " or " par- 
ent " colony, is now compelled to raise for 
itself a new queen to take the place of the 
one that has just left with the new swarm. 
At first thought it would seem that one 
queen-cell would be all that would be nec- 
essary; but in that case, if it should, for 
any reason, fail to hatch, the colony would 
be entirely helpless, having no means of 
raising another. Therefore quite a num- 
ber of queen-cells are provided; and when 
the first queen hatches she partly tears 
down the other capped cells so that the 
other queens can not hatch; or if two 
hatch about the same time they fight it out 
until one of them is killed. 

It is quite evident that the beekeeper 
can ill afford to lose two-thirds or three- 




I tlic act of leaving. — Photographed by 
C'/m.s'. Y. Hake, York, Pa. 



In the old hive are left enough young 
bees to take care of the brood, which con- 
sists of a little drone brood, much worker 
brood (mostly sealed), and queen-cells in 
various stages of development. This col- 



fourths of the bees in his best colonies at 
any time, but least of all at the opening 
of the honey flow, when most of the 
swarming usually occurs. Therefore, in 
order to prevent the bees from swarming 



SWARMING 



715 



and lea\ang for new quarters, various plans 
have been tried, more or less successfuUj^ 
These are discussed under the subhead 
" Prevention of Swarming." 

The term " swarm " itself may mean an 
aggregation of bees while in the air, or the 
same bees after they have been put into a 
box, hive, or skep; but technically it is a 
swarm until it settles down to its regular 
routine of work. After that, it is a colony. 
In modem bee culture, at least, there is a 
sharp distinction between a swarm and a 
colony; and this fact should be noted in 
the general discussion which follows. 

THE SYMPTOMS OF SWARMING. 

From what has already been said the 
reader will have some idea of what are the 
symptoms of swarming. Clustering out has 
hitherto been considered one of the sure 
signs; but it is by no means reliable. 

If the weather is very hot or sultry, or if 
the entrance is too small, bees may cluster 
out at any time with no intention of 
swarming. (See Extraxces.) If a colony 
has been busily at work, and then for some 
reason slows down until it is doing almost 
nothing when .others are at work, and if 
the bees in addition begin to cluster out, 
swarming is probably in contemplation. 

The most common and perhaps the most 
reliable symptom is the presence of queen- 
cells containing eggs or larvae at the begin- 
ning of or during the honey flow. These 
may be in various stages of completion. 
As will be explained further on, they 
should be cut out every eight days; for if 
they are allowed to be sealed, a swarm may 
issue the first favorable opportunity, and 
again it may come forth, cells or no cells. 

BEEKEEPER^S PREPARATIONS FOR 
SWARMING. 

Every beekeeper should have on hand 
extra hives, combs, or supers; and, if 
combs are not available, frames of founda- 
tion or supers containing sections with full 
sheets. In the production of extracted 
honey at least, empty combs are about the 
best property one can have. There should 
be enough on hand to supply every colony 
with a full set. Where empty combs are 
not to be had there should be an equal 
number of frames with full sheets of foun- 



dation; but for the purpose of producing 
a crop of extracted honey, and at the same 
time prevent swarming, fully drawn combs 
are far superior to foundation. If the 
bees have to stop and draw it out they will 
often sulk and swarm out. 

Before the swarming season is anywhere 
near — in fact, as early in the season as 
possible, when the colonies are not strong 
— the queens should be found and their 
wings clipped, as explained under Queens. 
All modem beekeepers today consider it 
important to have queens of all honey- 
producing colonies clipped, because it is 
very much easier to handle the swarms 
when they do come out. A swarm with a 
queen in the air is a difficult problem at best, 
especially if there are any tall trees in the 
vicinity. Sometimes swarms will cluster on 
high limbs where it is practically impossi- 
ble to get them. On the other hand, if the 
wings of the queen are clipped after she 
begins laying she can be easily picked up 
at the entrance of the hive and caged just 
after the swarm has issued. The old hive 
may then be moved to a new location and 
all but one queen-cell removed, and the new 
hive filled with frames of comb or founda- 
tion placed on the old stand. Then the 
queen may be placed by the entrance of the 
new hive, when the swarm will hive itself 
automatically, coming back to its queen. 
If the wings of all the queens are clipped 
in advance, there will not be much likeli- 
hood of losing stray swarms provided an 
attendant can be on hand to pick up the 
clipped queens and hive the swarms. This 
matter will be given more fully further on. 

But there are some who do not care to 
clip, fearing it will mutilate the queens and 
mar their appearance; and where there 
are such they can use the Alley trap as 
described under Drones. The objection to 
the traps is their expense and their ob- 
struction of the entrances when they should 
be open and free. 

It sometimes happens that the clipping 
of queens' wings is delayed until the 
swarming season has begun, when it will 
be almost impossible for the beekeeper to 
take the time to go thru the hives, find the 
queens, and clip their wings. He should 
then have on hand a number of Alley 
traps. The exact procedure for handling 
swarms with clipped queens or by the use 
of Alley traps will be explained further on. 



716 



SWARMING 



SWARMING MODIFIED BY LOCALITY. 

Commencement of the swarming season 
varies, of course, according to the locality, 
and it may be said that the swarming 
propensity itself is modified very material- 
ly also by the same cause. In places where 
the honey flow is yery heavy and continues 
so for some time, swarming seems to be 
checked, for the bees are all intent on 
gathering honey. Indeed, they have no 
time to waste on such foolishness as swarm- 
ing. In such localities the swarming sea- 
son comes on when the first or light honey 
flow begins, and continues so long as it is 
light; but just as soon as the secretion of 
nectar becomes heavy, then just that soon 
swarming stops. 

It sometimes happens that a beekeeper 
residing in one of these localities wonders 
why his brethren in the craft make so 
much fuss in the bee journals about swarm 
control when he has almost no trouble. 
The other party, on the other hand, cannot 
understand how the first-mentioned bee- 
keeper can perform certain manipulations 
with his bees, and not have excessive 
swarming. In reading the following pages 
treating on this general subject one must 
bear in mind this question of locality. It 
should, therefore, be said that much of the 
matter that follows relates to conditions 
generally found in the Northern States, 
and not as found in parts of Texas, Cali- 
fornia, and some portions of the tropics. 
In these localities there may or may not 
be swarming after the main flow begins. 

THE CAUSE OF SWARMING. 

In order to understand the swarming 
problem, which is one of the most difficult 
to solve of all with which the beekeeper of 
today has to contend, a few facts should be 
presented that we may discover, if possible, 
whether there is a fundamental cause of 
swarming or a series of them. These facts 
maj^ be summed up about as follows : 

1. Colonies with young queens are much 
less inclined to swarm than those with 
queens a year old or more. 

2. A colony crowded for room, when the 
swarming season is on, and when every 
comb is filled with brood and honey, will 
probably cast a swarm, altho it may go 
thru the whole season and store honey, 



without swarming, if one remedies the con- 
gested condition by supplying the colony 
with enough room in the supers and brood- 
chamber. It follows that lack of room is 
often a contributing cause. 

3. Colonies are more likely to swarm 
with a small and restricted entrance than 
with a large one; altho, as in the case of 
No. 2, colonies with such entrances may 
store honey thru the entire season without 
making an effort to swarai. It follows that 
an overheated brood-nest may be a con- 
tributing cause. 

4. The presence of queen-cells at the 
opening of the honey harvest, if they are 
allowed to remain, will usually be the in- 
direct cause of swarming, and hence the 
practice of cutting out or " killing " cells 
every eight or ten days. On the other 
hand, it must be admitted that cell-cutting 
or cell-killing does not always stop swarm- 
ing, especially some seasons. It follows 
that the prospect of a new queen may be 
a cause of swarming. 

5. Taking away the brood from a colony 
and hiving it on frames of foundation or 
empty combs will usually stop swarming, 
for the time being, but it does not always 
do so. In other words a large amount of 
brood and constantly emerging young bees 
incite swarming. 

6. Caging the queen or removing her for 
a period of ten days will usually stop 
swarming. Bees will not swarm without a 
queen because they must have something 
from which to make a new generation in 
their new home. But checking egg-laying 
may have its influence. 

Clearly, then, while the things mentioned 
may be considered as contributory causes, 
there must be something back of them as 
the real cause of swarming. What that 
something is has been the cause of some 
theorizing, but it can hardly be said to be 
a settled question. German authorities, 
among them Gerstung, hold that when 
brood is reared in large quantity, the nurse 
bees constantly on the increase, there 
comes a critical period when the number 
of nurses is too great for the amount of 
brood to be fed. They are gorged with the 
food prepared for larvas, and these are in 
too small number to receive it, and this 
condition brings on the swarming fever. 

Geo. S. Demuth of the U. S. Bureau of 
Entomology has advanced a theory which 



SWARMING 



717 



is given in Farmers' Bulletin 503, where 
he says : " Any manipulation for swarm 
control, whether applied after the colony 
has acquired the ' swarming fever ' or ap- 
plied to all colonies alike previous to the 
swarming season, is based upon a single 
principle — a temporary disturbance in the 
continuity of the daily emergence of brood. 
This disturbance should occur just previous 
to or during the swarming season." 

If that " temporary " in the last state- 
ment may be considered as occupying sev- 
eral days, then it is possible that in prac- 
tice the two theories may coincide. 

In support of the theory that there is a 
preponderance of nurses as compared with 
the brood to be fed, attention is called to 
the fact that at the time of swarming a 
large amount of brood will be found in the 
hive, but only a small part of it unsealed; 
and this state of affairs having continued 
for several days must inevitabty result in 
a large number of bees of the proper age 
to prepare food for larvae without a suffi- 
cient number of larvae to consume the food 
prepared. It is also advanced that if for a 
time the queen is absent (see No. 6), so 
that no brood is to be fed, the swarming 
fever will disappear, and this is counted as 
support of the theory that there had been 
too many nurses for the amount of brood 
to be fed, the amount of food prepared 
having become less because not needed, and 
perhaps a portion of the nurses having 
turned their attention afield earlier than 
they would have done under usual condi- 
tions. 

The brood-interruption theory fits in 
well with natural swarming and " shook " 
swarming, since the swarm will have no 
brood until it can rear it. (See ARTiFiciAii 
Swarming.) In the meantime there is no 
swarming from the swarm. The parent 
colony continues to send off after-swarms 
because the hatching brood continues to 
emerge. The theory fits well with the 
dequeening method of swarm control and 
also with the plan of removing the brood. 

Whether the theory be accepted as cor- 
rect or not, it would seem that practice in 
accord with it brings results. While it may 
be the main or basic cause, it is probable 
that the other causes have a strong influ- 
ence, and that while any one cause may 
force a swarm it will generally require a 
combination of them to do so. 



Dr. Phillips, in his book entitled " Bee- 
keeping," in commenting on the swanning 
problem, says : " The methods described 
in Demuth's bulletin are those which have 
proved reliable in the hands of reliable 
beekeepers thruout the United States." 

However, Mr. Demuth, in conversing 
with the author late in the summer of 
1916, stated that during the previous year 
his bees in producing comb honey in In- 
diana swarmed so furiously that summer 
that they violated many of the fundamen- 
tal rules of swarming. In answer to some 
questions he writes : 

My observations on swarming, during the 
past season, do not conflict with the rule that 
an unbalanced condition of the colony as to 
young and old bees is an important factor in 
the cause of swarming. On the contrary, most 
of the evidence furnished by the past season 
is in support of the young-bee theory. The 
fact, however, that some colonies swarmed 
that were made up entirely of older bees 
makes it necessary, in order to retain the 
joung-bee theory, to assume that under pecul- 
iar conditions older bees, or at least middle- 
aged bees, may become a factor in the cause 
of swarming. 

When the field bees are confined to the 
hive at intervals during the honey flow by 
rain or by irregular secretion of nectar, as 
was the case last summer in some portions 
of the clover belt, it is not unreasonable to 
expect the resulting congestion of bees in the 
brood-chamber to have some effect on swarm- 
ing. In this connection it is interesting to 
note that the records in the bee journals 
show that the seasons of excessive swarming 
in the clover belt have occurred when a 
protracted period of rainy weather immedi- 
ately preceded the swarming season. In ad- 
dition to this, last summer the clover yielded 
only during the afternoons, and the field bees 
were packed in below the frames during the 
forenoons. 

The theory as to the effects of an exces- 
sive supply of larval food fits in well with the 
brood-interruption rule, but it does not ade- 
quately explain why a colony that is prepar- 
ing to swarm can be induced to give up 
swarming by removing all their combs that 
contain larvae and substituting in their stead 
empty combs or combs partly filled with honey. 
The removal of all larvae should as an im- 
mediate effect greatly increase the excess in 
the supply of larval food, and, as a result, 
according to the theory, the desire to swarm 
should be increased. 



An unusual season brings up the point 
that there must be a contributing cause 
ouHide of the hive itself; and this cause 
is the peculiar conditions of the locality or 
the season itself, for bees certainly have a 



718 



SWARMING 




A tine large swarm ready to shake into the §\varm-catclier. 



SWARMING 



719 



way of forgetting or ignoring, some sea- 
sons, all proprieties set forth in text-books. 
It must be stated, however, that these 
peculiar seasons occur only once in ten or 
fifteen years, and, therefore, only the gen- 
eral averages and not the abnormalities of 
the season or the locality should be con- 
sidered. 

However, when these abnormal seasons 
come on when the honey flow is light — a 
little honey coming every day — but heavy 
enough to force brood-rearing, swarming 
will be fast and furious just as it is in 
parts of Texas. When such seasons occur, 
if one is producing comb honey, practically 
all control measures except dequeening may 
fail. On the other hand, when the honey 
comes in with a rush, crowding the queen 
so that she is honey-bound, swarming 
almost entirely stops. In either case 
Demuth's rule fits in very nicely. In the 
first case there is no interruption of the 
brood; in the second, there is a decided 
cessation of it. 

PREVEXTIOX OF SWAE:MIXG. 

Under this head methods for the re- 
striction or prevention of swarms will be 
considered; and at the very outset it 
should be made plain that there is no 
infallible method for accomplishing this 
except by dequeening. All other methods 
are restrictive, and, to a certain extent, 
afford absolute prevention only in some 
colonies some seasons. 

From what has been already said con- 
cerning the causes that induce swarming, 
one can form some conception of the 
proper means for restricting or prevent- 
ing it. 

Before proceeding further, it should be 
made clear that the control or prevention 
of swarming when running for comh honey 
is very, difficult; but it is comparatively 
easy when running for extracted honey. 
Unless a queen -excluder is used to restrict 
the queen to the lower brood-chamber, the 
giving of room by adding supers or upper 
stories with fully drawn combs will reduce 
swarming. Frames with full sheets of 
foundation may answer some seasons, but 
they sometimes cause the bees to sulk and 
swarm. See Hives^ pp. 391-396, and 
Dadant Syste^i of Swarm Control. 

The different methods of preventing 
gwarming may be summed up briefly as 



follows: (1) Introduction of young queens 
at the beginning of harvest. (2) Cell- 
cutting or cell-killing. (3) Dequeening and 
requeening. (4) Shaking on frames with 
full sheets of foundation or starters. (5) 
Providing abundant ventilation. (6) Giv- 
ing shade. (7) Breeding from non-swarm- 
ing strains. (8) The elimination of useless 
drones. (9) Giving additional room and 
manipulation of supers. (10) Brood raised 
above supers; small patch of young larva? 
below. (11) Dadant system of swarm con- 
trol. (12) ]jargc hives to control swarm- 
ing. Of these, (9), (10), (11), and (12) 
are especially applicable for the produc- 
tion of extracted honey. 

Except for absolute dequeening, any and 
all of these methods combined may fail 
some seasons with some colonies ; and, 
again, some colonies will keep on storing 
honey even when no such preventive meas- 
ures are employed beyond giving plenty 
of super room. If it were possible to 
breed a strain of non-swarming bees that 
would store honey and never swarm, the 
problem of honey production would be 
greatly simplified; but at the present time 
it must be admitted that there is no strain 
of non-swarmers, altho something in that 
direction has been accomplished. 

It will now^ be in order to explain more 
fully the various methods as indicated 
above. 

(1) introducing young queens at the 
beginning of the harvest. 

Long experience has shown in apiaries 
all over the country that colonies headed 
by young queens are much less inclined to 
swarm than those having queens a year or 
more old. Those with queens only three 
months old swarm less than those that are 
two years old; and where one expects to 
requeen because he needs better stock he 
should do so just before the beginning of 
the honey harvest. This should be done by 
the introduction of loTjing queens. If vir- 
gins are given they are likely to lead out a 
swarm on their mating-trips, and, more- 
over, valuable time will be lost in brood- 
rearing. Just before or at the beginning 
of the harvest, breeding should be kept up 
without a break, especially if the honey 
flow is likely to last more than a month. 



720 



SWARMING 



Why are colonies with old queens more 
inclined to swarm than young ones 1 There 
is no satisfactory explanation unless the 
old ones are more inclined to lay drone 
eggs. It is difficult to get a young queen 
to lay in drone-cells. Queen-breeders know 
that if they desire to raise drones they 
must use old queens. Some argue that the 
presence of a large number of drones in a 
colony is conducive to swarming; and this 
is probably true if there are also initial 
queen-cells. It is probable also that young 
queens do not lay in initial queen-cells like 
old queens. 

(2) CUTTING OUT CELLS. 

Of all the methods employed to hold 
swarming in control, this is perhaps the 
most common. While it is not always the 
most effective, it is very clear that, unless 
the cells that contain young larvas or eggs 
are cut out every eight days, bees will 
swarm, other conditions being favorable. 
While cutting out the cells does not neces- 
sarily check swarming it goes a long way 
toward it. There are some very nice points 
in cell-killing. As Dr. Miller has had the 
largest experience of any man in the 
United States, if not in the world, the 
author has asked him to give his views; 
and the reader will do well to go over very 
carefully Avhat he has to say. 

I have yours asking some questions about 
cutting out cells to combat swarming, and 
proceed to reply. We don't call it cutting 
cells here, but ' ' killing cells, ' ' the term 
" cutting cells " being applied to cutting 
out ripe queen-cells that are to be used for 
rearing queens. When we find queen-cells 
constructed as a preparation for swarming, 
we never cut them out. If a cell contains a 
larva several days old, it is simply mashed 
with the end of the hive-tool. If an egg or 
a small larva is in the cell, it may be mashed 
or the egg or larva may be dug out. In 
either case the work is very quickly done, 
and a very slight defacement will cause the 
bees to reject the cell. 

We begin looking for swarming-cells just 
as soon as we think there is any danger of 
their being started, or a little before. The 
first time we look in a few of the strongest 
colonies — perhaps the first of June, before 
the bees begin to store from white clover — 
and if we find no cells started in these we 
go no further, for if the strongest have not 
thought of swarming the weaker ones may 
be trusted for a time longer. After that we 
try again in 8 or 10 days. Ten days may be 



as well as a shorter time. Indeed, as the 
young queen will be started from the egg 
there is no danger that she will go off with 
a swarm under fifteen days. But if we go 
beyond ten days, complications may arise by 
means of swarming with the old queen, and 
as there is some danger of delays from rainy 
weather or other cause, it is not a bad plan 
to make eight days the period. Then if it 
is delayed a day or two for any cause we 
are still all right. 

The second time we look again in the 
strongest colonies, and if no cells are found 
in these we go no further. But whenever we 
find one or more cells started in any one of 
these strongest colonies, then every colony 
must be examined. At least that will be the 
way early in the season; later on there will 
be exceptions. 

Some one may ask at what stage of the 
growth of queen-cells they are destroyed. 
At any or all stages. In fact, no thought is 
given to whether advanced cells or only eggs 
are to be found. Every eight or ten days we 
go thru each colonj^ and kill all cells found. 

At the first overhauling and at any sub- 
sequent one so long as no cells have been 
found at a previous overhauling, the bees 
are shaken from each comb. One sharp shake 
Avill usually leave the comb clean enough. 
This allows the cells to be more easily seen, 
whereas if all the bees are left on, some cells 
may escape detection. If no cell is found, 
then the page of the colony is found in the 
record-book, and the entry '' no c." is made 
after the date. Some years we have omitted 
such entry so long as no cells have been found 
in the colony that season, leaving it to be 
understood that so long as no entry as to cells 
appears, no cell has been found. But it is a 
little safer to make the entry, for then we can 
be sure that we have not killed cells and for- 
gotten to m^ake the entry. 

When at any time cells are found, they are 
of course killed, and the entry of that kill- 
ing is made with some degree of particu- 
larity. The entry '' k 1 eg " means killed 
one egg; '' k 2 eg '' means killed two eggs; 
'' k 1 c " means killed one unsealed cell; 
' ' k 1 s c " means killed one sealed cell. 
Often there will be killed one or more eggs 
and one or more grubs, when the short but 
comprehensive entry will be made, ''kc," 
meaning killed cells. Indeed, that is the most 
common entry made. 

After the first time around, before opening 
a hive, the book is always consulted as to 
previous history, and if cells have been pre- 
viously killed it is a matter of some judgment 
as to what is to be done. If the previous 
entry was '' kc " there is a good chance that 
the bees are bent on swarming, and it will not 
do to shake the bees off the comb, for we may 
want to find the queen, and stirring up the 
colony by shaking the bees would make the 
finding diflScult. So the combs are carefully 
examined without shaking the bees off. If no 
cells are found after thus looking over the 
combs, or at least a good part of them, then 
the bees are shaken oft' the combs and a thoro 



SWARMING 



721 



examination made. Instead of this, we are 
more likelv to find a number of cells well 
advanced, in whicli case some sort of treat- 
ment that involves finding the queen will 
usually be decided upon, and the queen, will 
be found before any combs are shaken. This 
shows tlie importance of examining the record 
before opening the hive, for without that we 
would not know whether to shake the combs 
or not. 

The beginner is very likely to think that 
all that is necessary to prevent swarming is 
to continue regularly killing cells, believing 
that there will be no swarming so long as no 
cells are allowed to approach the sealing 
stage. But it doesn 't work out that way. 
After a colony once fully gets into the notion 
of swarming, it seems only to make it more 
stubborn to have its cells killed, and finally it 
may swarm with nothing further than eggs 
in queen-cells, if indeed there is that much 
preparation. 

So it is a matter of some nicety to decide 
when it is wise to continue to depend upon 
killing cells and when to resort to some other 
measures. Suppose a colony had cells killed 
.June 10. and it is again visited June 18, 
19, or 20, and at this time nothing further 
than eggs are found in queen-cells. Xo 
trouble to decide in this case. Kill the eggs, 
and continue killing them each time no fur- 
ther advance is made. It sometimes happens 
that eggs are found upon one or two visits, 
and then the bees go thru the rest of the 
season without any further thought of swarm- 
ing. 

Suppose, however, that in the same hive, 
upon visiting it June 18 or 20, we find queen- 
ceUs in number, some of them well advanced 
or even sealed. In this case it will be use- 
less to think of depending upon any further 
cell-kiUing. 

Between these two extremes, only eggs and 
many advanced cells — come all degrees of ad- 
vancement, and it is not easy to know where 
to draw the line. If only small larv^ are 
found, they may be considered the same as 
eggs, and killing cells continued. Something 
depends on the number of cells found. If 
not more than 3 or 4, even tho quite well 
advanced, it may be counted safe merely to 
kill them. Something, too, depends upon the 
time. Early in the season the bees are more 
persistent about swarming, whereas later the 
kiUing of cells may be more relied on, even 
tho well advanced. Also, cells late in the 
season may mean superseding the queen, espe- 
cially if the cells be few in number. 

It is no little trouble to keep killing cells 
every 8 or 10 days, and the question as to 
how efficient the plan is is a fair one. Also 
it is a matter of some consequence to know 
what bearing this sort of management has 
upon the crop. These questions may be fair- 
ly well answered by quoting from Gleanings 
in Bee Culture for 1905, page 1174, where I 
reported : 

" Of 160 colonies run for comb honey that 
were fair subjects for comparison, 13% per 
cent went thru the season without ever of- 



fering to start queen-cells; 12'^ per cent 
started cells one or more times, but gave it 
up when their cells were destroyed; and 73% 
per cent seemed so bent on swarming that 
they were treated by being kept queenless 
10 or 15 days. The colonies that were left 
with their queens all the time averaged 36% 
per cent more sections than those that were 
treated. But that's better than they would 
have done if left queenless for 21 days, which 
would have been the case practically if swarms 
were shaken." Altho it is mentioned that 
treatment was given that left colonies queen- 
less 10 or 15 days, it should be said not often 
did the time extend beyond 10 days. 

Of course seasons differ; but likely enough 
1905 was about the average. It should be 
remembered that this was with 8-frame hives 
run for section honey. With larger hives, or 
with extracted honey, the result would have 
been better. 

One trouble with so much shaking of bees 
off the combs is that it sometimes happens 
that on a certain visit we find a colony with 
no cells and then at the next visit queenless, 
the queenlessness in some way no doubt caused 
by the operator. 

I said that early in the season every colony 
must be examined and cells killed, but later 
in the season there were exceptions. Those 
exceptions become more numerous as the sea- 
son advances, and occur whenever a young 
queen of the current season's rearing is in- 
troduced. We then write in the record-book 
the word " Pass," and for the rest of the 
season that hive will not again be opened. It 
is possible that a colony with such a young 
queen may swarm, but "it so rarely happens 
that it is not worth while to keep watch for 
it. When a colony is treated for swarming, 
if its queen is not a little better than the 
average, it is always desirable that she shall 
be replaced by a young queen, and thus the 
ranks of the " Passers " are constantly re- 
cruited, and the work of killing cells is light- 
ened. 

AYlien it is best to stop the business of 
kiUing cells it is not easy to say; but hardly 
much before the waning of the faU flow. 
If continued too late it may interfere with 
those colonies that want to supersede their 
queens. But killing cells in the later months 
is by no means so important as earlier, for 
a swarm in August will interfere very little 
with the crop as compared with one in June. 

(3) dequeexixg axd requeexing to 
pre\t:xt swarmixg. 

Dequeening is, perhaps, the only abso- 
lute means that can be employed. It is 
used by some of the largest and most suc- 
cessful beekeepers in the world, including 
Dr. Miller, who uses it at times. It is 
effective because a colony will rarely swarm 
without a queen. It comes about as near 
being an absolute rui^ as anv in beedom. 



722 



SWARMING 



During some seasons when swarming is 
particularly troublesome and the apiarist 
is almost in despair because the swarms 
come out in spite of him, dequeening is 
about all he can do. 

Mrs. Wilber Frye of Sand Lake, Michi- 
gan, is one of the best comb-honey pro- 
ducers in that State. She has been very 
successful in the control of swarming by 
dequeening the colonies and then cutting 
out cells nine days afterward. After hav- 
ing used the plan for a number of years 
she saj^s she cannot discover that the 
queenless colonies, so far as honey produc- 
tion is concerned, are much inferior to 
those operated by other methods. By de- 
queening, she and another woman do all 
the work of running a series of outyards, 
producing a very fine grade of comb honey, 
and that, too, without swarming. In the 
production of comb honey, especially at 
outj'ards, the one great problem is swarm 
control. With that difficulty solved the 
expense of producing comb honey will be 
greatly reduced. Mrs. Frye feels that de- 
queening is the solution. 

Not all persons who have tried this 
dequeening method are successful. They 
find two main objections. 1. That a queen- 
less colony or one having a queen caged 
(which amounts to the same thing) is not 
as energetic as one having a queen. 2, 
Even when one dequeens or cages he must 
resort to cell-killing in eight or nine days; 
otherwise the bees will swarm with the first 
virgin that hatches. 

One advantage of the plan is that it 
checks brood-rearing, thus preventing a 
large force of bees from coming on after 
the harvest is over, when they would have 
to be fed in localities where the honey flow 
is short and no supply of nectar comes in 
until the fall. Dequeening simply reduces 
the size of the colony, thus avoiding the 
rearing of useless consumers, when they 
could do no good. Following this there 
should be fall breeding. If there is no fall 
flow, the bees should be fed to stimulate 
brood-rearing. See Feeding and Feed- 
ers^ subhead " Feeding to Stimulate." 

(4) SHAKING ON FKAMES WITH PULL 
SHEETS OF FOUNDATION OR STARTERS. 

This is virtually shake or " shook " 
swarmiii<< as described under Artificial 



Swarming, to which the reader is referred. 
During some seasons, and with some 
strains, it is quite effective. It has the 
advantage that the professional man who 
is compelled to be away from his bees 
during the middle hours of the day can 
shake his swarms at his convenience, either 
in the morning or in the afternoon, rather 
than have them come out when he is away. 
In practice it comes very near taking the 
place of natural swarming. 

Of course bees shaken on frames of 
foundation may swarm out. A natural 
swarm may do the same thing. 

(5) providing abundant ventilation. 

If the entrance is very much contracted 
it renders it extremely difficult for the 
bees to ventilate the hive properly. This 
is a ver}^ important factor, especially in a 
hot season. Therefore at the beginning of 
the honey harvest all colonies should have 
their entrances very much enlarged; and 
if any of the colonies still seem inclined to 
cluster and loaf, more ventilation should be 
given by placing four %-inch blocks be- 
tween the hive and the bottom-board. This 
will provide an opening on all four sides. 
While the bees will use the front entrance 
mainly, they will also fly from the others. 
AVith so much ventilation the bees, unless 
the colonies are extraordinarily strong, 
will go back into the hive and go to work. 
Some beekeepers go so far as to claim 
that the procedure will almost entirely 
eliminate swarming. 

During the swarming season the weather 
may be very hot or even sultry; but, no 
matter what the outside temperature, it is 
very important that the internal tempera- 
ture be kept down to about 96. If it goes 
much higher, much of the brood will be 
destroyed, and a large portion of the bees 
will be forced outside. 

By giving plenty of bottom ventilation 
it will take fewer bees to keep the hive cool 
than when a restricted entrance is used. In 
this connection it may be well to explain 
that one set of bees will place themselves 
in such a position that they force a current 
of air into the hive, and another set forces 
the warm moist air out of it. Aftei" the 
bees have been heavily at work in the field, 
if one will light a match and hold it in 
front of the entrance, he will find there is 



SWARMING 



723 



a strong current of air going in on one side 
and another strong current going out at 
the other side. Sometimes the air seems to 
go in at both sides and come out in the 
center. See Vextilatiox. 

Of course a restricted entrance must 
mean that the bees will cluster out in front 
of the hive and that starts the loafing habit 
— a habit that is not easy to break up, even 
after large entrances are provided. While 
clustering-out is not necessarily an indi- 
cation of swarming, it may be. Very often 
bees will cluster out worse after a honey 
flow when the weather is extremely hot 
than during it. 

During extremely hot weather manj^ 
extracted-honey producers use Dr. Miller's 
plan of '' staggering " the stories — that is, 
the second stoiy is shoved forward enough 
to leave a ventilating space of half an inch 




Fig. 1. — -A case of too small an entrance. It was 
a warm day when this picture was taken. The bees, 
being unable to ventilate thru the small entrance (8 x 
% in.) clustered out. 




Fig. 2. — A hive uith proper ventilation at the bot- 
tom to prevent clustering out at the entrance. 

at the back between the two stories. The 
third is shoved back to leave a similar 
space at the front between the second and 



third. The foiu'th is shoved forward, etc.; 
and, last of all, the cover is shoved for- 
ward to leave another half-inch space. 
When raising comb honej- it is necessary 
to keep the supers warm enough so that 
comb-building may continue at night. 
Therefore stories should not be "staggered" 
in comb-honey production. 

(6) GIVIXG SHADE. 

Practically the same reasons that apply 
for giving an abundant ventilation also 
apply here. A colony any season that is 
exposed to the direct rays of the sun has 
a much more difficult problem in keeping 
the interior of the hive cool than when the 
hive is in the shade. Under the head of 
Apiaries^ various means for shading the 
hive are illustrated and described. If a 
hive is exposed to the hot sun it requires a 
good many bees to keep up the ventilation, 
and these bees might otherwise be in the 
field at work. 

(8) BREEDIXG FROM XOX-SWARMIXG STOCK. 

The usual tendency on the part of bee- 
keepers is to raise queens from swarming- 
cells because they are abimdant, and be- 
cause vigorous queens can be reared from 
such cells. But the question has been 
raised whether such queens will not inherit 
more of the swarming tendency than those 
reared under other impulses as in super- 
sedure. One queen-breeder says he believes 
they do and for this reason raises all his 
queens under the supersedure mipulse. Xo 
definite proof has been adduced to show 
that colonies headed by queens from 
swarming-cells will swarm more than colo- 
nies from queens reared from supersedure 
cells; however, Dr. Miller and some others 
have made some progress in breeding from 
non-swarming strains of bees. For years 
his queens have been bred from those colo- 
nies that keep on storing honey thru the 
season without swarming. While he does 
not claim that the colonies from such 
queens will not swarm, he feels that the 
effort is not in vain. 

The very fact that Dr. Miller has pro- 
duced some of the largest yields of comb 
honey per colony that have ever been 
known — yields, taking the apiary as a 
whole, that have broken the record — shows 



724 



SWARMING 




Fk>. 3. — One uf \ eiuoii Uuila li]\cs tui liie piuUuciion ot coiiib huiiey. Mr. Burt bay^ 
this scheme of putting his brood-bodies upon four blocks so as to provide entrances for all 
four sides goes a long way in eliminating swarming. 



that his views can be taken with some de- 
gree of authority. 

(8) ELIMINATION OF USELESS DRONES. 

Getting rid of an excess of drones in a 
hive will not of itself prevent swarming, 
but it is certainly one very important fac- 
tor. If any of the brood-combs have large 
areas of drone comb, it would pay well to 
cut out such comb and patch with good 
worker comb. Such work may be easily 
done during fruit bloom when the bees are 
good-natured and when there will be less 
bees, brood, and honey in the hive, than 
later on. 

(9) GIVING ADDITIONAL ROOM AND 
MANIPULATION OF SUPERS. 

As already stated, swarm control is com- 
paratively simple in the production of ex- 
tracted honey. While the principles al- 
ready set forth apply more particularly to 
comb honey, they have considerable force 
in the production of extracted. It should 



be borne in mind that comb-honey supers 
with their little square boxes containing 
only foundation are unnatural, and for 
that reason there is apt to be a period of 
sulking or hesitation before the bees go 
into them. During that time preparations 
for swarming may begin. See Comb 
Honey, to Produce. 

In the production of extracted honey, 
the mere giving of empty combs in which 
to store the freshly gathered honey goes a 
long way toward keeping the bees con- 
tented. If room is given fast enough, and 
if sufficient ventilation is provided, and 
the queen not cramped for egg-laying 
room, the amount of swarming will be very 
little, comparatively. The extra room in 
the case of the ordinary Langstroth hive 
can be given by adding extra supers as 
fast as the bees require them. While the 
same thing can be done in the production 
of comb honey, the extra supers, as al- 
ready stated, are unnatural, requiring the 
bees to build comb in the small compart- 
ments remote from the brood-nest. 



SWARMING 



726 



The more-room principle involves one of 
the fundamental features in the preven- 
tion of swarming. While it is tiTie that 
some colonies will not swarm, even in con- 
tracted quarters, there is no better way 
to force swarming than to keep the colony 
in a single brood-nest without giving 
supers or upper stories. If, therefore, one 
would cheek swarming, more room must be 
given. 

There is one point to consider, and that 
is that room should be provided before the 
bees are crowded. If they are allowed to 
fill every available cell with honey or 
brood, the chances are they will start ceUs ; 
and when cells are once begun it is some- 
times difficult to get the swaraiing notion 
out of the colony. Better by far make the 
conditions so the bees will not build cells 
than to try to stop swamiing by killing 
cells aftei-ward. 

DEilAEEE PLAX OF SHIFTING SEALED BROOD 

TO UPPER STORY AND THE QUEEN TO 

LOWER STORY. 

The author has been able to keep down 
swarming by adding from time to time ex- 
tia supers containing fuUy drawn empty 
combs. If a queen-excluder is put on at 
the very beginning of the season, the queen 
may be cramped for egg-laying room, espe- 
cially if an eight-frame hive is used. If, 
however, she is given access to two stories 
thru the breeding season, there will usually 
be little or no swarming. A week before 
the actual honey flow the sealed and hatch- 
ing brood should be put in the upper story, 
and the queen and unsealed brood in the 
lower story, with a queen-excluder between. 
As the brood hatches out in the upper 
story it will leave room for the storage 
of the fii'st new honey. This shifting is 
commonly called the Demaree plan. Be- 
fore the bees are cramped for room an- 
other story should be added, always keep- 
ing in mind the importance of keeping 
well ahead of the bees. If the bees seem 
disposed to cluster out, the hives should 
be raised up on four blocks, because venti- 
lation is very important. If they are ex- 
posed to the direct rays of the sun, a 
shade-board may be required. (See Api- 
ary.) As fast as combs are fiUed with 
honey they may be extracted, or held till 
later in the season, a reserve of empty 
combs beinsr given instead. 



(10) BROOD RAISED ABO\'E SUPERS LEAVING 

SMALL PATCH OF YOUNG L-\RV,E 

BELOW WITH QUEEN. 

Chalon Fowls of Oberlin, Ohio, uses 
very satisfactorily a modification of the 
last plan. He thus describes it : 

Let us consider for a moment the differ- 
ence between a natural swarm and a "shook" 
swarm. A natural swarm is made up of 
the bees old enough to fly; but a "shook" 
swarm consists of bees of all ages — nurse-bees, 
cell-builders, aU sorts. We have made many 
" shook " swarms previous to 1912 (when we 
adopted the new plan), and I often thought 
the bees acted uneasy and dissatisfied, which I 
attributed to the presence of so many young 
bees. Xo doubt many of these were cell- 
builders primed with royal jelly, which would 
go right to building another batch of cells. 

In 1911 we had a poor season here, the 
bees getting just enough honey to induce them 
to swarm, and we practiced ' ' shook ' ' swarm- 
ing until we became convinced that the plan 
was wrong in principle for the aforesaid 
reasons. 

About this time Dr. Miller answered an 
inquiry in Gleanings, Aug. 15, page 490, 1911, 
explaining that the presence of queen-cells 
above a comb-honey super would not have 
enough eft'ect on the lower story to start 
swarming there. Probably I got the idea 
from this, and the next year (1912) we put 
it in practice, making over forty swarms by 
the new plan. The next year (1913) we had 
a bumper crop, and the bees directed their 
energies to storing, so we did not need to 
make as many swarms; therefore I decided 
to wait another year before reporting, as 
I wanted to try the plan out thoroly under 
different conditions; so last year we made 
about fifty swarms by this plan .and I don't 
remember that we had a single failure. 

Having found a colony with queen-ceUs 
we begin our treatment. If the hive has a 
loose bottom so that it may be used as an 
upper story, so much the better. In this 
case, find the queen and place her on a comb 
containing a small batch of young larvae and 
a few bees. Place in an empty hive, filling 
the rest of the hive with empty combs, and 
place on the stand after setting the hive of 
brood aside. Frames of foundation may be 
used, but are not as good. In case foun- 
dation is used I would take (in addition to 
the one comb with the queen and a little 
brood) two frames containing httle or no 
brood from the hive of brood, first brushing 
off the bees so they wiU be with the brood. 
Xow place a queen-excluder on the new brood- 
chamber and two or more extracting-supers of 
empty combs on top (we use shallow supers) 
with the hive of brood put on last. FiU any 
extra space with dummies and leave till the 
next visit in seven or eight days, when they 
are moved to a new stand. To insure that no 
young queens hatch during the time, at the 



726 



SWARMING 



time of making the change tear out the capped 
cells, leaving all those not capped. Of course, 
the swarm in the lower hive will be made up 
of returning field bees all old enough to fly. 
It will be seen that this result is radically 
difi'erent from that in the case of a shaken 
swarm wdth bees of all ages, and therein is the 
secret of its success, in my opinion. 

The first year I practiced this plan, there 
were some cases in which cells were built in 
the lower story; and as there often were a 
lot of young bees left sticking to the sides 
of the hive, or adhering to the two outside 
frames of honey sometimes left below, I be- 
lieved those fellows did the work. As most of 
our hives have tight bottoms I was obliged to 
leave them on the stand, lifting the brood out 
to raise up. Therefore, since that first year 's 
experience I have taken more pains to get 
those fellows out of the lower story. Rather 
than leave a quantity of young bees in the 
hive below I would brush them out into the 
hive of brood to be put on top, as I feel that 
is much safer. 

When moving the upper story of brood I 
usually remove all but one queen-cell, or all 
queen-cells, and replace with a cell from some 
other stock if desired. But as the flying bees 
uill have returned to the old stand, there is 
but little danger of second swarms if no cells 
are cut. This plan is all right where there 
is a hive full of brood showing that the queen 
is prolific. 

But if, as often happens with old queens, 
the bees start cells in a small or moderate- 
sized colony, the upper story of brood may 
be left right on top by allowing them only 
one queen-cell and providing an entrance 
above so the young queen can get out to be 
mated. After .she begins laying, remove the 
old queen from the lower story, and transfer 
the upper story, queen and all, to the lower 
brood-chamber. 

By this plan, out-apiaries can be left a 
week with little likelihood that any swarms 
would issue; and not only that, there will be 
no loafing, as congestion has been relieved at 
just the right time. 

I claim the following good points in this 
plan: 

It follows the process of natural swarming 
very closely, as the bees of the old colony are 
mostly young and hatching bees; and keeping 
a strong working force together during the 
period of cell-building insures the production 
of the finest cells. There is no loss of larvae 
or brood from chilling, as the brood-nest is 
kept very warm until the brood is all sealed; 
and while these results are secured in the 
upper story the bees in the lower story give 
up all idea of swarming; for there is an 
abundance of room, both for the queen and 
for storing, as the conditions here are about 
the same as with a natural swarm, the bees 
being comb-builders and field bees, and the 
nurse bees and cell-builders being eliminated. 
The whole plan makes it possible to leave an 
apiary entirely alone for a week at a time 
during the swarming season. 



(11) THE DADANT SYSTEM OF SWARM 
CONTROL. 

Under Hives mention is made of the 
large Quinby hive used by the Dadants, 
and of the fact that they have very little 
swarming. During 1916, from 525 colo- 
nies in Quinby hives run for extracted 
honey they had only 30 swarms. Their 
scheme of swarm control in connection 
with these large hives may be briefly 
summed up as follows: 

1. An ample brood-chamber as provided 
by the Quinby hive. 

2. Plenty of super room filled with foun- 
dation or fully drawn combs. The Quinby 
hive is so large that the average queen 
does not require a queen-excluder, and 
therefore will not go into the upper story. 
No effort is made at any time to cut out 
queen-cells every seven or eight days, and 
on this point the Dadants make strong 
claims for their system. 

3. Ventilation is provided by raising the 
hive up on four blocks above the bottom- 
board. If the season is hot and the colony 
verj' strong the space may be increased to 
two or three inches. 

4. Protection from the sun or hot w^eather 
is regarded as important; and to that end 
shade-boards or a moderate shade from 
trees is provided. 

5. The queen must be 3^oung. While some 
queens are used the second year, often a 
very prolific queen will fail at the end of 
the first year. 

6. No drones should be allowed in the 
hive. To that end, all drone comb should 
be excluded by the use of combs drawn 
from worker foundation. 

7. Frames should be spaced 1^/^ inches 
from center to center. C. P. Dadant re- 
gards this wider spacing as quite impor- 
tant because it gives more room between 
the combs. The fact that the Dadants se- 
cured a crop of 125,000 lbs. from 525 colo- 
nies during 1916, one of their best years, 
without the use of queen-excluders, without 
cutting out cells, and with only 30 swarms, 
shows there must be something in their 
system. The hives were operated almost 
entirely on the let-alone plan, and all they 
did beyond what is stated was to take off 
the honey after the supers were filled. 



SWARMING 



727 



(12) LARGE HIVES TO CONTROL SWARMING. 

Whether or not practically the same re- 
sults can be secured with Langstroth hives 
on the tiering-up principle is something 
of a debatable question. It is generally 
agreed that the ten-frame brood-nest, 
Langstroth size, is not large enough to ac- 
commodate a good queen. Where she has 
plenty of room she may have brood in 
anywhere from twelve to thirteen frames, 
Langstroth size, and an extra-good queen 
will sometimes have brood in fourteen or 
fifteen frames. Experience has shown that 
an ordinary ten-frame brood-nest, single- 
walled, will not, as a rule, have brood in 
the outside of the two outside combs. The 
queen will therefore have only about nine 
combs, when her capacity for egg-laying 
is at least 25 per cent more. In most 
localities when the queen has eight or nine 
frames of brood in a ten-frame Langstroth 
brood-nest and hive boiling over with bees, 
the colony may start cells, which will re- 
sult in swarming as soon as the honey flow 
begins to start. Putting on an upper story 
will sometimes forestall cell-building to a 
certain extent, but more good will be ac- 
complished if two or more frames of brood 
are lifted from the lower hive into the 
upper one, the space below being filled 
with empty combs. In this way the full 
capacity of the queen can be secured; but 
it frequently and commonly happens that 
the apiarist neglects to give the needed 
room in time, and swarming follows. 

Dr. Miller says he has no trouble about 
the queen going into the upper story, but 
he uses wood splints so that the brood is 
carried nearly, if not quite to the top-bar. 
Others use a form of wiring that secures 
much the same results, but with the ordi- 
nary horizontal wiring the brood will not 
go much nearer than two inches of the top- 
bar. This two inches of honey has a ten- 
dency to discourage the queen from going 
upward, and it is therefore necesssary for 
the beekeeper himself to put upstairs two 
or more frames of brood so that the queen 
will go above. If three or four frames are 
put upstairs, the queen will probably fill 
the empty combs below with eggs, with the 
result that there will be anywhere from 
twelve to fourteen frames of brood and 
plenty of room for the bees until time to 



put on the supers. With such an amount 
of bi'ood and bees, swarming is usually cut 
down to a very small per cent. 

A colony in order to secure a crop of 
honey ought to be very strong in bees and 
the only way this strength can be secured 
is to get more than the ordinary nine or 
ten frames of brood during the breeding 
season. This can not be had in a single- 
story ten-frame Langstroth hive. 

In some localities where the honey flow 
comes on late, the necessary force of bees 
can be secured from one brood-chamber, 
but such localities are an exception. Now 
then to the point of this discussion of large 
hives. The curtailment of the breeding 
capacity of a good queen is a frequent 
cause for swarming. Sufficient room can 
be secured by manipulating the frames in 
a two-story hive and sufficient room will 
usually be secured in a thirteen-frame hive 
or a long-idea hive without any manipula- 
tion on the part of the beekeeper. 

During 1918 we tried some long-idea 
hives in the queen-rearing yard where we 
had a number of cell-builders. (See 
Queen-rearing.) These special hives 
were double-walled and packed on the 
sides, or what is really at the ends of the 
frames. It was found that the cell-builders 
in these long hives were but little inclined 
to swarm, where colonies in double-story 
ten-frame Langstroth hives would swarm 
under the stimulus of cell-building. Our 
queen-breeder, Mr. Pritchard, came to the 
conclusion that the reason that the colonies 
in the long-idea hives did not swarm was 
because the queen could expand laterally, 
going from frame to frame. The colony 
was thus able to raise all the brood that it 
required, with the result that there was no 
inclination to swarm, w^hen high-pressure 
methods of feeding were resorted to to 
start the cell-building. 

At this writing it has not yet been 
proven whether or not the large brood- 
nest thirteen-frame hive. Jumbo hive, and 
long-idea hive have come to stay. The 
author can only suggest that the beekeeper 
try them out in a small way. See Hives. 

The main feature of swarm control in 
the Quinby hive rests in the fact that the 
queen has unlimited room for laying. This 
can also be given in two brood-chambers of 
Langstroth size. 



728 



SWARMING 




Aspinwall hive dissected, showing brood-frames and blatted di\iders. 



NON-SWARMING HIVES. 

All the systems thus far described, both 
under this heading and under the head of 
"Artificial Swarming," relate to methods 
of management of the hives or colonies 
themselves. For a number of years much 
has been said about non-swarming hives. 

L. A. Aspinwall goes at the problem by 
increasing the clustering space between the 
combs during swarming. To that end he 
has devised a hive consisting of a series of 
brood-frames, and during the swarming 
season a series of slatted wooden dummies 
or separators placed in alternation between 
the frames. These slatted dummies made 
up of quarter-inch vertical slats spaced a 
bee-space apart provide a clustering space 
between the brood-combs, thus relieving the 
congestion that naturally arises because a 
large force of bees cannot be crowded into 
the small space between the combs such as 
are found in an ordinary hive. The Aspin- 
wall frames, instead of having one end-bar 
at each end, have a series of extra end- 



bars bee-spaced apart that provide a clus- 
tering space at the ends of the frames as 
well as between them. The supers are 
constructed in much the same way as the 
brood-nest. The end-bars of the frames 
themselves being closed-end and close-fit- 
ting, constitute the ends of the hive proper, 
the frames simply resting on the cross- 
cleats. The sides are closed up by means 
of wooden panels that hang like the frames 
on the frame-supports. 

It has been claimed that there will be 
little or no clustering at the hive entrance, 
because the surplus bees will be clustered 
in the dummies between the frames; and 
as the dummies consist of a series of slats 
a bee-space apart, there can be no comb 
building. L. A. Aspinwall has tried out 
this principle, and it has worked so well 
in his hands that he thinks he has solved 
the problem of a non-swarming hive. But 
there have been some reports showing that 
it failed in the hands of others. The 
author believes the principle is good but 
too expensive for the average beekeeper. 



SWARMING 



729 



APPLIANCES FOR HIVING 
NATURAL SWARMS. 

In the foregoing, methods have been 
given for preventing, checking, or controll- 
ing swarming. It will now be in order to 
take up the other problem of restricting 
swarming down to one swarm per colony, 
and hiving that one swarm ^\'hen it does 
come out. A large number of beekeepers 
believe that a natural swann has much 
more energy- in the production of either 
comb or extracted honey than a colony 
whose efforts to swarm have been checked 
or balked. Sometimes swarms that have 
been thwarted will begin to sulk and then 
the problem is how to get them to work. 
While perhaps the great majorit^^ of bee- 
keepers will find it an advantage to use 
preventive measures, there are those who 
hold that they can secure more honey by 
letting the bees satisfy their natural desires 
by swarming once — that is to say, the par- 
ent colonj^ and the swarm together will pro- 
duce more honey than if they have been 
kept in one hive. While this is, of course, 
a debatable question, it is a matter that 
should receive careful consideration; for 
no one method or set of methods will work 
with all beekeepers and in all localities. 

For the purpose of the present discus- 
sion it will be assumed that it is an advan- 
tage to manipulate the colonies so that they 
will cast a swarm, after which repressive 
measures will be applied on the parent 
colony. 

Some of the advocates of the one-swarm 
scheme find that the artificial plan of shak- 
ing, as advised under the head of Artifi- 
cial Swarming^ is quite satisf actoi'y, while 
others believe it is better to let bees have 
their own way, so far as the first swarm is 
concerned. The advocates of the one-swarm 
plan practice clipping the queens' wings, 
as already described under the head of 
Queens. 

how to hi\'e a swarm with clipped 

QUEEN. 

Under Queexs, sub-head " Shall Queens' 
Wings be Clipped ?" intimation is given how 
swarming can be controlled to a certain 
extent by clipping. Where the plan of 
forcing the swarm ahead of time by brush- 
ing or shaking (described under Artifi- 



cial Swarming) is not practiced, clipping 
has come to be almost universal among 
comb-honey producers; for where queens' 
wings are clipped, or they are prevented 
from leaving the hive hy the use of Alley 
traps or entrance-guards (see Drones), a 
great amount of labor will be saved. 

It will be assumed that all queens in the 
apiary have their wings clipped. A swarm 
comes forth. After the bees are nearly all 
out the queen will be found, in all prob- 
ability, hopping around in the grass near 
the entrance, vainly endeavoring to fly 
with the rest of the bees. She should be 
caged, and the cage slipped temporarily 
into a pocket or some cool place. The 
super or supers in which the bees have 
already 'started work should be set on the 
ground near the hive. The brood-chamber 
should now be removed, just as it is, to an 
entirely new location. In its place on the 
old stand a hive containing frames of foun- 
dation or empty combs should be set and 
on top of this a queen-excluding honey- 
board. Some prefer having only starters 
of foundation. The supers, placed on the 
gi^ound temporarily, are now put on the 
new hive containing these frames of foun- 
dation or combs. The caged queen is laid 
in front of the entrance. 

All this may be done while the bees are 
in the air, and it will not be long before 
they discover that the queen is not with 
them, return pellmell to their old location, 
and rush into the new hive. After they are 
well started going in, the queen may be 
released, when she will go with them. 

The work already begun in the supers 
will be pushed on and completed with more 
vim and energy than before, because, as 
already stated, a new swarm works with 
new energy. If only frames containing 
starters have been given them, what honey 
does come in is forced into the supers, for 
the bees have no other place to store it, at 
least until foundation below has been 
drawn out; but as soon as this takes place 
it is occupied immediately by the queen. 

The old hive containing frames of brood 
and queen-cells now in another location 
may cast a second or tbird swarm; but if 
queen-cells are cut out, even second swarm- 
ing may be checked. 

This method of handling swarms where 
natural swarming is allowed commends it- 



730 



SWARMING 




A self-hived swarm. 

self especially to the women-folks, who are 
generally at home. All they have to do is 
to hunt up the clipped queen, cage her, 
then put an empty hive containing frames 
of foundation in place of the old one. As 
it might not be practicable for the women to 
carry the old hive to another location, they 
can simply drag it over to one side, and 
change the entrance so that it will face to 
the rear. When the " man of the house " 
returns, he can lift the supers from the old 
stand on to the new one, then take the old 
brood-nest over to another location. This 
may be done any time within a day; or, 
when preferred, the old hive can be left 
alongside the new one, providing the en- 
trance is reversed. 

If two or more swarms come out at the 
same time, and one of them has a virgin 
queen, all the bees will be likely to unite 
with the one having the queen; then, of 



course, this plan to make them return Avill 
come to naught. But in a well-regulated 
apiary there will be few such occurrences. 

THE QUEEX-EXCLUDIXG EXTRANCE GUARD. 

The employment of a queen trap will 
not prevent swarming — it only hinders the 
bees from accomplishing their purpose; 
that is, absconding and taking their queen 
with them. The trap or guard simply 
takes the place of clipping the queen's 
wings. In some cases it may be desirable 
to use such instead of clipping. Usu- 
ally, it is preferable to clip the queen's 
Avings rather than to cause the bees the 
inconvenience of crawling, during the con- 
tinuance of the honey flow, thru narrow 
perforations of zinc or wire bars, simply 
to hold back the queen should a swarm 
issue. 

While the author recommends clipping 
in place of using perforated zinc, yet in 
the case of very strong colonies in the 
height of the honey flow, especially when 
such colonies are in two-story hives, it is 
more practical to put on entrance-guards 
or Alley traps. (1) Attaching the traps 
can be done in a tenth of the time it takes 
to find the queen; (2) pulling the hive all 
apart to find her majesty causes more or 
less interruption; but, of course, the 
queens should be clipped early in the sea- 
son when it is easy to find them. 

THE TRAP GOOD FOR EMERGENCY USE. 

While the trap can be used as mentioned 
under Drones for catching the queen as 
she issues with the swarm, yet it shuts 
off ventilation, so vitally necessary during 
the swarming season. It impedes the in- 
gress and egress of the workers, and dur- 
ing the honey flow it must necessarily cut 
down the efficiency of the colony. It should 
therefore be used only in a case of emer- 
gency, either to prevent a valuable queen 
from getting away or to hold her until 
such time as the apiarist can go thru the 
colony, hunt her, up, and clip her wings. 

SWABMING-DEVICES VARIOUSLY 
CONSTRUCTED. 

Every apiarist engaged in the produc- 
tion of honey should certainly have the 
wings of all his queens clipped. He can- 



SWARMING 



731 



not afford not to, unless he uses an entrance 
guard, and that should be avoided. It is 
much more difficult to take care of swarms 
when queens are not clipped but are al- 
lowed to go with the swarm. But as there 
are some who dislike to " disfigure " or 
" mutilate " their queens, and as some 
swarms in any ease will get out with a 
virgin queen, it has been thought best to 
describe the various devices for capturing 
swarms with undipped queens. See 
Queens, subhead concerning clipping. 

Almost every apiarist has his own pe- 
culiar notion as to how a swarming-device 
should be constructed. Some of these im- 
plements are very ingenious, and of valu- 
able assistance during the swarming sea- 
son. Their particular use is to remove 
a swarm after it has clustered, and place 
it in the hive where it is desired that it 
take up a new abode. The first one to 
which attention is called, not because it 
is the best, but because it is the simplest, 
is a sort of butterfiy-catcher. 




The hoop is made of band iron, about 
20 inches in diameter. The ends are se- 
cured, as shown, to a suitable pole. When 
the bag is attached to the hoop, it is de- 
signed to be put up under the swarm, and 
the hoop is then made to cut off the clus- 
ter so that the bees will fall into the bag. 
It is then turned edgewise, so as to confine 
them while being taken down and carried 
to the hive. It may be necessary to hold 
the bag in the air to catch the flying bees. 
These will shortly cluster on the outside. 
As the bag is made of cheese-cloth, the 
bees inside have plenty of air. To empty 
the bees turn it inside out. 




Manum's swarm-catching device. 
A. E. MANUM^S SWARMING-DEVICE. 

This consists of a wire-cloth basket made 
in the shape of an inverted pyramid, and 
pivoted at the opposite corners so as to 
hang always in an upright position. When 
a swarm is captured the basket may be 
grasped by the ring at the small end, and 
inverted, dumping the bees into the hive 
prepared for them. 

As soon as the cluster beginning to form 
on a tree or bush is half or nearly com- 
pleted, the basket is shoved up to and 
around the cone of bees. An assistant, if 
present, gives the limb a jar, so as to dis- 
engage the bees into the basket. In case no 
one is ready to assist, a sliding movement 
of the basket will precipitate the cluster 
into the wire-cloth cage, when it is quickly 
lowered. This operation, in passing down 
thru the limbs, will usually catch the wire- 
cloth lid, and close it with a slam. In case 
it is not closed, the apiarist does it himself. 
Half or two-thirds of the bees are generally 
confined. In all probability the queen is 
there also. As the bees can not get out, 
those still flying in the air will very readily 
cluster on the wire cloth, surrounding the 
majority of their companions inside. To 
make this more expeditious the tripod is 
adjusted and the cage suspended in the air 
right where the bees are flying thickest. 



732 



SWARMING 





S. D. Chapman of near Mancelona, 



[ich., and his method of hiving swarms with 
bushel basket. 



forked pole and a 



In five or ten minutes the remainder of the 
bees will be clustered on the outside. At 
this stage of the proceeding the apiarist 
comes forward, folds the two short legs 
against the pole, grasps it at its center of 
gravity and walks off to the hive, which he 
has previously prepared. 

One of the special features of the Manum 
arrangement is that the basket can be ad- 
justed to almost any position, all the way 
from two to ten feet from the ground. All 
that is necessary is to adjust the tripod so 
that the basket will be held where the bees 
are flying. In the mean time, unless the 
hive is already prepared, the apiarist has 
ample time to get it ready. After this he 
can return to the swarm just now clustered. 
Most of the devices require to be held until 
the cluster has settled. It is a tedious job 
to hold a pole at arm's length, with face 
upturned. 

In the absence of any special tools or 
appliances one can extemporize in a very 
few minutes a swarm-catching device out 
of the ordinary material on a farm. A 
small sapling, long and slender, is cut. All 
the branches are trimmed off, care being 
taken to leave a fork or crotch in the end. 
This extemporized swarming-pole should 
be at least 12 to 15 feet long. A 



common bushel basket is hooked into the 
fork at the end of the pole. The combina- 
tion is almost as good as the one just de- 
scribed, with the further advantage that 
the basket can be detached from the fur- 
ther end of the pole as soon as the swarm 
is caught. 

After being hooked on to the end 
of the pole, the basket is elevated to a point 
just below where the swarm is hanging on 
the tree. It is gradually pushed up until 
the swarm is nicely placed therein. The 
pole is given a sharp push upward, care 
being taken not to unhook the basket. This 
sudden jar will dislodge the swarm; and 
before the bees have an opportunity to 
take wing, the basket is lowered and un- 
hooked from the end of the pole. It may 
now be dumped in front of the hive where 
it is to be placed. In all probability a few 
more bees may cluster back on the old spot. 
If so, the operation is repeated, after which 
the second bunch of bees is placed where 
the first was dumped. 

THE SWARM-HIVING HOOK. 

With most of the hiving-devices a hiving- 
hook can be used to considerable advantage 
at times. It is simply an iron hook mounted 



SWARMING 



733 



on the end of a long pole, and resembling, 
somewhat, a shepherd's crook. One of the 
hiving-devices is passed beneath the swarm. 
This hook can be used to reach over, grasp 
the limb on which the swarm is clustered, 
until the bees cluster on some other spot 
and by one or two smart jerks jar the bees 
into the basket, bag, or box. 

HOW TO GET A SWAEM FROM AN 
INACCESSIBLE LIMB. 

Sometimes a swarm will alight upon a 
limb beyond the reach of any ladder. Pos- 
sibly, also, the limb upon which the bees 
are clustered is so far out from the body 
of the tree that it would not sustain the 
weight of any one climbing after them. 
Such a swarm can usually be reached in 
the following manner. A stone about as 
large as the single fist is tied at the end of 
a good line. If one is not a good thrower 
himself he can get some boy who is a good 
ballplayer to perform the throwing act. 
He should uncoil a considerable quantity 
of the line, then throw the stone into a 
crotch if one is near the swarm. If he is 
lucky enough to land the stone in the 
crotch, he should draw gently on the line 
until the stone catches in the fork. One 
quick jerk wiU dislodge the bees, and after 
that the limb should be kept in a tremble 
until the bees cluster on some other spot 
which they will do presently if the limb is 
kept agitated for five or ten minutes. They 
may cluster higher up, but the probabilities 
are they will seek some other spot more 
accessible. 

If there is no convenient crotch at the 
right point, the stone should be thrown so 
it will pass over the limb, taking about one 
foot of line. The string should be given 
a good jerk, causing the stone with the 
line to whirl around the limb a couple of 
times. If one does not succeed in doing 
this the first time or two, a third or fourth 
attempt may be successful. It is not a 
very difficult trick; but the main thing is 
to get the line attached to the limb at some 
point near the swarm. Then the rest is 
easy. 

SPRAY-PUMP FOR CONTROLLING SWARMS 
WHILE IN THE AIR. 

One of the most useful implements in 
the apiary when queens are not clipped is 



a good hand force-pump. A swarm of 
bees in the air with a queen that might 
otherwise circle about for fifteen or twenty 
minutes can usuallv be made to cluster in 




Tlii? ST^-arm of bees issued June 7 from a colonv of 
bees that produced 180 pounds of comb honey the same 
season. 

from two to five minutes by its use. 
Whether the fine particles of water dampen 
the wings, and so impede their flight, or 
cause the bees to think it is raining, or 
both, and that therefore they had better 
cluster at once, can not be proven; but 
certainly the spray has a very decided 
effect. One who becomes moderately ex- 
pert will be able not only to make the bees 
settle but to compel them to cluster on some 
point easily accessible to any of the ordi- 
nary hiving-devices just described. Occa- 
sionally a swarm will make for the top of a 
tall tree. With a pump they can be headed 
off, causing them to settle on a lower 
branch. Even when a swarm is clustered 
twenty or thirty feet from the ground, by 
adjusting the stream nozzle and letting it 
play directly on the swarm itself, it can. 



734 



SWARMING 



many times, be dislodged, thus causing the 
bees to take wing and finally settle again 
upon a lower limb or bush. Again, sev- 
eral swarms will come out simultaneously, 
and two or more attempt to cluster to- 
gether. By the timely use of the spray, 
each swarm can be kept separate by damp- 
ening the wings of the stragglers of the 
two swarms about to come together. A 
good many times a swarm that is about to 
abscond can be headed off and made to 
cluster; in fact, during the summer of 
1889 the author several times drove a 
swarm about like a flock of sheep. 

SWARM-CATCHER. 

This is simply a large wire-cloth cage, in 
the shape of an oblong box, about three or 
four feet high, by 12 or 15 inches square, 
one end being open, and made to fit against 
an ordinary hive-front. 




It very often happens that the apiarist 
is on hand just at the time the swarm 
pours out the entrance like hot shot. With 
one of these wire swarm-catchers handy he 
simply attaches the mouth to the entrance, 
and the outpouring bees fly pell-mell into 
the top of the cage, and are there confined. 
When the apiarist succeeds in catching 
two-thirds of the bees, the rest will cluster 
on the outside. The cage is set mouth end 
down very near where the bees come 
forth. Meanwhile the apiarist prepares 
his hive, if he has not already done so, and 
then brings the cage of bees and dumps 
them into the hive, replaces the cover, and 
the swarm is hived without having had any 
swarm in the air — not even giving them a 



ghost of a chance to fly all over the neigh- 
borhood, and possibly finally alight upon 
the limb of a tree 40 feet from the ground. 
But it should be borne in mind that the 
swarm-catcher is serviceable only when the 
apiarist happens to be on the ground just 
as the bees are beginning to pour forth. 

A large cage that comes down over the 
whole hive is much better than something 
adjusted to the entrance, because it can be 
set down over the hive and proceedings 
stopped. As soon as the bees are all out, 
the cage is lifted gently, and carried to the 
hive where it is proposed to dump the 
swarm. The cage is held squarely over the 
prepared hive with its cover off, and given 
one quick jolt. This will dislodge the bees 
so that most of them will land in and 
around the hive. As soon as they have 
settled, the cage is removed and the cover 
put on the hive. 

THE AUTOMATIC HIVING OF SWARMS. 

For many years back there has been an 
effort on the part of beekeepers of an 
inventi\e turn of mind to devise an 
arrangement that would automatically hive 
swarms in the absence of an apiarist or 
attendant; and since out-apiaries have be- 
gun to assume such importance where the 
production of honey is carried on ex- 
tensively, some sort of device that will 
hive the swarms automatically — yes, do the 
work just as well as if the apiarist were 
present himself, is greatly to be desired. 
Several devices have been introduced; but 
most of them have been proven to be more 
or less failures. 

The general plan contemplates some 
scheme having an empty hive placed near 
the colony expected to swarm. This empty 
hive may be alongside, in front of, or 
below the other one. In the case of the 
first-mentioned plan, an entrance-guard is 
placed in front of each hive; and con- 
necting the two is a tube of wire cloth or 
perforated zinc. When the swarm comes 
forth, the queen, finding herself barred by 
the perforated metal, runs along until she 
finds the tube communicating with the 
entrance-guard of the other hive. In this 
tube she runs up against a bee-escape or 
wire-cloth cone. She passes this; but, 
being unable to return, is compelled to 
enter the entrance-guard of the new hive. 



SWARMING 



735 



Upon discovering that the queen is not 
with them, the bees rush back to the old 
stand; a part of them find the queen in 
front of the new hive, enter with the 
queen and " set up housekeeping." But 
the plan fails because the majority fail to 
find her, and re-enter the parent colony. 



HOW TO HIVE SWARMS V7ITH0UT SPECIAL 
DEVICES. 

If the apiary is located in a locality 
where there are no tall trees, but only 
low-growing shrubbery, or, at most, dwarf 
fruit-trees, or, better still, if the wings of 
all queens are clipped, the special tools 



ij-miiiwiii II imii iiiii,j;jj|| 




A cross of bees that are not cross. 



The author has tried these plans to some 
extent, but, taking everything into con- 
sideration, it is cheaper and more practica- 
ble to hive the swarm on the clipped-wing 
plan, or, better, practice "shook" swarming, 
as described under Artificial Swarming, 
or the Fowls Plan under the general head 
of Swarming. 



already described will not be found neces- 
sary, and perhaps not even a convenience. 
The author's home apiary located at 
Medina has no trees. Outskirting it are 
rows of bushy evergreens furnishing the 
only place for the bees to cluster in the 
immediate vicinity of the apiary aside 
from grapevines in the apiary itself. 



736 



SWEET CLOVER 



Rarely do swarms cluster elsewhere. When 
a swarm alights on one of the two places 
just mentioned a frame of unsealed larvae 
is selected. As the swarm is but rarely 
more than four or five feet from the ground 
this frame is gently thrust among the bees. 
A large majority of them will very soon 
crawl upon it. This, together with the 
adhering bees, and three or four other 
combs, is placed in a hive immediately 
under where the swarm is clustered, if 
possible. The limb on which the cluster is 
hanging is jarred, causing the bees to fall 
on the frames below. Those bees which 
have already clustered on the combs will 
begin to call their companions. The hive 
is then left until the bees have all entered, 
when hive and all are removed to their 
permanent stand in the apiary. 

HOW TO BRING HOME A SWARM A MILE OR 
SO FROM THE APIARY. 

A swarm will sometimes escape and be 
traced a mile or so from the bee-yard. At 
other times a farmer will report that a 
swarm of bees is hanging to one of his 
trees, and that, if the beeman will come 
and hive them, he can have them. A good 
swarm is sometimes worth going after; but 
how shall it be brought back with the least 
expenditure of time when bees are swarm- 
ing at home? A boy can be sent on a 
bicycle, equipped with a burlap sack, a 
pair of pruning-shears and a smoker, these 
latter fastened to the rider. The bicycle 
enables him to make a quick trip, and on 
arrival the bag is quietly slipped around 
the swarm of bees, clustered on a limb of a 
tree, and the bag tied. The pruning-shears 
cut the limb, when the bag and all are slung 
over the handle-bars, or carried in one 
hand while the other guides the machine 
home. 

PLURAL SWARMS UNITING. 

Sometimes when the swarming-note is 
heard in the apiary other colonies seem to 
catch the excitement and issue one after 
another while the first is still in the air. 
Of course if the wings of the queens are 
not clipped they will unite in one, and as 
many as a dozen have been known to come 
out in this way and go to the woods before 
anything could be done to stop them. If 




Carrying a captured swarm on a bicycle. 

for no other reason the wings of all queens 
should be clipped. Even then if a stray 
virgin is present all the bees may unite as 
one swarm, taking her along. 

SWEET CLOVER.— Half the States in 
the Union have laws classing sweet clover 
among the noxious weeds. In these same 
States, while legislation remains technically 
in force, farmers are planting acre after 
acre in sweet clover. 

A former Ohio statute required road 
supervisors to cut it, along with the Canada 
thistle, common thistle, oxeyed daisy, wild 
parsnip, wild carrot, teasel, burdock, and 
eockleburr. They were even given the 
right to enter private lands where it was 
growing and cut it down. Bee pastures 
near Delaware were destroyed at one time 
under the provisions of this law. Similar 
laws are still in force in other States. 
That such States will soon follow Ohio in 
removing it from the list of noxious weeds 
is evident. 



SWEET CLOVER 



737 



Its peculiar odor, the somewhat bitter 
taste of the leaves, the fact that cattle have 
to learn to like it, the tendency of the 
stalks to become woody, and a habit of 
appropriating land upon which other 
plants cannot even get a foothold, were 
the sources of this ill favor. Within the 
memory of every one, the virtues of this 
innocent plant have been so forcefully 
brought to the attention of the public that 
much of the former odium has been re- 
moved. 

Sweet clover meanwhile is rapidly reach- 
ing a position of importance as a staple 
American farm product. At the present 
time, its seed is the highest-priced crop 
seed on the market — a situation which 
could not obtain were it a weed. 

In spite of the fact that not a single 
State experiment station has failed to rec- 
ognize the real worth of the plant, there 
still remain occasional uninformed or 
prejudiced farmers who see nothing but 
danger in its growth and nothing but dam- 
age in its spread. In parts of Ontario, 
farmers are said constantly to neglect im- 
portant work in order to cut it down. 

VARIETIES. 

Three species are common, the white 
biennial (Melilotus alba), the large yellow 
biennial {Melilotus officinalis), and the 
small yellow annual {Melilotus indiea). 
When the plant is referred to simply as 
' 'sweet clover," the white is usually meant. 
The biennials store up in their large roots 
supplies of food for rapid growth in early 
spring of the second year. 

The yellow variety never grows as high 
nor with as thick stems as the white. The 
third -variety, the yellow annual, is seldom 
considered of much value except in south- 
ern California, where it is grown in 
orchards as a cover crop to shade the 
ground and prevent the moisture from 
drying out. In regions where the biennials 
will succeed, its growth should not be 
encouraged. 

The sweet clovers have been known to 
the world for thousands of years. Their 
value as pasturage for both stock and bees 
seems to have been understood first in cen- 
tral Asia. From there the seed was intro- 
duced into Europe at a very early date. 
According to the Iliad, upon these plants 

24 



the steeds of Menelaus and Achilles pas- 
tured before Troy. 

A number of other names have been used 
for sweet clover, among the most common 
of which are melilot, melilotus, and Bokhara 
clover. Bee clover and honey clover are 
names indicating its value as a honey 
plant. 

WORLD-WIDE ADAPTABILITY. 

The range of its growth has now encir- 
cled the globe. It has been planted on 
every continent, and is at present one of 
the most widely, tho not the most extensive- 
ly, cultivated crops in the world. In parts 
of this country, Australia, and South 
Africa, its success has been remarkable. 

From Florida savannas to the sandy 
mesas of Colorado, from the deserts of 
Arizona to the pine woods of Ontario, 
sweet clover has succeeded. It seems to be 
fond of gullies and eroded banks, lands 
wasted by mining operations, abandoned 
quarries, and greasy oil lands. 

The acid soils of the East and the alkali 
regions of the West seem equally its home. 
In soils rich in lime it appears to be most 
successful, yet lands too acid for clovers 
will grow it. The range of this vigorous 
plant is wider than that of the clovers and 
probably even than alfalfa. 

Sweet clover grows spontaneously along 
the roadsides, even in abandoned wheel 
tracks. Where the weather has washed 
away the humus it starts, and in time 
replaces the humus and restores the land to 
its former value. 

SWEET CLOVER HONEY. 

White sweet clover is usually water- 
white, but in parts of the East and in 
California it is reported to have sometimes 
a greenish tinge; and, like alfalfa honey, 
under certain conditions the color may be 
light amber. The flavor is suggestive of 
vaniUa; by many it is regarded as a little 
too strong, while others describe it as mild. 
When the nectar is secreted very freely the 
characteristic flavor is less pronounced; 
thus the flavor, like the color, is somewhat 
variable. Sweet-clover honey in the West 
is often mixed with that from alfalfa, and 
in the Central States with white-clover 
honey, forming a blend that is superior to 



738 



SWEET CLOVER 



either honey alone. Honey-distributors 
prize it highly for mixing with other 
honeys. The body is medium. The honey 
from 5'ellow sweet clover is essentially the 
same as that from the white species, but it 
blooms about two weeks earlier and in a 
few instances has been reported superior 
for bee pasturage. Sweet-clover honey is 
now marketed by the carload, and the qual- 
ity is general^ admitted to be excellent 
whether in the comb or extracted. It al- 
ways commands good prices. The present 
distribution and the future outlook of this 
honey plant deserve the careful considera- 
tion of every beekeeper. Its cultivation is 
receiving today more attention than that of 
anj^ other fodder plant in North America. 

SWEET CLO\'ER AS A HONEY PLANT. 

Altho many experiments have been made, 
beekeepers have as yet failed to discover 
any honey plant which it is profitable to 
cultivate for honey alone. Sweet clover is 
almost an exception, and thousands of 
pounds of the seed have been sown to ad- 
vantage along the roadsides, on railroad 
banks, in waste places, and in pastures. 
In no other way can the area of honey 
plants be so easily increased at so small a 
cost, and yet with advantage to all inter- 
ests. Sweet clover has already been a great 
benefit to bee culture in this countrj^, and is 
likely to exert a greater influence on its 
future than any other honey plant. There 
are millions of acres of land, which will grow 
sweet clover, but are of little value for any 
other crop. Its present distribution, there- 
fore, deserves the most careful attention. 
In considering the regions in which it is 
of special benefit to beekeeping, it must be 
remembered that while it will grow to some 
extent on widely different soils this plant 
will not thrive except under proper condi- 
tions. It is not true that it will yield a 
profitable crop everywhere. 

To understand why there are sweet- 
clover regions and belts in various parts of 
the country and why in other sections it is 
of little value, the conditions to which it is 
well adapted must be briefly considered. 
Sweet clover will not grow well unless there 
is lime in the soil, hence it is abundant in 
limestone regions. On clay soils, which ap- 
parently contain little lime, it does not 
spread rapidly or produce a luxuriant 



growth ; such soils, however, doubtless con- 
tain more or less lime due to the decompo- 
sition of the silicates. In Alabama and 
Mississippi the sweet-clover belt is on a 
limestone soil, and where the clay soil be- 
gins the sweet clover ends so abruptly as 
to excite comment. It will not grow in the 
rice lands of the South or in land saturated 
with moisture, or in the desert regions of 
the Southwest. It requires a hard, com- 
pact seed bed. In a loose-cultivated soil 
the seed does not sprout readily, and the 
plarits die out during a drouth, or north- 
ward freeze out in winter. But the area 
over which sweet clover succeeds is very 
large and its cultivation is yearly extend- 
ing. The regions in which it is of the 
greatest value to bee culture today are the 
North-central States (Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Iowa, Wisconsin), Kentucky, the 
sweet-clover belt of Alabama and Missis- 
sippi, th^e Great Plains region (Kansas, 
Nebraska, and Dakota), and the western 
highlands (Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming). 
It is also valuable in many other sections, 
but it is in these areas that it reaches its 
highest development and has largely in- 
creased the production of honey. 

CANADA AND THE EASTERN STATES. 

Sweet clover is abundant in parts of the 
provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and in the 
vicinity of Toronto it covers hundreds of 
acres. It continues to bloom after white 
and alsike clover have ceased to be of value, 
but tho the bees visit it freely it secretes 
nectar sparingly. In New England it is 
not important as a honey plant except in 
localities. At Middlebury, Vt., it is highly 
prized for fodder, green manuring, and as 
a weed eradicator. At Crawford, M^ss., it 
grows well on the thinnest soil, even where 
the white limestone is exposed. An apiary 
of over 40 colonies obtained almost its 
entire surplus from this source. In the 
limestone soils of New York it also gives 
most promising results to both the farm^er 
and the beekeeper; but it is still widely 
regarded as a weed in this State. In the 
sand belt in Schenectady and Albany 
Counties the soil is so poor that alfalfa 
can not be raised; but sweet clover grows 
luxuriantly and is converting this impover- 
ished soil into a rich loam. At Jonesville, 
N. Y., the land along the railroad track 



SWEET CLOVER 



739 



was formerly covered with sweet clover, 
and the bees in that vicinity stored from 
75 to 150 pounds of honey per colony. A 
law was passed compelling the railroad 
company to cut all bushes and weeds along 
the track, and the honey yield fell to 25 
and 50 pounds per colony. In Pennsyl- 
vania sweet clover prolongs the honey flow 
fully two weeks after white and alsike 
clovers are out of bloom. It also gives 
good results in Xew Jersey, but its im- 
portance thruout this entire section is much 
less than in the following regions. 

IN THE NORTH-CENTRAL STATES. 

In Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wis- 
consin, and Michigan, altho sweet clover 
must compete with alsike and red clover 
and alfalfa, its cultivation is steadily in- 
creasing. In Ohio sweet clover grows 
spontaneously along tramped roadsides 
and on abandoned roads and compact land 
everywhere. At one time an Ohio statute 
compelled its cutting as a noxious weed 
like burdock and thistle, but today it is 
grown in fields under proper tillage by 
hundreds of farmers. At Rochelle, 111., 
there are over 1,200 acres of sweet clover 
practically all in one field. Here it pas- 
tures three head of cattle to the acre, is 
raised for seed, cut for silage, and em- 
ployed to renovate the soil. A few years 
ago the average farmer in this section ridi- 
culed the claims of both alfalfa and sweet 
clover. On the banks of the Chicago 
Drainage Canal there are hundreds of acres 
of sweet clover. At Milledgeville it begins 
blooming early in July, and is in full fiower 
when white clover and alfalfa have ceased 
to blossom. Where very abundant it has 
been known to yield nectar for two months. 
When pastured or mowed, it will bloom a 
second time and continue in bloom until 
after hard frosts. Bees have been seen on 
it in October, when few other flowers were 
to be found. While it stands a drought 
well, it yields better when there are fre- 
quent rains. It is not unusual for the bees 
to store from 50 to 100 pounds per colony. 
With sufficient rain the secretion of nectar 
is reliable in this State, but in very dry 
weather it has been known to fail entirely; 
for instance, one year at Kenney during a 
severe drought, when vegetation generalh' 



withered, the bees were starving with 160 
acres of blooming sweet clover within easy 
reach. 

In the western part of Iowa, where the 
land is rolling and hilly, some of the hills 
are so steep that it is impossible to plow 
or harrow them. When the seed of sweet 
clover is scattered over the tops of these 
hills it grows readily without further at- 
tention. In this section, in 1916, 320 colo- 
nies of bees produced 40,000 pounds of 
honey and increased to 500. Near Delmar, 
Frank Coverdale, one of the earliest advo- 
cates of the planting of sweet clover, has 
170 acres under cultivation. His apiary of 
300 colonies store most of their honey from 
this plant. After very careful study he 
estimates that an acre is worth from $3 to 
$5 for bees alone. Altho the yield varies 
at different times, he obtains a surplus 
every year. At Onawa 60 hives stored 
2,500 pounds of honey chiefly from sweet 
clover. Doubtless, in the near future the 
acreage in this State will be greatly in- 
creased. 

THE LIMESTONE HILLS OF KENTUCKY. 

Sweet clover has had a wonderful 
development on the limestone hills of 
northern Kentucky, and almost the entire 
territory of the three counties, Pendleton, 
Bracken, and Robertson, are devoted to its 
culture. Fifty years ago tobacco was grown 
on much of the land; in Pendleton County 
this was the chief agricultural industry. In 
this hilly country the fertile tho shallow 
surface soil was gradually washed away by 
heavy rains, and the eroded and often 
gullied fields became bare and unproductive. 
Farm after farm was abandoned, and in 
many instances sold for taxes. More than 
one-third of the population of Pendleton 
County moved away. Then sweet clover 
was introduced, apparently at first by 
beekeepers, and on the many limestone 
knobs and hills it found a most congenial 
home and multitplied apace, spreading in 
every direction. At first it was destroyed 
as a noxious weed likely to render the land 
even less valuable, but it outran the farmers 
and overran the fields. Gradually the soil 
was renovated and again became produc- 
tive. The farmers began to return, while a 
part of the abandoned farms were bought 
bv new settlers. Dairv farming and the 



740 



SWEET CLOVER 







Sweet clover m experiment plot, Lexington, Kentucky. 



sale of sweet clover seed brought great 
prosperity and comfort. In Pendleton 
County alone there are now 50,000 acres of 
sweet clover and half a million pounds of 
seed are produced annually, and thousands 
of dollars worth of dairy products are 
shipped every week. Land in this section, 
which was formerly valued at only $5 per 
acre, is today worth $10. 

Both the yellow and the white sweet 
clover are extensively cultivated. Begin- 
ning about the first of June there is a 
continuous supply of nectar until late in 
the fall. This barren section has become 
a fine country for bees, and in one county 
there are 4,000 colonies. Kentucky bids 
fair to produce more sweet-clover honey 
than any other State in the Union, for 100 
to 200 pounds to the colony are obtained. 
But indispensable as sweet clover is to bee 
culture, it is not always reliable even in 
Kentucky. In 1913 a beekeeper shipped 
131 colonies to Pendleton County on the 
first of July in time for the main flow 
from this honey plant. They failed to store 
a pound of honey, and it was necessary to 
feed them thru August and September. 
There was a severe drought during this 
season, and sweet clover will not yield nec- 
tar without sufficient moisture in the soil. 
In this same county, in 1914, there was an 
ample rainfall up to May 8. By May 15 



the yellow sweet clover was in bloom, but 
when the bloom faded about June 1 not a 
pound of honey had been gathered from it. 
Following a heavy rain white sweet clover 
bloomed about June 15, but a hive on 
scales during a month and a half showed 
a gain of only about five pounds. For the 
balance of the season the bees depended 
chiefiy on buckberry. 

While this experience may be excep- 
tional, sweet clover is not always a certain 
yielder, but varies in different localities and 
under different conditions like most other 
honey plants. The secretion of nectar is 
greatly infiuenced by the amount of water 
in the soil; it is more reliable, perhaps, in 
Alabama and Mississippi than anywhere 
else. 

THE SWEET CLOVER BELT IX ALABAMA AND 
MISSISSIPPL 

In this section sweet clover is found 
chiefly on the limestone hills and knoUs of 
central and western Alabama and north- 
eastern Mississippi, where the soil is thin 
and poor in humus. No other crop suc- 
ceeds so well on this limestone soil, which 
in three years it deepens and improves so 
much that the land may be profitably useu 
for general farming purposes. In addition 
to renovating the fields, it prevents the 



SWEET CLOVER 



741 



washing of hilly land and is excellent for 
fodder. In the black soil of the prairie 
section of these States alfalfa is chiefly 
grown. While sweet clover grows spon- 
taneously in the limestone section, it has 
not extended to any great extent to the 
clay soil immediately adjoining; and so 
sharp is the line of demarkation that the 
abundance of sweet clover on the limestone 
soil and its absence from the clay soil a 
few feet away has often been remarked. 
Thousands of acres are in bloom in June, 
July, and the larger part of August. The 
larger part of this area has been occupied 
by beekeepers, but along the line between 
the two States for 100 miles north of 
Meriden there are many good locations. 
The apiaries range from 140 to 170 colo- 
nies, and frequently 200 and rarely 500 
colonies are found in a single yard. At 
Fitzpatrick there are 900 colonies in 11 
apiaries, which are devoted chiefly to the 
production of bees and queens. One hun- 
dred pounds per colony seems to be a fair 
average, and there is a well-authenticated 
record of 100 pounds per colony being 
stored for 10 years in succession. No re- 
ports of sweet clover failing entirely have 
been published. The farms are highly im- 
proved and there are many evidences of 
general prosperity. While sweet clover is 
the main reliance of the beekeeper, other 
honey plants are tulip tree, black gum, 
locust, and white clover. 

Sweet clover grows along the rocky por- 
tion of the east coast of Florida, but in the 
interior the soil is deficient in lime. In 
Texas the seasons are so dry that none of 
the clovers grow well except sweet clover. 
It is abundant in the northeastern part of 
the State in various places, and there are 
great areas of waste land that could be 
planted with it to advantage. In many 
localities, where there are intervals in the 
season without any bloom, it would be most 
helpful. In the west and southwest parts 
it is too dry except along the streams. In 
Louisiana sweet clover in the majority of 
cases does not succeed well. 

IN THE WEST. 

Sweet clover has not received as much 
attention in the West as in the East, and 
in the arid sections will not grow without 
irrigation. In many States it is still re- 



garded largely as a weed, especially where 
irrigation is practiced, and the water car- 
ries the seed upon the alfalfa fields. In 
the Great Plains region it is extensively 
cultivated in the States of Oklahoma, Kan- 
sas, Nebraska, and Dakota. In Nebraska 
there are many scattered fields, but it is 
not planted as continuously as in Ken- 
tucky or Alabama. In the eastern part of 
the sandhill district it has greatly improved 
the quality of the soil and increased the 
yield of hay. Since its introduction there 
has been an increase both in the quantity 
and quality of the honey. In Kansas at 
Garden City there are about 3,000 acres of 
white sweet clover, the owner preferring it 
to alfalfa. At Augusta one farmer prefers 
the yellow variety since it blooms earlier 
by about two weeks, and the bloom lasts 
until the second crop of alfalfa is in full 
flower. 

In South Dakota the future of sweet 
clover is believed to be most promising. It 
is already cultivated over a section extend- 
ing more than 200 miles north of Sioux 
City, Iowa, and is rapidly spreading north- 
ward and westward. It is expected that 
soon it will cover a million farms in the 
Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana, and that 
this region will support thousands of colo- 
nies of bees and produce millions of pounds 
of honey. The opportunities for beekeep- 
ing in South Dakota deserve careful con- 
sideration. 

In Colorado and Utah sweet clover is 
grown to a limited extent. In the irri- 
gated section surrounding Ferron, Utah, 
tliere are many farmers who are enthusias- 
tic in its praise. There are extensive areas 
of sweet clover in Colorado, but usually 
on land which can not be used for other 
agricultural purposes; from 70 to 100 
pounds of honey per colony may be ob- 
tained. There seems little probability that 
in the Rocky Mountain region sweet clover 
will displace alfalfa. It is rapidly spread- 
ing in central California and is common in 
moist valleys northward. 

AS SOIL IMPROVER. 

Its power of renewing the fertility of 
eroded ground has been suggested. By its 
vigorous growth and the decay of the large 
roots it will replace humus where it has 
been weathered awaj'-, and by its power of 



742 



SWEET CLOVER 



taking" nitrogen from the air will bring up 
in fertility poor, run-down soils. 

The plant takes nitrogen from the air by- 
means of the nitrogen-gathering bacteria 
which inhabit nodules about the roots. This 
adds more nitrogen to the soil and makes 
possible the growth of other plants. The 
bacteria which inhabit the root tubercles of 
sweet clover and alfalfa are identical, or at 
least capable of living on either plant, and 
for this reason sweet clover is valuable as 
a pioneer crop for alfalfa, insuring proper 
inoculation of the soil. 

Besides, the large fleshy roots of the 
biennial sweet clovers store up a great deal 
of plant food the first year of growth, in 
order to get an early and running start in 
the spring of the second year. This supply 
of food, not altogether used up, goes back 
to the soil on the death of the plant, adding 
to and enriching the humus. 

The roots vjeing fleshy instead of fibrous 
decay more rapidly and so has'^^^n the in- 
crease of fertility. Their rapid decay 
moreover releases the stored-up nitrogen 
about the ends of the rootlets sooner than 
in the case of roots of the true clovers. 

The exceeding rapidity of the decay 
makes plowing an easy operation — much 
easier than plowing an old alfalfa field. 

In contrast to the other legumes which 
gather nitrogen in the same way but which 
need considerable humus, sweet clover 
thrives where humus is quite absent. This 
emphasizes its value as a pioneer crop. 

The long taproots, piercing the lower 
layers, make way for roots of other crops 
which are not able to penetrate where the 
ground has not been broken up. The con- 
tinual growth and decay of the heavy roots 
slowly converts sand into fertile soil. 

Where it is planted as a fertilizer, the 
application of manure or straw will help it 
to get a start and will hasten the Avork of 
soil restoration. 

" It is best to delay the sowing of other 
grass two or more years after the sweet 
clover has been seeded. Areas should not 
be pastured, but the sweet clover allowed to 
fall down and form a surface mulch. On 
badly eroded areas, sweet clover and the 
yellow locust form an excellent combina- 
tion."* 

Sweet clover's valuable power of soil 
renewal the Ohio Experiment Station sums 

* Ohio Experiment Station, Circular 129. 



up as follows : "It belongs with the clovers, 
and it may be used to improve the land on 
which it grows. This appears to be its 
mission. It occupies lands which have 
become unfit for good growth of other 
forage plants. Its rank then is as a useful 
forage plant, capable of increasing the 
fertility of land." 

RUN-DOV^N LAND RESTORED. 

One of the most characteristic examples 
of this service to the land is its work in 
alkali regions of Colorado. In some places 
irrigation and the growth of alfalfa for a 
number of yeai-s had forced the alkali out 
of the earth and on to the surface. The 
alfalfa roots, piercing the layers of the 
subsoil, brought up saline and other depos- 
its which in turn destroyed the life of the 
plants. 

Nothing but a kind of salt grass could 
be made to grow. Whole farms and towns 
were deserted. Finally farmers accidentally 
discovered that sweet clover would grow 
where nothing else would, that cattle could 
be pastured on it successfully, and that it 
could be used for hay or harvested for the 
seed. 

Finally — and this is most important — 
the alkali deposits on the surface and in 
the subsoil somewhat began to disappear. 
Now alfalfa again is grown. The crops are 
rotated with sweet clover and the soil 
maintained in its fertility. 

Lands of this nature, formerly unfit for 
alfalfa, corn, or wheat, now yield immense 
crops of all three. In some cases the value 
of farms in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, 
Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and Mon- 
tana, where sweet clover has been grown, 
has risen nearly 50 per cent. 

Sweet clover has transformed King 
Island, off the coast of New South Wales, 
from an island of useless sand dunes into 
one of the best grazing regions in the 
commonwealth. Sown on white beach sand, 
sweet clover changed the character of the 
soil until at the end of five years much of 
it had become dark brown in color, and in 
some places almost black. Each year it is 
improving the value of the land. At 
present the export trade of King Island 
consists of fat cattle, dairy produce, and 
horses, and by far the most extensively 
used fodder is sweet clover. 



SWEET CLOVER 



743 



^ 




^^r^i 



Frank Coverdale's field of sweet clover with cattle grazing on 



In northern Kentucky, farms in Pendle- 
ton, Bracken, and Robertson counties had 
been planted in tobacco for a century. It 
was once the custom, when the soil gave 
out entirely, to allow the tobacco lands 
to grow up in brush for six to ten 3'ears, 
and then to plow and plant again. During 
the years of abuse, this heavy waste seemed 
to be necessary. 

By some means, sweet clover was intro- 
duced, but for a long time was fought as a 
weed. Finally farmers began to realize its 
value. The old soil, tobaccoed almost to 
death, received new vigor. 

Today sweet clover flourishes in those 
counties. Land which formerly brought 
from five to ten dollars an acre is worth 
from forty to sixty dollars. At that time 
farmers were abandoning their homes and 
seeking employment in the cities. They did 
not have the means to buy suitable cloth- 
ing. At present there is on deposit in the 
banks of Pendleton County money aggre- 
gating over $100 per capita, most of which 
belongs to the fanners. 

AN EXCELLENT PASTURE. 

As a pasture, sweet clover is very satis- 
factory. According to an analysis by the 
Wyoming Experiment Station, it does not 
differ greatly from alfalfa in food content. 



Altho cattle will sometimes refuse grass 
in order to feed on sweet clover, it is 
sometimes a little difficult to get them to 
acquire an appetite for its rather bitter 
leaves. For this reason it is sometimes a 
little difficult to get them started. To cre- 
ate this appetite, they should be turned into 
the field early. 

"A man prominently identified with live- 
stock interests in the Middle West once 
told me that no self-respecting animal 
would eat sweet clover. I wish he could 
see my steers today," wrote C. E. Gapen in 
the Country Gentleman, interviewing W. P. 
Graham, an Illinois sweet-clover grower 
and authority. 

Mr. Graham pastures three head of 
cattle to the acre with success, instead of 
the traditional " one head to the acre." He 
maintains, by the way, that sweet clover is 
a better soil renovator than alfalfa. 

For pasture for cattle, seeding it with 
timothy or any of the native grasses gives 
best results. The sweet clover acts as a 
nurse crop for the timothy. The former is 
richer in protein and the latter in carbo- 
hydrates, two constituents as necessary in a 
stock ration as in human. Then, too, if one 
fails, the other is likely to take its place. 

In pasturing hogs, an acre of sweet 
clover will do for about twenty shoats. A 
superior pasture is secured by seeding with 
oats on good ground. These fields will 



744 



SWEET CLOVER 





'i'^-T^\t-?c-m^ix'&^ 



HoL'-s pitstnrcd 



field of whife swcef 



near Dclniar, Iowa. 



provide an immense feed for two seasons, 
and, if enough is left to reseed itself, the 
pasture will be perpetual. 

In regard to this, Mr. Coverdale, the 
authority already mentioned, says: 

SWEET CLOVER FOR HOG PASTURE. 

Nine years ago I sowed a sixty-acre field 
to white sweet clover, and also a forty-acre 
field. Altho* the plants started, not a single 
one lived until winter, and the whole under- 
taking was a failure because of the poor and 
impoverished condition of the soil. Many 
others around here lost their seed in the 
same way. The tables have turned, however, 
for we are now securing perfect stands of 
this legume, as shown by the picture of one 
of my neighbor's fields. His hogs enjoy a 
continued feast, and they keep it down to 
about six inches high by continual brows- 
ing. My neighbor has a field of alfalfa ad- 
joining this, and he has been changing the 
hogs from one to the other, but he is much 
better pleased with the results from the 
sweet clover, as it is so much more hardy. 
He has now bought seed to change his alfalfa 
field into sweet clover, as the alfalfa won't 
stand being pastured. A few more farmers 
in this neighborhood have secured seed, and 
will have hog pastures just like this one. 

The field sown is identical with our own, 
especially our hog pasture. I have come to 
the conclusion that every farmer can and 
should have a hog pasture like it. Every 
one around here who has come to my knowl- 
edge is very enthusiastic over the success, and 
is securing new supplies of seed to be sown 
next spring. This fact speaks louder than 
any other. My seed is all sold. 



One authority advises mowing the second 
season, if the white clover threatens to get 
too tall and grow woody. The guards on 
the mower should be turned very high in 
order to prevent killing any of the plants. 

No injurious effects on the stock can be 
noticed. On the contrary, it prevents bloat 
in cattle. After feeding it a number have 
reported that their cattle were troubled 
very little with digestive disorders. 

"At one time when we fed our three 
Jerseys for several weeks on sweet clover 
and bran, we decided that it made a little 
nicer butter than anything else." This is 
from J. A. Green, Boulder, Col. 

Care should be taken in pasturing stock 
on sweet clover that they do not crop it so 
closely that it has no chance to bloom. 
They should be given a field so large that 
the plants will be able to reseed themselves. 
Fortunately the plant, particularly the yel- 
low biennial, is not easily discouraged. 

VALUABLE FOR HAY. 

Hay made from the sweet clover when 
the plant is in the right stage of gTowth, 
and properly cured, some farmers think 
equal to the best quality of hay from the 
cowpea vine or any of the clover family. 
It does not bring as much on the market 
per ton as clover or clean timothy, but it 
is often used instead of these. 



SWEET CLOVER 



745 




Sweet clover harvested for seed by a self-binder. 



The quantity of hay to the acre is re- 
markable. The Utah Experiment Station 
found in 1892 that sweet clover produced 
more than double the yield of the clover 
and grasses compared with it. Other sta- 
tions have reported phenomenal yields. 

Veiy complete directions for handling 
sweet clover for hay have been given by 
Frank Coverdale of Delmar, Iowa, who is 
perhaps the best authority on sweet clover 
in this country.- 

SWEET CL0^'ER AS A HAY CROP. 

When I first began to grow sweet clover I 
had little thought of ever using it for a hay 
crop: but as time passed I began to see that 
it would answer very well as a dry feed. We 
experimented with one patch, and, contrary to 
what I had expected, a fine hay crop of 
superior quahty was secured. This first field 
that we tried had been sown about the first 
week in May, and had been pastured to hogs 
until August, when all hogs were taken off. 
By October 10 the sweet clover stood 22 
inches high, and then the mower was started. 
Just as soon as the hay was well wilted (but 
not dry enough to put in barns) it was raked 
into windrows and shaped into well-formed 
small cocks. These cocks, by the way, were 
just large enough so that they could be 
thrown on the rack in one good fork-load all 
at one time. This avoided scattering the 
leaves, which are as valuable as so much 
wheat bran. From this the reader will see 
the importance of putting up the hay so that 
it is not too dry when handled. All the 
handling, in fact, should be done while it is 



green and tough, when it can be gotten into 
cocks before any leaves will be scattered 
around. It should stand in cocks until it is 
sufficiently cured to keep in the mow. We 
have always found that this clover has kept 
well when managed in this way. 

White sweet clover is the worst of any of 
the clovers that I know of to scatter its 
leaves when overdry; and the leaves being 
thick and meaty are surpassed by those of 
no other legume. A dairyman is lucky who 
has a good winter supply of first-year sweet- 
clover hay for his cows. 

The cocks referred to will stand many 
rains and still be very good feed. The 
authors have had sweet clover exposed to 
rainy weather for several weeks after it had 
been cut. After it stopped raining it was 
gathered up and put into the barn. Strange 
to relate, the cows and horses, after all this 
wetting down, preferred it to good timothy 
hay. Sweet clover sheds water better than 
common clover, and it has a smooth stem. 
The common red clover, because of its hairy 
stem, holds moisture, and quickly turns black 
and becomes unfit for feed. I have been 
happily surprised to find that this first-year 
hay cures the nicest of any that I have ever 
made. 

I know of no other clover that can be 
depended upon to make a good hay»crop the 
same year as sown. It has often been tall 
enough to mow in July; but at this time it 
would be very dangerous to mow it unless 
care were taken; for as yet there are no 
crown sprouts started; and if one mows the 
clover close to the ground in July, much of 
it will be killed outright. On this account, 
if one wishes to mow the first clover in 
July, or before the crown sprouts start, the 



746 



SWEET CLOVER 



machine must be set so as to cut high enough 
to leave stubbles that have a few leaves to 
make a start for the next crop. When the 
crown sprouts are started, the mower may 
be run close to the ground with perfect 
safety. These crown sprouts on the first- 
year crop will be seen close to the roots after 
removing about an inch of dirt. This is the 
reason, by the way, why this clover will not 
winterkill. The crown sprouts are about an 
inch below the surface of the ground, so that 
a covering during the winter is a certainty — 
a point of vast importance to one who is de- 
pending upon this clover the coming season. 

MAKING HAY FROM SECOND-YEAR GROWTH. 

Handling the second-year growth is, per- 
haps, a more difficult problem, as the clover 
gets very rank early in the season before 
good curing weather arrives. In this respect 
it is just like alfalfa. We have never dared 
to try to cure the hay until along in June; 
but at the same time every effort that we 
have made has been successful; we have 
never yet made a forkful of poor sweet- 
clover hay. With the improved variety of 
white sweet clover that we now grow, I am 
not sure but that we might cure the hay 
even as early as the first of June. If we 
could do this, the problem of making hay 
from second-year's white clover would be 
solved, and two good cuttings could be easily 
made during the second year, and a seed crop 
secured late in the fall. 

There are many ways in which this clover 
can be handled for hay. One plan, which is 
very successful and easily carried out, is to 
wait until the clover is in bloom, and just 
beginning to form seed. This is just before 
the leaves begin to show yellow. While the 
foliage is still on, go over the field with a 
self-binder and set in shock rows, two and 
two. These bundles will cure nice and green, 
and wUl dry very quickly. They should be 
hauled and stacked like oats until winter, 
when the bands may be cut and the bundles 
thrown in the mangers for any kind of 
stock. It wiU keep perfectly dry if well 
stacked, and will make very satisfactory feed. 
The binder should be run high enough to 
leave behind a stubble which contains a few 
leaves, otherwise it will die out. If the 
leaves are left on, a nice crop of seed of 
excellent quality can be cut later in the fall. 

Another plan is to pasture the second-year 
clover with some kind of live stock until late 
in May or the first of June. The hay will 
then be just about right in good hay weather, 
and can be made just as tho it were a 
first-yea* crop. The stubble should be left 
high, as shown on the preceding page. It will 
be seen that some of the clover in the picture 
has not been cut well. In explanation, I 
will say that, just before we started to cut 
this hay, a new pitman arm had been put on 
the mower, and it drew the sickle too far 
one way, and hardly cut at all on the return 
stroke. If this had not been the case, there 
would have been a smooth top. 



The cocks of hay shown were out in twc 
showers, but nothing was colored except the 
outside. The middle cured to perfection, and 
went to the barn as green as tea leaves. 
This field was mown when just coming into 
bloom, and the stubble grew up and made a 
seed crop. 

The reader may be interested to know that 
clover of any kind in this part of Iowa was 
very rare last year, as severe drouth had 
killed all other clovers except a little alsike 
here and there. Sweet clover grew as tho 
there had been no drouth. 

An Alabama farmer who owns 640 acres 
grows 160 acres a year of oats and sweet 
clover, and cuts the combination crop ex- 
pressly for hay. He says the hay when 
baled and marketed in Birmingham, Ala., 
sells readily at $15 a ton. 

Sweet clover should be cut as soon as the 
first blossoms appear. If left longer, the 
stems become woody and a great many 
leaves fall off w^hen it is cured. The mower 
should be started in the morning as soon as 
the dew is off. Great care should be taken 
to prevent sun-burning as this destroys its 
palatableness and nutritive properties. 

Sometimes the plants are high enough 
in May for mowing; but since hay cannot 
be cured at that time, the field may well be 
used as pasture until haying weather comes. 

Care should be taken against feeding too 
much of the hay. Stock may become 
cloj^ed and go " off feed." 

Sometimes, just as in pasturing on sweet 
clover, it is a little difficult to get stock 
started to eating it. The taste for sweet 
clover is an acquired one. By moistening 
the hay with brine they can usually be 
made to eat it. This should no more be 
urged as an objection to the use of sweet- 
clover hay than the fact that western cattle 
will sometimes refuse corn is an argument 
against the use of corn as a feed. 

Cut while young and tender the fall of 
the first year, sweet clover may be put into 
silos just as corn. During the winter it 
may be fed to stock just as other silage. 
In 1914 W. P. Graham of Ogle County, 
111., fed steers with 70 tons of sweet clover 
which he had put up in a tile silo. 

SEEDING SWEET CLOVER. 

At almost any time of the year the plant 
may be sown and will mature, on account 
of the hard seed coat which makes germina- 
tion slow. 



SWEET CLOVER 



747 



In December, January, February, and 
March the seed may be sown broadcast on 
the snow or on ground honej-combed by 
frost. Spring rains soften the seed coat 
and bring about germination in the spring. 
Spring sowing is the plan most popular in 
northern Kentucky where sweet clover 
makes its greatest success. 

Sowing in March allows the seeds to be 
covered by the rains and alternate freezing 
and thawing. 

Spring sowings take place in April or 
May. At that time it is covered lightly 
and the soil fii-med with a roller or drag. 
Some authorities believe this spring sowing 
the best, all things considered. 

In a country where the winters are mild, 
seed maj^ be planted in the fall. Part of 
the clover comes up before winter but the 
growth is not so heavy the second season 
since the roots do not have time for devel- 
opment. What seed fails to germinate 
during the fall usually does so in the 
spring. 

Alfalfa must be sown between Aug. 15 
and Sept 1 for proper development before 
winter, while sweet clover maj" be delayed 
as late as Oct. 1 with fair results. This 
makes it possible for sweet clover to be 
planted in fields in which crops are too 
late in maturing to admit of alfalfa. 

One of the peculiar characteristics of 
sweet clover, and one which, more than any 
other, has caused difficulty in its cultivation 
is its demand for a hard seed bed. Farm- 
ers have often been amazed to see the 
apparent ease with which the plant will 
appropriate railroad banks and flourish 
without any care whatever; yet in their 
own fields where it is planted as a forage 
crop it would do only indifferently. 

SOWING SWEET CLO\^R WITH OATS. 

With regard to this, Mr. Coverdale, 
already referred to, says : 

Secure from a druggist a few sheets of lit- 
mus paper. Stick a spade three inches into 
moist surface soil; withdraw the blade and 
put in a sheet of blue litmus paper and press 
the soil tightly against the paper for ten 
minutes. After removal, if the litmus paper 
has turned pink, lime is needed for best re- 
sults. However, if there is only a slight pink 
color on the paper, it is possible to get along 
u-ithout the lime. 

In either case, Early Champion oats is the 
best varietv to seed with. Sow a third less 



than the usual seeding of oats. It is a pretty 
good plan to inoculate the seed. I prefer 
the glue and dust method when it is done 
right. Select some soil three inches under 
the surface, where sweet clover has grown 
for years. Dry it in a cellar — not quite dry, 
but so it will pulverize nicely. Moisten the 
seed well with glue water that is just a little 
sticky when put between your finger and 
thumb. Mix thoroly, allowing all the dirt 
possible to hang to the seed. I have had 
the best results by sowing this inoculated 
seed by hand, because in this way the dirt 
sticks to the seed, whereas a seeder rubs and 
grinds it loose. None of the extras need be 
put on where sweet clover has been growing 
in late years. Do not allow the sunlight to 
strike the seed before covering. 

It will pay to make a seed bed on the 
surface, cultivating it quite well, as the white 
sweet clover always makes a stronger growth 
on such prepared land. It is always the 
poorly cultivated as well as the corners that 
are missed that do the poorest. 

If the soil cuts in well, one good harrow- 
ing will be sufficient. If not, double and 
harrow. It probably would not pay to plow 
unless the land is a tough sod. I always 
plow such fields with good results, and secure 
a good deal of seed or hay the first season. 

If one does not want to disk or plow the 
ground, I would advise sowing the seed in 
iSIarch just as the snow is going off. 

NEEDS A GOOD SEED BED. 

A good seed bed is necessary. Otherwise 
plants will be heaved out by the frost in 
the winter intervening between the first and 
second seasons of growth. Just enough 
loose earth should be placed on top to 
cover it. 

Frank Coverdale gives some valuable 
notes on seeding : 

" Sow sweet clover on ground well pre^ 
pared, on a good mellow seed bed. A sod 
field that has been plowed the previous fall 
is best of aU. Spring-plowed sod is all 
right, and will answer nearly as well, and 
will work into a good seed bed. Where the 
rainfall is sufficient, harrow the seed in 
shallow. But in arid sections a drill is best, 
putting the seed sufficiently deep to insure 
moisture enough to make sure of a good 
crop. 

" Sweet clover sown on such ground will 
grow a heavy crop of nodules on its roots; 
and by the end of the second season this 
ground will be thoroly inoculated, and can 
be depended upon for all time to come for 
routine methods, as these bacteria will live 
in the soil for several vears. 



f48 



SWEET CLOVER 



"A good stand of alba is usually sure 
when sown on land that would grow 60 
bushels of corn per acre, and a nurse crop 
sown with it of barley, wheat, or early oats, 
seeded somewhat thinner than usual. After 
the ground is inoculated from growing pre- 
vious fields, a fair cutting of excellent hay 
can be mown in October after the grain has 
been harvested, making a crop of small 
grain and a cutting of hay the same 
season." 

SWEET CLOVER — SOWING THE SEED AMONG 
GROWING CORN. 

Considerable has been written in various 
farm papers in regard to sowing sweet- 
clover seed in cornfields just after the last 
cultivation. Ordinary broadcast seed- 
sowers cannot be used, because the corn- 
stalks and leaves are so much in the way. 
It has been several times suggested that 
sowing the seed while going thru the corn 
on horseback would answer better; and 
no doubt this plan is giving fair results. 

About three years ago a machine was 
advertised for the express purpose of 
sowing clover and other seeds between the 
rows of corn. One was purchased and 
given a trial with excellent results. This 
machine has some cultivator teeth to work 
the seed into the soil. We had a splendid 
stand of sweet clover, sown 1916. We also 
had a splendid catch in a field of corn 
where the corn was about ready to cut. 

The only trouble with the machine for 
sowing is that it sows more seed than is 
needed ; and there is no way of controlling 
the amount of seed very accurately. The 
cultivator teeth work well; and with the 
rains we had after the seed was sown, it 
seemed that almost every seed had germ- 
inated. As a result, there were about four 
times as many plants as were needed be- 
tween the rows of corn. 

The machine for sowing is a revolving 
cylinder made of galvanized iron, and the 
whole thing is pulled by a horse. 

SWEET-CLOVER STRAW AFTER THRASHING OUT 
THE SEED. 

Horses and cattle after they get a taste 
of sweet-clover hay will eat the dry stalks 
from which the seed has been thrashed; 
and even after these dry stalks have been 



out in repeated rains, so that any other 
kind of clover or hay would be ruined, the 
sweet clover seems to be hurt but very 
little. 

INOCULATION. 

Sweet clover is unable to grow without 
the help of nitrogen-gathering bacteria in 
nodules about the roots. These bacteria, if 
they do not already exist in the soil, must 
be placed there with the seed. The process 
of starting the growth of the proper bac- 
teria is what is known as inoculation. The 
bacteria are usually present on lands where 
sweet clover has been grown before. 

Inoculation may be accomplished easily 
by gathering soil from about the roots of 
roadside sweet clover, moistening the seed 
with a thin solution of commercial glue, 
and mixing a few handfuls of the soil with 
a peck of seed. Unless the seed is thoroly 
dried it may spoil. 

Another form of the soil-transfer method 
is to scatter between two and three hundred 
pounds of soil to the acre, the soil taken, 
from a field in which the plants show an 
abundance of tubercles on the roots. The 
government bulletin suggests that the seed 
be mixed with a small proportion of the 
soil and the remainder of the soil scattered 
broadcast and immediately harrowed in. 

The work should be done on a cloudy 
day or during the evening, or else the soil 
in which the bacteria are growing should 
be turned under before the sun's rays have 
time to penetrate the particles. Sunlight 
destroys bacteria of all kinds. 

The soil may also be inoculated by the 
pure-culture method. A bottle of the pure 
culture of the proper kind of bacteria is 
opened and mixed with water. This solu- 
tion is then mixed with the soil and the 
soil distributed over the field immediately 
after it has dried. The drying should be 
done in a shaded room away from the 
sunlight. This gives the sun no chance to 
kill the bacteria in the seed. 

MAKING MORE SEED GERMINATE. 

One of the great obstacles which have 
been found hitherto to the successful grow- 
ing of sweet clover has been the uneven 
germination of the seed. At the price of 
sweet-clover seed this has been indeed a 
fault. Some farmers have reported decided 



750 



SWEET CLOVER 




White sweet clover. 



success in getting a stand while others have 
hardly been able to get a fair amount. 

Sweet clover often grows apparently of 
its own free will in the most unexpected 
places, but efforts at starting it have been 
hindered by the lack of germinable seed. 
This has been due not to the infertility of 
the seed itself, but to the hardness of the 
cellulose case which surrounds the germ. 

Sweet clover shares this fault with 
alfalfa and the true clovers. A large 
proportion usually fails to come up the 
first year and much of it never sprouts at 
all. In the wild state it has its advantages 
where seed falls in September and October 



and does not sprout until spring. B}^ that 
time the rains and freezes have softened 
the seed coat so that moisture can get thru. 

Several schemes for reducing the loss 
due to difficult germination have been tried 
with varying success. 

In the national bulletin on sweet clover 
directions are given for soaking the seed in 
commercial concentrated sulphuric acid for 
half an hour, a plan which has been suc- 
cessful, altho somewhat dangerous. The 
acid eats away the impermeable seed coat 
sufficiently to enable the seed to absorb 
enough moisture to germinate. Tests made 
in the Department of Agriculture gave an 



SWEET CLOVER 



751 



increase in germination of 40 to 45 per 
cent. 

After the acid is poured off, the seed 
should be quickly washed, using running 
water if possible, as sulphuric acid becomes 
very hot when mixed with a small propor- 
tion of water. The seed should then be 
dried out quickly by spreading it on a 
board or canvas and stiiTing at intervals 
of two or three minutes. 

Since sulphuric acid bums flesh and 
wooden objects, great care should be taken 
in working with it. Vessels used for treat- 
ing the seed should be of earthen or 
enameled ware. 

After testing, seed should preferably be 
planted at once, as it has a tendency to 
dry out. Where the air is not too dry, 
however, it may be held two weeks or a 
month if necessary. 

A new but highly promising method 
consists of scratching sweet-clover seeds 
in what is called the Ames hulling and 
scarifying machine, brought out in April, 
1915, by the Iowa Experiment Station. By 
its use the germination of legume seeds is 
reported, after extensive tests, to be in- 
creased to over 90 per cent. 

The first machine of this efficiency was 
constructed in December, 1913. No an- 
nouncement was made at that time, how- 
ever, in order to allow time for field tests, 
comparing treated and untreated seed, in 
addition to extensive germination tests. 
A large number of plots were seeded on 
the station field in 1914, comparing treated 
and untreated sweet-clover seed from vari- 
ous sources. In a large number of cases, 
stands which were, if anything, too thick, 
were secured from the treated seed, when 
the same seed planted at the same time, 
but not treated, failed to produce any stand 
at all. 

The machine as constructed has a capacity 
of approximately 25 bushels per hour, and 
requires about four-horse power to operate 
it. It is estimated that it can be put on the 
market at a price not to exceed $90 to $100. 

The construction of the machine repre- 
sents eight years' work on the part of 
H. D. Hughes, Chief of Farm Crops at the 
Iowa Experiment Station. 

During the spring of 1914 and 1915 
several thousand pounds of sweet-clover 
seed were treated for individual farmers. 
A farmer for whom the station treated some 



3,000 pounds of seed in the spring of 1914 
states that the seed germinated approxi- 
mately 50 per cent when sent to Ames, but 
germinated 98 per cent when returned. 

Another reports using 5 pounds per acre 
of treated seed, from which he secured a 
perfect stand, while the usual rate of seed- 
ing ranges from 15 to 20 pounds per acre 
with many failures and uncertain stands 
resulting from poor germination. 

HOW MUCH TO sow. 

The amount of seed to sow to the acre 
depends upon what purpose the sweet clover 
is grown for. Moreover, the promising 
invention described above is likely to make 
necessary a revision of the estimates usually 
given. 

Not less than 20 pounds of unhulled seed 
and not less than 12 .to 15 pounds of the 
hulled should be sown to the acre. Ordi- 
narily 20 to 30 pounds of the hulled and 
5 pounds more of the unhulled are advised. 

For sowing on waste lands, about one 
bushel to six acres is enough. Altho the 
plant spreads rapidly, it is well to sow 
enough to insure a good stand. To secure 
continuous growth, sow the second year 
also. 

Can sweet clover be gotten rid of after 
a crop has been grown, and small grains 
sown the next year? This is a question 
which has worried farmers wherever the 
plant is being introduced. One reported 
that he had planted wheat the spring fol- 
lowing a crop of sweet clover in the same 
field, and that the clover has choked out the 
wheat. The experience is unusual, to say 
the least. 

The best crop to put in immediately 
following sweet clover is corn. The effect 
of the sweet clover will be noticed only in 
increased growth of the corn, sometimes 
as much as 20 bushels heavier than on land 
not previously planted in sweet clover. 
Sometimes corn is grown two years in 
succession, and then followed by wheat. 
Xo trouble with smothering is reported. 

The farmer need fear no difficulty in 
getting rid of sweet clover after he' has 
once sown it. The fact that the plant 
grows abundantly along the roadsides and 
seldom appears in cultivated fields, is evi- 
dence that it can be easily destroyed if 
necessarv. 



752 



SWEET CLOVER 



Another point on which there is question 
is the amount of sweet-clover seed to be 
mixed with oats in seeding them together. 
Some sow 10 pounds to the acre, others as 
much as 20. A good average is 15. 

Care must be taken in mixing the seed in 
the drill, and in not having so much in at 
once that the clover will work down under 
the oats in the drill-box. This would mean 
uneven proportions in the field. With care 
the seeding can be made even. Hulled 
sweet clover is more satisfactory in such a 
mixture, since some of the unhulled is not 
likely to come up the first year. 

Rye and spring barley are other crops 
often sown with sweet clover. The grain 
is harvested while the clover is coming on, 
and the field used for pasture or for hay 
after the grain has been taken off. 

Here is where sweet clover again is 
superior to alfalfa. • Grow oats, wheat, or 
barley as a nurse crop and you get the 
grain besides, but best results with alfalfa 
are obtained by planting alone. 

There is no better way to fit a piece of 
ground for alfalfa than to seed in sweet 
clover, cut off a crop of hay the first season, 
and plow under the second season when 
the clover is about a foot tall. Cultivate 
with a drag and harrow until the first of 
September. Then seed in alfalfa. This inoc- 
ulates the soil for alfalfa besides fertilizing 
the ground By the addition of humus. 

GROWING FOR SEED. 

Before harvesting sweet clover for seed, 
it is always best to take a cutting of hay 
first. Much better seed and shorter, fiiner 
straw will result. The crop should be har- 
vested like oats with a self-binder about the 
time most of the seed is showing black. 

In moving, care must be taken to prevent 
shattering of the hulls. A canvas covering 
for the hayrack will save what drops off. 

For thrashing small amounts of the seed, 
an old-fashioned flail or similar primitive 
instrument will do. But for larger amounts 
the thrashing machine is necessary. The 
process results in a lot of broken stalks 
and leaves being mixed with the seed. 
These can be removed with a fanning mill. 

MORE VIRTUES OF SWEET CLOVER. 

Among minor merits of this all-around 
plant is the tendency of wild sweet clover 



to drive out weeds. Growing luxuriantly 
in waste places and reseeding itself, it will 
even choke out the dreaded Canada thistle. 

On the other hand the plant is not hard 
to get rid of, as suggested above. When 
the land is broken up, the plant is gone. 
Pasturing the land so no seed matures has 
the same effect if kept up one or two 
summers. 

Add to these advantages its freedom 
from pests, both insect and fungous. A 
species of aphis has been reported but no 
appreciable damage noticed. The absence 
of enemies is one of its most peculiar 
characteristics, partly explained by the 
presence of cumarin, the bitter element in 
the leaves. 

SWEET CLOVER AS A COVER CROP. 

In many parts of the West, in some of 
the large orchards sweet clover is used as 
a cover crop — that is to say, the ground 
under the trees is harrowed when sweet 
clover is sown in the regular way. As soon 
as it reaches two-thirds of its growth it is 
plowed under. In a similar way red clover, 
alsike, and other clovers are sown and 
plowed under. When alsike and red are 
used, the clover is often allowed to come 
into bloom. If the trees are sprayed at 
this time, the nectar in the clover will be 
poisoned and bees that gather it will be 
killed by the thousands. (See Fruit 
Bloom, subhead " How the Spraying of 
Cover Crops Kills the Bees." On the other 
hand, sweet clover will come into bloom, 
especially Melilotus indica, when the trees 
are not sprayed. It grows rapidly, and, 
when plowed under, makes excellent fer- 
tilizer. 

IN summary. 

While much information has had to be 
omitted from this article enough evidence 
is in to show that sweet clover is one of 
our most valuable forage plants. Long 
despised as a weed, sweet clover is rapidly 
breaking down prejudice and ignorance 
and taking the place it has long deserved. 
" The new sensational grass " it has been 
called. Sweet clover is new in the sense 
that only lately has its full value been get- 
ting recognition. 

As a soil renewer, it is unexcelled. As 
pasture and for hay, it is nearly equal to 



TEMPERATURE 



753 



alfalfa in feeding value. As a honey plant, 
furnishing nectar over a long season, it is 
unsurpassed. These are not the sole merits, 
onlj^ a few of them. Within this sketch it 
has been possible to suggest only some of 
its characteristics and its value. 

In the preparation of this subject the 
following authorities have been consulted: 



Lloyd, W. A., Sweet Clover. Circular 
No. 129, Ohio Agricultural Exp. Station. 

Root, A. I. The Truth about Sweet 
Clover. A. I. Root Co., Medina, 1913. 

Westgate, J. M., and Vinall, H. N. 
Siceet Clover. Farmers' Bulletin 485, 
U. S. Dept. Agric, March 12, 1912. 

Also files of Gleanings in Bee Culture. 



T 



TEMPERATURE.— In bee culture, tem- 
perature is one of the most important fac- 
tors with which the beekeeper has to deal. 
The more nearly he can hold it to the exact 
point the better he will be able to bring 
about certain desired results in the busi- 
ness. 

Under the heads of Ventilation and 
SwARMixG it is shown how the bees keep 
down the internal temperature of the hive 
during hot weather by an elaborate scheme 
of forced ventilation. One set of bees, by 
means of a vigorous fanning of the wings, 
force air into the hive; and another set, 
working in collaboration, drive foul and 
heated air out. Under Mo\^xG Bees^ the 
importance of giving plenty of ventilation, 
by means of wire screens to keep down the 
internal temperature of the hive, is shown. 

Under the head of Bottling Honey it 
will be seen that temperature plays an 
important part in preventing the granula- 
tion of liquid honey. If it is too high, the 
delicate flavor of the honey will be injured. 
If it is too low, granulation will take place 
soon. 

Under Wintering in Cellars^ refen-ing 
to the temperature of the cellar it 
is explained that, in order to get the best 
results, the temperature should show not 
below 40 nor above 60 degrees F. In 
some cellars 45 degrees gives the best re- 
sults; in others, 50; and still others, 55. 

THE temperature OF THE CLUSTER IN 
WINTER. 

Up to the year 1911 various erroneous 
notions were current. Some authorities 



stated that the internal temperature of a 
colony in winter was blood heat; that 
when the cluster was broken into, no mat- 
ter how cold the day, the individual mem- 
bers would rush out, apparently just as 
active as at any time during the summer. 
Others held that bees went into a winter 
sleep, somewhat analogous to a condition of 
semi-hibernation or even perfect hiberna- 
tion. 

Still others maintained that bees during 
winter could and do go into a state approx- 
imating death; that they had broken into 
their clusters and found them lifeless ; had 
carried them into the house and put them 
near a stove, and found that they soon 
revived and flew about the room as lively 
as ever. From this they argued that bees 
were like ants in that they went into a 
state of perfect hibernation. This, of 
course, is a mistake. 

Others, again, held that the winter tem- 
perature of the cluster dropped down to 
about 60 degrees F. and remained at that 
point until the weather warmed up, when 
the bees would arouse. 

The fact is, there is truth in all of these 
assertions. The different observers had 
taken the temperature of the clusters at 
different times during the winter and under 
different conditions. The temperature of 
the honeybee cluster varies all the way, 
according to conditions, from 32 F., which 
would shortly result in death, to 97, which 
would be summer temperature. Whenever 
the cluster is chilled thru, so that each 
individual member of it is stiff and cold, 
and apparently lifeless, that cluster of bees 



754 • 



TEMPERATURE 



will die soon, unless the weather becomes 
warmer. If one were to dig down into 
such a brood-nest and find such a condition, 
he would naturally argue that bees hiber- 
nate like ants and flies. 

There was quite a school of beekeepers 
who, in the early days, argued in favor of 
reducing the surrounding temperature until 
the bees were chilled thru, because they said 
that in such a state they would consume 
almost no stores. Unfortunately for this 
argument experience shows that in a chilled 
condition bees cannot live more than a week 
or ten days. Any time within that period 
they may or may not be revived by placing 
them in a warm room. If a cluster is 
chilled clear thru in an outdoor colony, and 
it warms up outside enough so that the 
internal temperature of the hive reaches 
between 60 and 70, the bees may revive, 
move to the portion of the brood-nest where 
their stores are, and may, if the winter is 
not too severe from that time on, live thru. 

When the conditions are such that a 
cluster will chill thru during the middle or 
early part of the winter, the owner may 
rest assured that the bees will die. When 
he comes to open up the hive in the spring 
he will find a perfectly formed cluster with 
every bee dead. 

On the other hand, when a colony is 
properly housed, and strong enough, there 
will be no danger of the cluster chilling 
thru. It behooves the apiarist, therefore, 
to have strong colonies and then place them 
in a good cellar or in warm double-walled 
hives or packing-cases. See Wintering 
Outdoors and Wintering in Cellars. 

When one desirous of getting the tem- 
perature of a colony of bees during mid- 
winter thrusts a common thermometer down 
into the cluster, he is misled. In an hour 
or two after inserting the instrument he 
will probably find the mercury standing at 
about 97, for breaking into the hive and 
thrusting something down into the cluster 
of bees arouses them so that the tempera- 
ture rises rapidly till it reaches 97. He 
concludes that the temperature of the win- 
ter cluster is 97, for has he not seen it with 
his own eyes'? 

If, again, he were to put a dairy ther- 
mometer into the center of the cluster, 
allowing the upper part of the instrument 
to project thru the packing material, and 
•allow it to stand, be would get a more 



correct reading, but not until the bees have 
gone back into their quiescent state previous 
to their disturbance. They might never go 
back; but in most cases a temporary dis- 
turbance does no harm, and a cluster of 
bees will resume its normal course. If in 
a day or two after the insertion of the 
thermometer the cover is lifted gently so as 
not to disturb the bees, and if the thermom- 
eter sticks up thru the packing, so that it 
is not necessary to uncover the cluster, a 
fairly correct reading may be secured, pro- 
vided the cluster in the meantime has not 
moved. The temperature may then show 
as low as 57. If it is lower, the bees will 
proceed to raise the temperature of the 
cluster in a manner that will be explained 
later. 

In this connection it should be stated 
that the common mercurial thermometers 
are not always correct; and, what is more, 
it is not always possible to place them so 
that they will be in the exact center of the 
cluster; and even when they are so placed, 
the bees may move from one portion of the 
brood-nest to another. As fast as stores 
are consumed in one portion the cluster 
will move to a fresh supply, provided it is 
not too cold. 

It is not difficult, with these general 
facts before us, to understand how various 
observers have been deceived in forming 
conclusions in regard to the temperature 
of the honeybee cluster during winter. It 
is also very evident how one might jump to 
the conclusion that bees hibernate like ants. 

It was not until the Bureau of Entomol- 
ogy, Washington, D. C, attacked this prob- 
lem in 1912, 1913, and '14 that the matter 
was definitely cleared up. Dr. Burton N. 
Gates, then Apicultural Assistant in the 
Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C, 
made a series of experiments in determin- 
ing the temperature of a colony in winter. 
His investigations are described in Bulletin 
96, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
These experiments were carried on further 
by Dr. E. F. Phillips, Apicultural Investi- 
gator in the Bureau, and by Geo. F. 
Demuth, as given in Bulletin No. 93, De- 
partment of Agriculture. Dr. Gates worked 
with mercurial thermometers, but because 
of the limitations of these instruments he 
was unable to carry his work to a finish. 

I^illips and Demuth conducted a series 
of experiments in wintering bees in a con- 



TEMPERATURE 



755 



stant-temperatnre room at the University 
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, during the 
winters of 1912 and 1913 and 1913 and 
1914. Several colonies variously prepared 
were placed in a constant-temperature 
room, where the temperature was held by 
means of coils of pipes containing a brine 
solution — much the same apparatus that is 
used in cold-storage plants. On the roof 
of the building containing this room there 
were placed several colonies of bees where 
the conditions of outdoor- wintered colonies 
could be observed. A series of electric 
thermometers, or " thermo couples," were 
placed in these colonies in the room before 
mentioned, and in colonies on the roof out- 
doors. By an elaborate system of wiring, 
these electric thermometers were connected 
to an observation room in the building, 
entirely separate and distinct from the 
constant-temperature room. Here Dr. Phil- 
lips, with his assistant, could follow with 
the greatest precision the temperatures of 
every part of the hive and clusters of the 
several colonies inside and outdoors. 

By these temperature readings it was 
possible to determine the exact state and 
size of the cluster, when it moved, and the 
various reactions that took place as the 
result of feeding, disturbance, and the 
rising and lowering of the temperature 
outside the hives. The purpose of using 
electric thermometers was to avoid the 
disturbance incident to the use of 
mercurial thermometers that require the 
entering of the bee-room and the opening 
of the hive to get the readings. Moreover, 
it would be practically impossible for an 
observer to stay in a bee-room with a 
temperature of 42 F. day and night, taking 
readings every fifteen minutes; and even 
if he could do so, the constant disturbance 
would naturally cause a rise of temperature 
that would be above the actual normal of a 
colony not so molested. 

The outside-wintered colony had 19 elec- 
tric thermometers, with connections to the 
observation room below. Bees were placed 
on the roof early in November. From then 
until along in March the inside and outside 
temperatures were taken. It was learned 
that the temperature within the cluster is 
far from being uniform, as is generally 
supposed by beekeepers. "At the temper- 
ature at which other insects become less 
active (begin hibernation) the honeybee 



becomes more active, and generates heat — 
in some cases until the temperature within 
the cluster is as high as that of the 
brood-nest in summer." During the fore 
part of the readings in November and 
December the internal temperature of the 
cluster of this outside colony had a tendency 
to drop, as the outside temperature went 
down, until it reached 57 F. At that point 
the reaction took place; that is, the 
generation of heat began, and from this 
point it began to rise in spite of the fact 
that the outside temperature continued to 
drop. The cluster heat continued to rise 
until the center of it registered nearly 90 
degrees. After the coldest outside temper- 
ature was reached, the outer air began to 
get warmer, and simultaneously the tem- 
perature of the cluster began to sag. 

Dr. Gates tried these experiments at an 
earlier period, as reported in Bulletin No. 
96, and discovered a similar inverse ratio; 
but he did not find the exact point at which 
the colony temperature ceased to drop with 
that of the outside. Dr. Phillips and Mr. 
Demuth learned that this point is 57 F. 
When the colony is without brood, and the 
bees are not flying, the bees generate 
practically no heat until the coolest point 
among the bees reaches a temperature of 
57 F. "At this point the bees begin to 
form a compact cluster; and if the 
temperature of the air surrounding them 
continues to drop, they begin to generate 
heat." Between 57 and 69 F. the bees do 
not do much in the way of heat generation. 

Apparently, it is desirable to have the 
surrounding temperature at such a point 
that the internal temperature of the cluster 
will not go below 57 nor above 69 ; but, as 
will be shown, the questions of food and 
syrup are additional factors to be consid- 
ered. 

Attention will now be directed to the 
colonies, or one of them at least, in the 
constant-temperature room, where the 
mercury was kept at about 42 or 43 degrees 
F. " This temperature was chosen as being 
nearly the one generally considered best by 
beekeepers." There Avere two colonies — one 
fed on honey stores and another on an 
inferior grade of honeydew honey, that 
are particularly mentioned in the bulletin. 
Colony No. 1, fed on honey stores, was in a 
constant-temperature room for 163 days, 
during which readings were taken hourly. 



756 



TEMPERATURE 



At first the internal temperature of the 
cluster according to the chart hovered 
around 64 and 68. It rose gradually clear 
thru the winter. The colony fed on honey- 
dew stores showed a higher temperature at 
the beginning; when up to about 76 F. it 
began to take a sharp rise, going up to 91 
above, and on Nov. 23 the temperature 
began to show a sharp drop, the line 
running down as low as 48 on Dec. 10, 
when the colony died. Clearly the poor 
food caused uneasiness by reason of the 
accumulation of fecal matter that the bees 
could not digest, and the uneasiness caused 
activity; and activity called for a greater 
consumption of stores. The one condition 
operated against the other, finally ending 
in the destruction of the colony. The other 
hive fed on good honey pursued its normal 
course thru the season. 

It is interesting to observe that the nor- 
mal temperature of the cluster of the col- 
ony fed on good stores only gradually 
increased, and this increase was doubtless 
due to the slight accumulation of feces. 
This accumulation was markedly less than 
that in the case of the colony on honeydew 
stores, not because the bees became uneasy, 
but in proportion as the feces increased, 
the activity and temperature of the colony 
increased. This increase was not enough, 
however, to cause the death of the colony, 
but did cause 'a slight reduction in the force 
in the spring. These observations explain 
the importance of good food — a food that 
will not clog the intestines. It also ex- 
plains a common cause of dysentery. 

Phillips and Demuth also discovered that 
the length of the life of bees either during 
summer or winter depends on the activity 
of the bees. The greater the activity, the 
shorter the term of life. 

They also found that when brood-rearing 
commences or is in progress, the tempera- 
ture of the cluster will rise to about that 
of summer or spring. This was to be ex- 
pected, of course. 

During these experiments a remarkable 
thing was learned — namely, that there can 
be, and actually is, activity inside of a 
cluster of bees during winter. When the 
temperature of a cluster goes down to 57, 
and the outside temperature surrounding 
the hive is dropping, the bees by actual 
muscular exercise can raise the tempera- 
ture of the cluster. This activity m^y con- 



sist of a few bees tugging at each other, 
moving their bodies back and forth, or 
actually fanning with their wings. One bee 
may set up an active fanning inside the 
cluster during the dead of winter. Bees 
actually fan to cool themselves in summer 
and to warm themselves in winter, para- 
doxical as this may seem. 

It is difficult to comprehend that bees 
can warm themselves up by exercise, like 
their owners; and the idea that their little 
electric fans, so to speak, can raise the 
cluster temperature as well as cool it seems 
at first ridiculously absurd; but that it is 
true the author proved to his entire satis- 
faction by the experiments he conducted 
during the winter of 1914 and 1915. He 
used a hive that had double glass sides. 
The bees were compelled to form their 
winter clusters against these sides. It was 
thus possible to watch the internal move- 
ments that actually took place inside, and 
what was seen was indeed a revelation. 

Various observers have opened up clus- 
ters of bees in midwinter, and found the 
bees inside in many eases as active as they 
ever are. Also thermometric readings have 
sometimes shown the temperature nearly 
the same as during the summer. In the 
light of the observations taken by the Gov- 
ernment, it is very easy to explain this, not- 
withstanding that there are times when the 
temperature of the cluster is below 60 to 
70. One has only to remember that, when 
the inside temperature of the cluster goes 
as low as 57, the bees raise the temperature 
of the cluster even tho the outside tem- 
perature is becoming colder and colder. 
The presumption is that, when the cluster 
is large enough, they keep up these " daily 
exercises " in order to keep the cluster 
warm. A prolonged cold spell, especially 
that down to zero, is nearly always disas- 
trous to good wintering. This cold weather 
puts the bees in the cluster in a state of 
activitj^; and activity causes an abnormal 
consumption of stores, with no means of 
voiding their feces, and then dysentery 
follows; hence after a prolonged spell of 
cold weather that has lasted for weeks, we 
commonly find evidence of dysentery. 

At the close of this bulletin the authors 
make the statement that " bees in winter, 
either in cellars or outdoors, should be 
disturbed as little as possible." This is a 
yen^ natural conclusion; yet for two or 




Box hive turned v^isuie <i'>\vn preparatory to drumming out tlic bees. 



three winters back we have had good results 
in making increase in cellars by pursuing 
just the opposite policy. We fed bees on 
hard candy, and disturbed them as much as 
possible. This caused brood-rearing and 
increase at times when the temperature of 
the cellar was 55 to 60. While this mode 
of wintering is not advocated for novices, 
and while such increase is not made with- 
out some corresponding disadvantage, we 
know we have made increase in the cellar; 
but we advise the average person to follow 
Dr. Phillips' advice. Fussing with bees in 
the cellar is usually attended with disaster; 
but that does not argue that the expert may 
not pursue the practice to advantage. 

THISTLE.— See Canada Thistle. 

TITI {Cyrilla parvifolia Raf.). — Iron- 
wood, leatherwood, and red titi. An ever- 
green shnib, 6 to 10 feet tall, growing in 
swamps and along streams in northern 
Florida. The leaves are oblong, leathery, 
shining green above but paler below. The 
flowers are numerous, small, white, and in 



racemes, appearing in February and 
March. As the weather is very likely to be 
unpleasant during the blooming period, 
very little surplus is obtained from it. The 
amber-colored honey is reported to be 
rather strongly flavored and good mostly 
for bakers' use. A surplus is obtained 
only in the extreme northwestern part of 
the State. 

C. racemiflora (L.), or ivory bush, is 
also found in wet land in Florida, but is 
more widely distributed, extending north- 
ward to Virginia and westward to Texas. 
The white flowers open in May and June. 
In middle Georgia it is not a very sure nor 
abundant yielder, but it is valuable as it 
comes at a time when there is little else for 
the bees to work on. The honey is dark 
amber with a good body and a mild flavor, 
which is, however, more pronounced when 
it is first gathered. 

Black titi {Cliftonia monaphylla (Lam.) 
(Britton), also called buckwheat tree and 
ironweed, is a small evergreen tree growing 
in pine swamps from Florida to Louisiana. 
In southern Georgia it is very abundant 



i:'RANSFERRINa 




Drumming bees up into the empty box, 

along streams. The fragrant small white 
flowers appear in March and April. A 
small quantity of honey of fair quality is 
obtained. 

TRANSFERRING. — This term might 
mean moving bees from one yard to an- 
other, or bees from one hive to another. 
In the strict technical sense, however, it 
means moving bees from box hives, log 
gums, or straw skeps into modern movable- 
frame hives. The usual process involves 
*-he act of cutting the combs out of an old 
fiive and fitting them into movable frames, 
after which they are placed in an up-to- 
date hive. When one by purchase or other- 
wise acquires a lot of old gums, he must 
transfer them into modern hives before he 
can do anything. To do this he must pro- 
vide himself with as many hives, with a 



full equipment of frames, as he has gums 
or old box hives to transfer. He will need, 
in addition, a hammer, a coldchisel, a fine- 
toothed saw, some tacks, a ball of string, a 
big butcher-knife, a small box a little larger 
than the top of the gum, and a large board 
or cover on which to place the combs when 
cutting them to size to fit the frames. He 
will also require a pail of water in which 
to wash his hands and tools every now and 
then, as they will become intolerably sticky 
with honey. 

HOW TO TEANSFER. 

A little smoke should be blown into the 
entrance of the gum or box hive, which 
is then lifted off its stand and a modern 
hive put in its place to catch the returning 
bees. The old hive should now be turned 
upside down, and smoke blown down be- 
tween the combs, after which the small box 
(above referred to) is placed over. The 
operator should now, with a couple of 
sticks or clubs, drum on the outside of the 
gum. If it is an old log he can use a 
couple of hammers. This drumming should 
be kept up incessantly until all or nearly 
all the bees have crawled up into the empty 
box placed on top. This should now be 
emptied in front of the entrance of the 
new hive. The sides of the old gum are 
now removed with cold-chisel and hammer ; 
and the combs, the largest and best of 
them, are cut out with the long-bladed 
knife and laid in a pile. Every now and 
then the tools and the hands will have to 
be washed in the pail of water. 

The next problem is to cut the best of 
the pieces of comb so they will just fit in 
the frames. This is best accomplished by 
laying a slab of comb on the board or 
hive-cover, and over it a frame. The knife 
is next drawn along next to the inside of 
the frame, marking its exact size and shape 
on the comb. The frame is lifted off, when 
the comb is trimmed to the 'required size 
and fitted into the frames. Care should be 
taken to cut the comb large enough to make 
it a snug fit. If it is a loose fit it is 
advisable to wind a string around the frame 
and comb, going around it two or three 
times, and then tying; but if the work is 
done properl.y the combs will not need to 
be fastened. 

No comb, unless large enough to fill a 
frame, and unless it contains brood, should 



TRANSFERRING 



759 



be inserted in the frame. It is a question 
whether it pays to use good worker comb 
unless it contains brood. Certainly all 
irregular pieces, and all drone comb of any 
size whatever, should be rejected and 
melted up into wax, as it does not pay to 
fuss with them. Small pieces of comb 
containing worker brood should be saved, 
and a series of them placed on the board 
and fitted together as tightly as possible. 
A frame should be laid over the pieces and 
the exact size marked. The surplus on all 
sides is then trimmed away, and the frame 
slipped over the pieces. It will take con- 
siderable care in handling this patchwork 
of comb to keep the pieces from falling 
out. The board should be lifted to a 
vertical position and then deftly pulled 
away. A string may now be wound around 
the frame in such a way that the several 
strands will come opposite the small pieces, 
holding them in place. After the brood has 
hatched out, such comb should be rejected. 
Some prefer to use narrow strips of 
w^ood instead of string for fastening the 





Fig. 1. — Removing one of tlie i 



pieces of comb in the frames. Wooden 
separators such as are used in comb honey 



can be cut up into narrow strips and tacked 
to top-and bottom-bars of the frame and 
across the face of each piece of comb. The 
frame is then turned the other side up 
w^hile another set of strips is tacked to the 
other side. The comb may now be put in 
the hive. As soon as the bees have fastened 
the pieces to the frame and to each other, 
the string or strips of wood should be 
removed; otherwise, some brood will be 
destroyed. The string is preferable to the 
strips of wood for the reason that the bees 
will remove the former if the apiarist neg- 
lects to do it. 

All scraps of every sort, as soon as they 
are cut out of the hive, should be dumped 
into a closed box or hive to keep them away 
from robbers ; and each comb, as soon as it 
is fitted into a frame, should be put into 
the new hive on the old stand. At the close 
of the work everj^thing should be washed 
clean to prevent robbing. See Robbing. 

If all combs are rejected unless they 
contain worker brood, there will be extra 
space in the new hive. This should be 
filled either with good combs from other 
hives, or with frames of foundation. It is 
usually poor policy to try to save any 
combs in a box hive unless they contain 
icorker brood. 



760 



TRANSFERRING 




Mike Wall, Tempe, Ariz., and pile of odd-sized frames from which he had cut the comb and fitted them into 

Lang^troth frames. 



In the directions already given, no men- 
tion is made of the possibility of robbers 
" interfering *' with the " operations." If 
the work is performed at a time when no 
honey can be secured, robbers would enter 
into a free-for-all help-themselves proposi- 
tion, and in the course of a few minutes 
there would 'be a general uproar, and the 
bees cross enough to drive every one off the 
premises. The beginner should understand 
that, when he undertakes to transfer, he 
should be careful to prevent a general rob- 
bing fracas, else he may have a damage 
suit on his hands from some irate neighbor 
whose children, horses, or cattle have been 
stung. Where there are no other bees in 
the yard or immediate vicinity, there will 
be no danger of robbing, and Mr. Beginner 
can proceed without fear of molestation. 

The danger of robbers brings up the 
question of when to transfer. 

WHEN TO TRANSFER. 

Usually the best time to do this work is 
in the spring during fruit bloom when the 
combs are light and without much honey, 
and when the bees will work on the bloom 
rather than rob. Transferring can be done 
at any time when there is a honey flow on ; 



but if it is undertaken during or following 
the main honey harvest the combs will be 
very heavy and awkward to handle. 

When, however, one desires to transfer 
at some particular time, irrespective of 
robbers, he can take the whole equipment, 
bees and all, into a screened building. The 
objection to that procedure is that the bees 
will get all over the building and on the 
windows, many of them wearying them- 
selves to death in trying to get out. A far 
better way is to use a large cage, such as is 
illustrated under Robbing. The new hive 
and the old one, including all the tools, 
should be crowded on as small an area as 
possible. The operator is then to pick up 
the cage and set it over the whole, with 
himself inside. If he proceeds carefully he 
can do the work of transferring with the 
help of an assistant on the outside to hand 
him the necessary tools for the completion 
of the work. 

A SHORT WAY OF TRANSFERRING. 

A little before swarming time the top of 
the box hive is pried off, and a single-story 
hive containing empty combs is placed on 
top. All joints between the two hives are 
made tight. After the queen starts laying 



TRANSFERRING 



761 




Transferring not impossible for women to undertake. Brushing the few remaining bees from the combs in 

the old box hive. 



in these combs a large portion of the bees 
will soon move up into it. After brood- 
rearing is well under way the upper story 
with its movable frames is lifted off and 
placed on the stand occupied by the box 
hive. In the mean time much of the brood 
from the latter will have hatched out, and 
what remains can be cut out and fitted into 
the frames as already described. The rest 
of the bees are either drummed out or 
smoked out of the old hive and the old 
combs are melted up. 

THE GUERNSEY METHOD OF TRANSFERRING. 

This is very similar to the one already 
described. An uppper story with a full set 
of empty combs is placed on top of the old 
box hive after the top has been pried off. 
As soon as the queen takes possession 
above, which can be determined by the 
presence of eggs, a queen-excluding honey- 
board is slipped between the two hives. In 
21 days, or as soon as the brood is hatched 



out of the combs in the old hive, the upper 
story is lifted off, the box hive is removed, 
and the upper ston^ with a bottom-board 
is placed on the old stand. Any bees left 
in the old gum maj^ be drummed out, after 
which the remaining combs can be put in 
a solar wax-extractor, which separates the 
honey and wax; or the old hive can be set 
to one side, when the bees will rob out the 
honej' left in it, after which the combs can 
be cut out and melted up. The objection 
to letting the bees rob out the honey is the 
danger of bee disease. 

THE HEDDON SHORT WAY OF TRANSFERRING. 

This is a plan that has been used consid- 
erably and preferred by many, because it 
does away with all robbing, the messing up 
of hives and tools, and leaves nothing but 
perfect combs built from full sheets of 
foundation in the hive in which the trans- 
fer is made. Combs built from foundation 
are much superior to those made out of 



762 



TRANSFERRING 



t- 





¥K\ 



r\ 



V'.-. 



Method of transferring- as c; 

f)ieces and fitted into frames by the old 
plan. The plan of procedure in detail is 
as follows: 

The old box hive is moved back four or 
five feet, when the new hive, with a full set 
of combs or foundation, is put in its place. 
The old hive is turned upside down, after 
which about two-thirds of the bees are 
drummed into a small box placed above, in 
the manner already explained. In doing 
this drumming it is important that the 
queen enter the box. This can be deter- 
mined by dumping the bees from the box 
in front of the entrance of the new hive. 
By watching carefully, it can be seen 



:-ried out 



1'. D. Tuwnsend. 



whether the queen goes in. If she is not 
discovered, more bees are drummed out of 
the box hive, and the second lot is dumped 
in front of the entrance. If the queen is 
found this time the old box hive should be 
given enough bees to take care of the 
brood. It is then turned right side up, and 
put two feet back of the new hive with its 
entrance turned in the opposite direction. 
It is allowed to stand for 21 days, at the 
end of which time all worker brood will 
have hatched out, and nothing will be left 
but a little drone brood. All bees in the 
old box hive are drummed out in front of 
the new hive having an entrance-guard. 



TULIP TREE 



763 



The combs in the old hive are melted up, 
and the hive itself burned. 

At the time of making the second drive 
after all the brood has hatched it would be 
advisable to smoke both lots of bees before 
uniting them, otherwise there may be con- 
siderable fighting. See Uniting. 

If there is no choice between the young 
queen which will be in the old box hive, and 
the old queen in the new hive, the entrance- 
guards will not be needed. One queen will 
kill the other. Generally the younger and 
better one will survive. 

There is one objection to the Heddon 
method. If it is practiced during or after 
the honey season, combs in box hives may 
be heavy with honey. They can be ex- 
tracted in an ordinary extractor, or they 
can be put into a solar wax-extractor; or 
still again they can be put into a wax- 
melter, described under the head of Ex- 
tracted Honey and under Wax^ when the 
honey and wax can be separated, the wax 
going into one compartment and the honey 
into another. If the work is done right, 
the quality of the honey will not be affected 
very much, or at least not to be noticeable. 

TRAVEL-STAIN.— See Comb Honey. 

TULIP TREE (Liriodendron tulip f era 
(L.). — Other vernacular names are white- 
wood and yellow poplar from the varying 
colors of the wood, canoe wood from the 
use made of it by the Indians, and saddle 
tree from the arrangement of the leaves in 
the bud. This magnificent tree belongs to 
the same family as the Magnolia, and 
among American deciduous-leaved trees is 
surpassed in size only by the plane or 
buttonwood, to which it is superior in 
symmetry and in the attractiveness of its 
foliage and flowers. Its height is usually 
from 60 to 90 feet, but in favorable locali- 
ties it may grow 140 to 180 feet tall, with 
a diameter of 4 to 12 feet. Michaux meas- 
ured a tree near Louisville, Ky., which at 
five feet from the ground was 22^/2 feet in 
circumference and exceeded 120 feet in 
height. The tulip tree is one of the hand- 
somest of American ornamental trees, 
growing in a conical form, offering an ex- 
tensive shade, and putting forth in May or 
June an immense number of large greenish- 
3^ellow flowers. The peculiar-shaped leaves 
easily distinguish it from all other forest 



trees. They are four to six inches long, 
4-lobed, with the end abiTiptly truncated 
or broadly notched and have a smooth 
bright-green surface. The bark, which is 
broken into large flat ridges, has a very 
bitter taste and was used by the Indians as 
a remedy for intermittent fevers. 

The slightly fragrant bell-shaped flowers 
are two inches long, solitary and terminal. 
The calyx is composed of three oval con- 
cave sepals of a pale-greenish color, which 
finally become reflexed. There are six 
large yellowish-green petals, each of which 
is marked at the base with an irregular 
crescent-shaped bright orange-yellow spot. 
The stamens are numerous with short flla- 
ments. In the center there is a cone-like 
mass of pistils (carpels). The seeds are 
winged and form a dry cone 3 inches long, 
which falls apart in autumn. The flowers 
are very frequently visited by bees and 
also by humming birds. 

The tulip tree is found in woods from 
New England and Michigan southward to 
Florida and Mississippi and westward to 
Arkansas and Missouri. It is especially 
common in Virginia, Carolina, Kentucky, 
Tennessee, and Georgia. It succeeds best 
in a rich loamy soil such as is found in 
river bottoms and on the borders of 
swamps. 

The nectar may be seen in both large 
and small drops on the orange-yellow por- 
tions of the petals, on the inner side, which 
thus serve as both nectaries and nectar- 
guides. The time of blooming varies with 
the conditions of the weather from May to 
June, some years being very early and in 
others much later. When the blossoms are 
late in opening and the weather is warm 
and dry, the honey flow is very much 
heavier than when the bloom is early. Un- 
der such conditions there are few if any 
better honey plants than the tulip tree, and 
each flower will yield not far from a spoon- 
ful of nectar. When the flowers appear 
early in the season the flow is often inter- 
rupted by cold rains. The period of bloom 
lasts for nearly a month. A large quantity 
of honey is stored even when the trees are 
scarce, and one or two supers are often 
filled from this source alone. Where the 
trees are abundant there is little danger of 
overstocking, and it has been estimated that 
200 colonies could not take care of the 
nectar within their range. Unfortunately, 



764 



TULIP TREE 




Flower of tulip tree. 



there are today few such locations, and 
they are in regions difficult of access. 

The honey obtained from the tulip tree 
is bright amber when new, but it becomes 
darker with age and very thick, so that it 
closely resembles molasses. It is of fair 
quality, and is in good demand among 
those accustomed to it. While it does not 
command the highest prices it can be used to 
advantage in brood-rearing and increasing 
the strength of the colonies for gathering 
the more desirable honeys which come later. 
In Tennessee the first surplus is obtained 
from the tulip tree, which begins blooming 
during the last week in April or the first 
week in May. The yield is heavy, seldom 
fails, and lasts for about 25 days. The 
dark-amber honey is strong-flavored. In 
North Carolina it is found in all parts of 
the State except in the lowlands, and 
blooms from May 10 to 30, according to 
the location. In Georgia it is very common 



all over the State, blooming in April and 
yielding nectar abundantly. The honey is 
dark, thick and of inferior quality; but it 
is nearly always improved by an admixture 
of holly honey. 

The seed should be sown as soon as ripe 
in moderately dry fertile soil, and should 
be protected during the first winter. The 
wood is soft and fine-grained and is easily 
w^orked; it is usually nearly white but in 
some localities is yellowish. It shrinks 
badly in drying and consequently is not 
adapted to exposure to the weather. When 
dry it resists decay and is rarely attacked 
by insects. It may be used for sections 
and brood-frames, but is very unsatisfac- 
tory for hives. It is suitable for door pan- 
els and wainscotting and in the manufac- 
ture of carriages, furniture, and various 
small articles. As the wood is light and 
strong, the Indians built great canoes from 
it capable of carrying 20 persons or more. 



TUPELO 



765 



TUPELO OR GUM {mjssa).— The tii- 
pelos are the most valuable honey-produc- 
ing trees in Florida, not to say the entire 
United States. They are, at the same time, 
the most tantalizing. While the four native 
species are all clearly defined (tho some 
authorities claim that they hybridize), the 
duplication and complication of common 
names applied to the gums has given end- 
less trouble to those trying to classify these 
trees thru the local names only. 

Aside from the identification of the tupe- 
los by the characters of their respective 





Sprig of scrub tupelo, showing the shape of the leaves 
and blossoms. 



Scrub tupelo of Georgia. 

woods, they are readily distinguished by 
their botanical characters. There are four 
native species, as follows : 

1. Nyssa sylvatica (synonym Nyssa mul- 
ii flora), which is variously named black 
gum, sour gum, and pepperidge, is a high- 
land species, a large forest tree growing, 
at its best, from 100 to 150 feet high, in 
rich upland woods of northern Florida and 
westward. The leaves are small and entire 
— that is, are not notched or lobed. The 
bark of this gum, as it grows older, finally 
breaks into hexagonal blocks. This is the 
giant of the tupelos. 

2. Nyssa bi flora called locally water gum 
or water tupelo. It is very common in the 
estuarine swamps of the mouth of the 
Apalachicola and other northern rivers of 
Florida, but does not grow down to the 
river banks, perhaps because the water is 
too swift or too muddy for it there. It 
grows from 100 to 120 feet high, with a 
trunk diameter of from five to seven feet 
at base. Its favorite habitat is in swamps 
and on the margins of ponds, and it can be 
recognized by its bark, which is from % to 
1^/4 inches thick. 



766 



TUPELO 




TUPELO 



767 



3. Nyssa aquatica (synonym Nyssa uni- 
flora) is named, locally, tupelo gum, white 
tupelo, and cotton gum. This is, as its 
name implies, also a low-ground species, 
reaching a maximum height of 90 or 100 
feet in its best habitat; but in pine-barren 
ponds it is a small tree, a mere shrub, 
and is often taken for a different species 
by those not familiar with its habits. It is, 
when thus stunted, often called locally, 
"scrub tupelo." (The term "scrub" is not 
a definite nor accurate name.) It is occa- 
sionally found as far south as the middle 
of Florida, but is not of commercial im- 
portance except in the northern and west- 
ern part of the State, and thence on into 
Georgia and further. It has large leaves, 
which are usually irregularlj'^ toothed, with 
a bark comparatively smooth and thin, only 
about ^4 inch thick. The fruit, caUed 
drupes, is a dark purpie. This tupelo, with 
the following, is the source of the "tupelo 
honey" of commerce, and this special varie- 
ty is the greatest honey-producer of all the 
tupelos. 




Black tupelo or g^im with berries 



The country along the lowest part of the 
Apalachicola River is so thinly settled that 
the effects of civilization are hardly notice- 



able except for the removal of large quan- 
tities of cypress for timber by the lumber- 
men. Almost the only works of man that 
are visible from a boat, on this part of the 
river, are lumber camps and apiaries, the 
latter to take advantage of the abundance 
of fine honey secreted by the Nyssa aquat- 
ica and Nyssa Ogeechee. 

4. Nyssa Ogeechee (synonym Nyssa capi- 
tata), Ogeechee lime, black tupelo, and 
Ogeechee plum, is only a small tree, but 
grows in deep swamps from central Flor- 
ida to the north and west part of the 
State. It is of commercial importance, 
however, only in the northwest. The max- 
imum height of this species is about 60 
feet, usually much less, say 30 or 40 feet, 
and the bark is irregularly fissured. The 
leaves are large, and the drupes red and 
very acid. The stems of the leaves are 
short. The blossoms grow under the leaves. 
The honey is white and the body thin, much 
resembling that from cabbage palmetto. It 
comes into bloom in March, after the titi, 
but just before the Nyssa aquatica. 

Calhoun County, which forms the west- 
ern boundary of the Apalachicola River 
for many miles at its southern part, is the 
banner honey county of Florida, producing 
annually about one-third of the honey crop 
of the entire State. The source of this 
honey is the Nyssa aquatica and the Nyssa 
Ogeechee (commonly called "white tupelo" 
and "black tupelo)." These are the two 
great honey-yielding trees of the tupelos. 

There is a fifth species of tupelo, called 
Nyssa acuminata by Small, which appears 
only in Georgia, a mere shrub, growing 
not more than seven or eight feet tall. It 
has smooth bark, branches and twigs red, 
and tops spreading. The honey closely re- 
sembles that from the Nyssa aquatica in 
body and color, being white and thick, but 
having a greenish cast to it. It is often 
called " scrub tupelo," as are some forms 
of the Nyssa aquatica. 

The best honey of all is, as indicated, 
that from the Nyssa aquatica. It is white 
and verj^ thick and of delicious flavor. 
When unmixed with other honeys it will 
not candy. It deserves to rank with the 
four best honeys of Florida, and with any 
of the best honeys of the world. 

In the wonderful tupelo regions along 
the Apalachicola River in northwestern 



UNITING BEES 



Florida there has actually been produced 
nearly 2,000 barrels of honey, each contain- 
ing from 300 to 500 pounds, in a strip of 
territory not over 100 miles in length, and 
perhaps a mile or a mile and a half in 
width on each side of the stream. 

What about this honey? What is it? It 
comes mainly from the tupelo, both white 
and black. If one goes into southern Flor- 



ida, the local beekeepers will confidently 
assert that the palmetto is the finest honey 
produced in the State. In other regions 
they will say that mangrove carries off the 
palm; but when one goes into the north- 
western country the beekeeper will assured- 
ly assert that a pure white tupelo without 
other honey excels them all. It is of heavy 
body and very mild in fiavor. 



u 



UNITING BEES.— This term is used to 
refer to the putting together of two or 
three nuclei or weak colonies, either from 
the same yard or from other yards. The 
operation is just the reverse of dividing, 
in which process a colony is split up into 
several smaller units. See Dividing^ In- 
crease,, and Nucleus. 

When several families of bees are put 
together they may or may not quarrel, de- 
pending on circumstances. If the weather 
is warm, and the bees are hybrids or 
blacks, they may, at the moment of uniting, 
enter into a free-for-all fight. The result, 
unless stopped by the timely use of smoke 
may be almost the annihilation of one or 
both lots of bees. As a rule, even without 
smoke there will be no quarreling where 
gentle strains of bees like Italians are 
used; and even when they have these 
" family disturbances " they can be " ad- 
justed" very nicely by the use of a little 
smoke. Sometimes more smoke will be 
needed than at others, especially if the two 
lots of bees are of fairly good strength, and 
persist in stinging each other to death. 

There is another difficulty in uniting; 
and that is, that the old bees, if taken from 
the same yard, are quite apt to go back to 
the old stand. This is especially true if 
the uniting is performed during or imme- 
diately following a honey flow. Young 
bees that have never been out of the hive 
will stay where they are placed, and per- 
haps a majority of the old ones. 

If the several families to be united all 
have queens, no attention need be paid to 
them if there is no choice between them. 
If one is better than the rest, cage her 



after uniting and kill the others. This is a 
precaution. 

The old-fashioned black bees can be 
moved about from one part of the apiary 
to another with less trouble than the Ital- 
ians because the blacks will find their loca- 
tion better. But when uniting by the news- 
paper plan, this point need not be con- 
sidered. 

In these days, when out-apiary beekeep- 
ing is practiced on so large a scale, the 
weak colonies or nuclei of two separate 
yards can be united very easily without 
any returning. Where one finds, there- 
fore, a number of undersized or weak colo- 
nies in two or more of his yards, he can 
put the weaklings of one yard with the 
undersized or medium-strength colonies of 
another, thus bringing them all up to nor- 
mal strength either for honey-gathering in 
early summer or for wintering at the close 
of the season. See Building up Colonies. 

When there is only one yard of bees, as 
in most cases, one can unite even then if he 
will follow the directions here given. 

HOW TO PREVENT THE BEES FROM THE SAME 
YARD GOING BACK AFTER UNITING. 

After inclement or cool weather, during 
which the bees have been confined for sev- 
eral days, they may be united with little 
or no returning, when, if they have been 
going to the fields for nectar for several 
days, the old bees will be almost sure to go 
back. It is, therefore, advisable to wait 
for a spell of rainy or cool weather when 
the bees cannot fly much, during which 
time they will have been confined for at 



UNITING BEES 



769 



least four or five days. Then in the cool 
of the morning the nuclei can be moved 
to their permanent winter stands. At the 
moment of uniting it is advisable to use 
plenty of smoke, not only to avoid any 
possible fighting that may occur, but to 
disorganize them so that, when they seek 
flight from their new home, they will mark 
their entrance anew. It is also important 
to remove the old hives after taking the 
bees from them to unite with other bees. 

It very often happens that late in the 
fall one will have a lot of nuclei without 
any brood. If these should happen to be 
queenless, the bees of several of them can 
be shaken into a swarming-box and con- 
fined over night in a cellar or in a cool 
place. The intermingling of several fam- 
ilies of bees, and confinement in a box 
without combs, breaks up the old family 
spirit that formerly existed, and almost 
entirely eliminates all knowledge of the old 
home. This lot of bees can now be appor- 
tioned out to colonies that are not quite up 
to standard of strength as follows : 

In the cool of the morning, before any 
bees are flying, the box of bees should be 
taken into the apiary. Previous to this, 
all hives to be strengthened should be 
marked in such a way that the apiarist can 
at a glance determine how many bees he 
shall give to each individual stand. He 
approaches hive No. 1. The marking on 
the cover shows that it can take two dip- 
perfuls of bees. He gives the box a jounce 
on the ground so as to pile the bees up en 
masse on the bottom. If they are disposed 
to fly up, he wets them down with a little 
spray — just enough to dampen their wings, 
and thus impede their flight. Before they 
can crawl up on -the sides of the box he 
now scoops up a bunch of the bees with a 
little tin dipper and dumps them in at the 
front of the entrance. If the hive in ques- 
tion requires two dipperfuls, then two dip- 
perfuls of bees it gets; and so on he dis- 
tributes bees to every hive that needs them. 
As a matter of precaution, every hive 
receiving bees like this should have its 
queen caged for 24 hours at least, in such 
a way that the bees can release her by eat- 
ing out the candy or gnawing away the 
comb. As a further precaution, after the 
bees have been distributed in front of the 
various hives, an examination should be 
made in about 25 minutes to see that there 
25 



is no fighting between the new family and 
the old. 

By uniting in this way there have been 
accomplished two things — strengthening 
the colonies that are not quite up to the 
standard, and disposing of all the weak- 
lings in the apiary. If the box will not 
hold all of them at the first time, it can be 
filled the second or third time until all 
nuclei that are too weak to winter are 
cleaned up. 

There is still one more way of uniting 
to prevent bees returning, and this may be 
practiced even when bees are flying to the 
fields if the weather is not too hot. The 
moved hive with its bees is put on top of 
another with a single thickness of news- 
paper between. By the time the bees above 
gnaw a hole thru, some time elapses. The 
confinement and the gradual uniting of the 
bees thru the hole in the paper averts all 
fighting and all returning of bees to the 
old stands, says Dr. Miller. During hot 
weather there is danger that the bees in the 
upper story may suffocate, in which case it 
is advised to punch a hole thru the paper 
with a lead pencil. 

UXITIXG NEW SWARMS. 

This is so easily done that directions are 
hardly needed; in fact, if two swarms 
come out at the same time, they are almost 
sure to unite, and two such swarms are not 
likely to quarrel. One of the queens wiU 
very soon be killed, but the extra one may 
be easily found by looking for the ball of 
bees that will be seen clinging about her, 
very soon after the bees have been joined 
together. A swarm can, as a rule, be 
given, without any trouble, to any swarm 
that has come out the day previous ; and if 
one will take the trouble to watch them a 
little, he may unite any swarm with any 
other new swarm, even if it came out a 
week or more before. If inclined to fight, 
they should be smoked as before explained 
to make them be good to the new comers. 

UNITING BEES IX THE SPRING. 

As has been pointed out elsewhere, unit- 
ing two weak colonies in the spring is 
usually unprofitable. Uniting a weak to a 
medium colony is quite a different thing, 
as wiU be presently explained. When there 



770 



UNITING BEES 



are two little weak colonies, or nuclei, one 
having a queen, it would seem the most 
natural thing in the world to put the two 
together for additional warmth and to pro- 
vide a queen for all the bees; but, un- 
fortunately, theory is not here borne out 
by facts. One can unite nuclei in the 
spring; and while at the very time of 
uniting they will seem to make up a fairly 
good colony, yet in two or three days there 
will seem to be just about as few bees as 
there were before the uniting took place. 
This is because the moved bees go back to 
the old stand. 

A nucleus from an out-apiary can be 
brought home and united with a nucleus at 
the home yard, or at any other yard. There 
will be no returning of bees then, and the 
two clusters will stay together, sharing each 
other's heat and enjoying the privilege of 
having a queen over all. 

THE ALEXANDER PLAN OF UNITING WEAK 
COLONIES. 

During the year 1905, and again in 1906 
and '07, a good deal of interest was mani- 
fested thru Gleanings in Bee Culture in the 
Alexander plan of uniting a weak colony to 
a strong one in the spring. Many of those 
who followed the method were very success- 
ful. A few, however, failed. To these 
latter reference will be made later. The 
Alexander plan of uniting as carefully re- 
vised by Mr. Alexander himself is as fol- 
lows: 

ALEXANDER METHOD OF BUILDING UP WEAK 
COLONIES IN EARLY SPRING. 

About six or seven days after taking the 
bees from their winter quarters, pick out 
and mark all weak colonies, also the strongest 
ones, marking an equal number of each ; then 
all weak colonies that have a patch of brood 
in one comb about as large as your hand. 
Set all such on top of a strong colony with a 
queen-excluder between, closing up all en- 
trance to the weak colony except thru the 
excluder. Then there are those that are 
very weak that have only a queen, and per- 
haps not more than a handful of bees with 
no brood. Fix these last named in this way: 
Go to the strong colony you wish to set them 
over, and get a frame of brood with its ad- 
hering bees, being sure not to take theii 
queen ; then put the queen of the weak colony 
on this comb with the strange bees, and 
put it into the weak hive; leave them in this 
way about half a day; then set them on top 
of the strong colony where you got the brood 



with a queen-excluder between. Do all this 
with very little smoke, and avoid exciting the 
strong colony in any way. If a cool day, and 
the bees are not flying, I usually leave the 
strong colony uncovered, except with the ex- 
cluder, for a few hours before setting on the 
weak colony. The whole thing should be done 
as quietly as possible, so that neither colony 
hardly realizes that it has been touched. When 
the weak colony has been given some b:food, 
and put on top in this careful and still man- 
ner, hardly one queen in a hundred will be 
lost, and in about 30 days each hive will be 
crowded with bees and maturing brood. Then 
when you wish to separate them, set the 
strongest colony on a new stand and give it 
also some of the bees from the hive that is 
left on the old stand, as a few of the working 
force will return to the old location, especially 
if they are black bees or degenerate Italians. 

In every case that has come to my notice 
where this method has been reported a fail- 
ure it has been from one of two causes — 
either lack of brood in a weak colony to hold 
the queen and her bees in the upper hive, or 
smoking the strong colony so that, as soon as 
the weak one was set on top, the bees from 
below would rush up and sting every one 
above. Therefore avoid using smoke or doing 
anything to excite the strong colony. 

If done in a careful manner the bees in the 
lower hive never seem to realize that any 
strangers have been put above them, and they 
all work in harmony together. 

At the outset mention was made of those 
who met with failure in following the 
method. As Mr. Alexander says, the diffi- 
cultj^ doubtless arose from the fact that 
they failed to put brood along with the 
weak nucleus to hold the queen and her 
few bees, or else they did the work so 
clumsily that it stirred up both lots of 
bees, with the result that they came to- 
gether before they had the same scent. Mr. 
Alexander's injunction is to put the bees 
together so carefully that the clusters do 
not really unite for some two days, at 
which time there is a peaceful union, and 
the two queens go on laying so as to make 
up one rousing colony, which can be 
divided, making two strong colonies where 
before there would have been only one, 
since the nucleus left to itself would have 
died. 

Where one desires to proceed with 
extreme caution he is advised to put a 
wire-cloth screen between the two lots of 
bees at the time of uniting, keeping it 
there for two or three days, after which its 
place is taken by a perforated zinc honey- 
board. In this connection it should be said 
that the wire-cloth screen should be 



VEILS 



771 



mounted in a wooden frame about % inch 
thick. 

While this plan of uniting contemplates 
performing the act in early spring, some- 
thing can be done at it in the fall. Mr. 
Josiah Johnson, in a communication sent 
to Gleanings in Bee Culture, tells how he 
unites on the Alexander plan in the fall. 

Some have had trouble in following the 
Alexander plan of building up weak colonies, 
I think the trouble in many cases is due to 
rousing up the bees and getting them uneasy 
before the weak colony is put over the strong 
one. Then the two colonies have war for a 
while. I always use wire cloth between the 
two hives and never have any trouble from 
the lower colony going up and killing the bees 
in the upper hive. For some time I have win- 
tered my weak colonies this way, on the 



summer stands. Last winter I had several 
weak colonies, and I put them all over strong 
colonies, making an entrance in the back with 
my knife thru the handhole of the upper hive. 
This should be just large enough to allow two 
or three bees to pass out at a time. This is 
done on some cloudy day after very cold 
weather comes. 

Last year I had a weak swarm of bees. 
There was just one frame of bees and a 
young queen. I put this frame of bees in 
with nine frames of honey, and put the 
frames in a hive and set it on top of one of 
the strongest colonies I had, and in February 
they got pretty strong, and I left them on 
till April; and when I set them off I had two 
strong colonies. Josiah Johnson. 

Milan, 111. 

See BuiLDixG up Colonies^ Spring 
Dwindling, and Spring Management. 



V 



VEILS. — The necessity of using face 
protection will depend largely upon the 
race of bees to be handled. When dealing 
with hybrids, Cyprians, or Holy-Lands, a 
veil is a necessity. With Italians, Carnio- 
lans, or Caucasians it is not so important; 
still it is advisable to have one on the hat 
ready to pull down. Its use in any case 
gives the apiarist a sense of security to 
enable him to work to much better advan- 
tage than he would if continually in fear 
of every cross bee that chanced to buzz 
near his eyes. 

The two objections that have been made 
against the use of veils are that they ob- 
struct the vision more or less, and interfere 
with the free circulation of air in hot 
weather, thus tending to make the wearer 
sweaty and uncomfortable; but these ob- 
jections with a good veil are not very 
serious. Our best beemen, as a rule, wear 
a veil constantly when among the bees, and 
it is best to do so. 

The very nicest veil is one made entirely 
of silk tulle, altho somewhat expensive. 
The material is so fine that a whole veil of 
it can be folded to go in a smaU vest- 
pocket. The author carries one of these 
constantly during the working season of 
the bees, and it is always ready for an 
emergency. It neither obstructs the vision 



nor prevents the free circulation of air on 
hot days. A cheaper one, tho not so light 
nor cool, is made of grenadine with a fac- 
ing of silk tulle net sewed in. The grena- 
dine is strong, and the brussels-net facing 
obstructs the vision but little if any. The 
top of the veil is gathered with a rubber 
cord, so that it may be made to fit closely 
around the crown of the hat. 

There is a special broad-brimmed cloth 
hat, costing about 75 cts. each, that is sold 
by dealers. These hats are very light, will 
fit any head, and can be folded and put in 
a coat-pocket. This broad brim is sup- 
ported and held out by means of a steel 
hoop, and when the veil is placed over the 
hat and properly drawn down it cannot 
touch the face or neck, and hence leaves no 
possible chance for stings. During hot 
days when bees require the most attention 
in the apiary, a coat or vest is simply in- 
tolerable. In the absence of either one of 
these garments the corners of the veil may 
be drawn under the suspenders. The four 
views (next page) show successively this 
manner of drawing the veil under the sus- 
penders, and its position when in use. The 
last view of the series shows how easily it 
can be drawn out from under the sus- 
penders and raised above the hat while not 
in use. A few apiarists work a good part 



772 



VEILS 





M^ 



Manner of adjusting a bee-veil under the susoenders when there is no elastic cord in the bottom. 



of the time with the veil raised. When the 
suspender method of holding is used one 
can raise or lower and fasten the veil in a 
moment's time. 

But there are many who prefer a veil 
with a rubber cord inserted in the bottom, 
fastening the same by means of a large 
safety-pin to the clothing. Unlike the other 
veils shown with no elastic in the bottom 
of the fringe, this veil can be used by a 
man or woman, because the safety-pin can 
be secured to the clothing of either. But 



ends sewed securely to the veil, leaving the 
veil fulled on the elastic so that the latter 
may be stretched without tearing the veil. 
On each end of this elastic is sewed a short 
loop of cotton tape thru which are passed 
the ends of the long tape. This tape is 
then drawn up and crossed at the back, the 
ends being passed thru a two or three inch 
loop of tape attached to the cotton tape at 
the middle lower edge of the back of the 
veil, then brought to the front and tied. 
This holds the veil securely. See page 774. 




1 2 > 

Right and wrong way to fasten a bee-veil having a rubber cord inserted in bottom. 



in putting this on, care should be taken to 
draw the elastic clear down near the bottom 
of the waist, securing it with a pin as 
shown in the first illlustration. No. 2 looks 
very nice, but the movement of the arms 
will soon push the cord above the shoulders, 
leaving it so loose that bees can readily 
crawl up. No. 3 is better; and if the elas- 
tic is stiff enough very good results will be 
secured. But if not, the veil must be drawn 
down as shown in the view at the extreme 
left, or No. 1. 

No. 4 shows a good method of fastening 
the veil. A long piece of cotton tape is in- 
serted in the bottom edge of the veil ex- 
tending clear around the veil except in 
front. Across the front, a four-inch length 
of %-inch tape elastic is inserted, and the 



The Alexander is a headgear that is used 
by some of the most extensive beekeepers 
in the country. It is a plain wire-cloth 
cylinder having a circular gathering of 
muslin at the top, and a soft of skirt of the 
same material sewn to the bottom edge. 
With this outfit one will be required to go 
bareheaded or wear a small cap. Much of 
the work of the apiary is done during the 
hottest weather, and this veil is very cool 
because the wire cloth rides on top of the 
shoulders, leaving a free circulation of air 
over the top of the head. In passing 
among trees or shrubbery it does not get 
" hooked," nor torn like some of the veils 
of fabric. It has the further advantage 
that it can be removed in an instant with- 
out breaking any fastening, and is quickly 



VEILS 



773 



put on again. The muslin skirt fits loosely 
vet fairly snug around the shoulders and 
neck. There are many practical beemen 
who prefer wire-cloth head-protectors to 
an}i;hing else. When first used they seem 
a little awkward; but the extreme comfort 
that one enjoys more than compensates for 
its apparent outlandishness. 

The one shown in the cut uses a strip of 
wire cloth approximately a foot wide and 
a Yard long. A yard of muslin completes 




The Alexander bee-veil. 

the material required. Where one uses a 
coat, the skirt of this head protection can 
readily be tucked inside ; but even without 
coat or vest, the loose folds of the cloth fit 
with a fair degree of snugness around the 
shoulders and neck. 

Some use with much satisfaction a sort 
of chopping-bowl or basket inverted. It is 
a hat that is worn in India and other hot 
countries, and is slowly w^orking its way 
into this countiy, particularly in the South. 
It is made of palm-leaf, and it is supported 
above the head in the manner shown below. 
The cut will render further description 
unnecessary. 




Hopatkong veil and hat. 

As light breezes can circulate above and 
around the head, it is perhaps the coolest 
sun-shade of any herein illustrated and de- 
scribed. If one cannot secure one of these, 
and would like to get the ventilating feat- 
ure, he can take an ordinary palm-leaf hat 



several sizes too large. On the inside of 
the hat-band sew four or five %-inch corks 
that have been cut in halves lengthwise. 
These, if spaced at regular distances, will 
keep the hat from the head, and permit 
ventilation. 

As has already been said, one objection 
to bee-veils is the obstruction to the eye- 
sight. To overcome this, John C. Capehart 
of St. Albans, West Virginia, glued a piece 
of glass in front of the veil. The difficulty 
with this was, that the glass would hardly 
ever be in range with the eyes, on account 
of its weight, and then it would be covered 
with steam from the breath; and, worse 




xa 



Capehart's glass-front veil. 

than all, it would get broken. The brussels 
net is open to none of these objections, and 
is almost as transparent as glass. 

Walter S. Ponder made an improve- 
ment on this veil by substituting celluloid 
film such as is used for photographic film 
negatives. While this overcomes the objec- 
tion of weight it does not prevent the 
moisture of the breath from accumulating 
on it. Moreover, it is very inflammable — 
so much so that if a hot spark from a 
smoker should alight upon it, the face 
might be seriously burned. So far nothing 
has been found better than nor as good as 
silk tulle. 



THE GLOBE BEE-VEIL. 

This is a veil that has had a very large 
sale, and is preferred by a great number, 
because it is large enough to extend down 
over an ordinary hat or cap; and it is so 
constructed that it cannot get against one's 
face at any point. Sometimes an ordinary 
veil will touch one's nose or the back of 



774 



VEILS 



his neck. At these points a bee can insert 
its sting thru the meshes of the veil. The 
globe veil is made so as to fold up com- 




The Globe Bee-Veil. 

paetly so that it can be carried in the 
pocket. With cross bees to handle, this is 
by all odds the best veil in the lot. 

The Holmes veil is simply a straw hat 
with a broad rim, the veil being made of 
mosquito-bar, and the facing of brussels 
net. A strip of cloth lines the lower edge 
of the veil, and is made just large enough 
to fit snugly around the shoulders. A 




Mrs. K. H. Holmes' bee-tiat. 



couple of cloth straps hitched to buttons 
pass under the arm-pits, and button on in 
front. While this arrangement is good, the 
rubber cord and safety-pin is better. 

HOW TO GET ALONG WITHOUT A VEIL. 

Occasionally one meets a person who 
says he does not need any bee-veil and 
never uses any in his bee work. Such a 
person is to be pitied for his shortsighted- 
ness rather than admired for his temerity. 
He will at times spend enough time smash- 
ing bees that sting him in the face to make 
up many times over for the slight incon- 
venience of the veil. It is foolhardy and 
totally unnecessary to run the risk of a bad 



sting around the eyes, nose, mouth, or ears, 
and a good beekeeper is wise enough to 
wear a veil of some sort or have one on his 
hat ready to pull down. 




Plan of securing veil as originally devised by W. Z. 
Hutchinson. See description p. 772. 

Occasionally there will be times when one 
will have to do some work with the bees 
without a veil. Perhaps it has been for- 
gotten, or perhaps a visitor more suscepti- 
ble to stings has to have it. In such cases 




Woodman's advanced bee-veil. 

as these, one should make sure that his 
smoker is in excellent working order, with 
plenty of fuel. The smoker should be held 
between the knees when not in use so as to 



VEILS 



775 



be ready for instant service over the 
frames. If the day is at all chilly smoke 
should be blown down over the frames 
quite frequently. By proceeding very cau- 
tiously, using smoke every now and then, 
one can get along without a veil, but he 
wastes more time and uses an unnecessary 
amount of smoke. 

The author, when the bee season is on, 
makes it a practice to carry one of those 
light brussels net veils in his hip pocket 
all the time. With gentle Italians on warm 
days one can have his veil thrown back 
over his hat ; but he should always have it 
ready so he can draw it down instantly in 
case of emergency. This is especially nec- 
essary where one has to wear glasses. An 
angry bee will sometimes get between the 
lenses and the eyes and the owner in order 
to save himself from a sting will some- 
times break his glasses. 

BEE DRESS OR CLOTHIXG FOR BEEKEEPERS. 

Under the head of Glo\'es^ are described 
some long-sleeved gloves or gauntlets that 
reach away up above the elbows. Many 
beekeepers use these to keep bees from get- 



ting up the sleeves, and at the same time to 
protect the wrists, especially the inside 
fleshy portions of them where they are 
very sensitive. Others carry this same 
principle further, combining the gloves 





The Coggshall veil when not in use, but ready for 
emergency. 



The Cogg-^hall hec-veil unl suir. 

and headgear all in one. The accompany- 
ing illustrations show the outfit worn by 
David Coggshall of West Groton, X. Y. 
The lower part of the blouse is taken up 
by a string hemmed in at the lower edge, 
which is drawn and tied. When not de- 
sired for use, the veil is pulled down from 
the hat. Many other beekeepers have made 
veils very similar to this. 

As for trousers, one can get a pair of 
overalls at any clothing-store, and it is 



776 



VEILS 




Farmerette beekeepers who, in 1918, reared queens and extracted for M. H. Mendleson of Ventura, Calif. 
He says they were the best help he ever liad. 



suggested that he get 
outfits such as are used 
by machinists and en- 
gineers. These have 
numerous handy pock- 
ets, large and small, in 
which various tools may 
be placed. 

Bicycle pants-guards 
can be used to very 
good advantage during 
extracting and all other 
times, when one is 
shaking or brushing 
bees off combs. The 
bottoms of the trousers 
should be neatly folded 

around the ankles, and the guards slipped 

on to hold the folds in place. 

FARMERETTE BEE-SUITS. 

In many parts of the West, as well as in 
some parts of the East, bee-women are 
wearing regular farmerette suits, either 
'' Peggy Janes " or one-piece overalls gath- 
ered at the shoe-tops, such as were intro- 
duced during the period of the Great War. 
Several of these styles are worn, and most 
of them are neat, safe, and sane. They 
are now getting to be quite common. 

Many women wear overalls or bloomers 
when working in the apiary. If desired, 




a full but short apron may be worn over 
the overalls, or a short skirt over the 




Miss Mary 
ette bee-suit. 



Culver of Calexico, Calif., in her fariner- 
Her father is an extensive beekeeper. 



VENTILATION 



bloomers. High-top shoes will also add to 
oue's feeling of security. 

VENTILATION.— Bees that are out- 
doors in their regular hives generally re- 
ceive at the entrance all the ventilation 
they require. There should be, except in 
very hot weather, no other openings. Oc- 
casionally hives are so poorly made that 
they will have gaping cracks; but these, 
unless too large, will be closed up with bee 
glue — usually along toward fall; and some 
strains of bees, notably the Caucasians, 
will close them up early in the season. In- 
deed, they will sometimes obstruct the en- 
trance by means of little chunks of propo- 
lis. 

In olden times it was customary for the 
patent-right men to furnish their patrons 
with hives having all kinds of ventilating 
holes and little trapdoors; but the modern 
hive, as a rule, has no openings of any 
sort except at the entrance, which is con- 
tracted or enlarged according to the season. 
In hot weather it will be opened to its 
maximum, and in cool weather it will be 
reduced to one-fourth, or even less, of its 
largest capacity. See Entrances to Hives 
and Wintering. 

During extremely hot weather, especially 
during swarming time, it is sometimes nec- 
essary to provide upward ventilation in 
addition to that provided at the entrance. 
The cover may be lifted up in such a way 
as to leave a crack at the back end. This 
v^ill allow a current of air to circulate from 
the top clear down thru the hive. But 
sometimes loosening the cover is insuffi- 
cient. It is, therefore, necessary to provide 
ventilation for one or more supers that 
may be on the hive at the time. In that 
case, the second super is shoved forward 
on the lower one — just enough to leave a 
crack, front and rear. If that is not 
enough, the third super is staggered back 
so as to be in a vertical line over the bot- 
tom super ; and in rare cases it may be nec- 
essary to go even further by tipping the 
cover up in addition. It is much better to 
provide ventilation in this way for extreme- 
ly hot weather than to bore holes in the 
sides or ends of the hives or supers. The 
amount of ventilation that may be required 
thru the top of the hive by staggering the 
supers back and forth will depend on how 
hot the w^eather may be at the time, and 



wliether the hive in question is shielded 
from the sun. So long as the bees cluster 
out in front, it is an indication that there 
is lack of ventilation. Sometimes a great 
cluster of bees will be clear over a large 
entrance, practically closing it up except 
what little air can filter thru the mass of 
bees. In cases like this, it is advisable to 
lift the hive up on four blocks as shown 
under the subject o£ Swarming^ subhead, 
" Pro\'iding Abundant Ventilation." If 
this does not draw the bees into the hive, 
additional ventilation should be provided 
at the top of the super or supers, in the 
manner already explained. But one should 
be careful not to overdo this, because comb- 
building cannot progress very satisfactori- 
ly in supers when chilling blasts go back 
down over the bees, and this is liable to 
occur at night, even after a hot day. 

Under Swarming it has been shown 
that ventilation and swarming often stand 
in the ratio to each other of cause and 
effect; that is to say, not enough ventila- 
tion overheats the brood, causes the bees to 
cluster in front, induces loafing, cell-build- 
ing, and finally swarming. Time and time 
again this loafing on the part of a big 
bunch of bees in front has been stopped 
by providing ventilation. When a colony 
in the height of the season can earn at 
least from five to ten dollars, it is folly to 
compel the poor bees to loaf and cut down 
their earning capacity simply because of a 
lack of means to keep their hive cool 
enough so that they can go inside and go to 
work. 

ventilation during the winter. 

Under Wintering^ also under En- 
trances^ it is explained that bees out- 
doors on their summer stands do not re- 
quire nearly the amount of ventilation that 
is needed during the summer. Yet even in 
cold weather a strong colony should have a 
larger entrance than a weak one. See En- 
qrances to Hives. 

When bees are wintered in a cellar it is 
highly important that the atmosphere be 
dry, and that there be means provided for 
supplying with fresh air the room where 
the bees are kept. Insufficient ventilation 
causes uneasiness; uneasiness induces over- 
eating, and overeating brings on dysentery. 
(See Dysentery.) It is important, there- 
fore, that the cellar have plenty of ventila- 



778 



VENTILATION 



tion during the entire period of confine- 
ment, and more air toward spring than late 
in the fall. 

Authorities disagree somewhat as to the 
size of entrance that bees require while in 
the cellar; but the author's experience in- 
dicates that the same size of entrance that 
is used during moderate summer weather is 
better than a large one. When we gave a 
large amount of bottom ventilation in the 
cellar we had some severe winter losses, and 
that was the experience of the late W. Z. 
Hutchinson. Dr. C. C. Miller favors an 
entrance two inches deep by the width of 
the hive; but he maintains a relatively 
high temperature in his cellar. 

In severely cold weather it is highly im- 
portant to see that the entrances of the 
hives outdoors are not closed up with wet 
snow nor ice. A dry snow does no harm. 
A closed entrance closed tightly is almost 
sure to be fatal to the colony sooner or 
later if there is no upward ventilation. It 
sometimes happens that dead bees clog 
up the entrance, and the colony dies sim- 
ply because a few of its dead shut off its 
means of ventilation. 

SMOTHERING BEES BY CLOSING THE 
ENTRANCE. 

Altho bees manage to get along with 
even a very small entrance, one should be 
on the guard against closing it entirely, 
in warm weather, even for only a few 
minutes. Many are the reports we get 
almost every season, of bees destroyed by 
simply closing their entrance while under- 
taking to stop swarming for a few minutes, 
until some other colony can receive atten- 
tion. See Swarming and Entrances. 

When bees have the swarming fever, as 
a general thing they are gorged with 
honey and in a feverish state. They are 
like a man who has been taking violent 
exercise after a hearty meal, and require 
more than an ordinary amount of air. 
Their breathing-tubes are in different parts 
of the body, under the wings and on each 
side of the abdomen (see Anatomy of the 
Bee) ; hence as soon as the entrance is 
closed, and they crowd about it, the heat 
of so many becomes suffocating in a very 
few minutes; the honey is involuntarily 
discharged, wetting themselves and their 
companions, thus most effectually closing 
their breathing-tubes in a way that causes 



death to ensue very quickly. Heavy swarms 
have been known to be killed in the short 
space of fifteen minutes, when the hive was 
thus closed. The heat generated by the 
smothering mass often becomes great 
enough to melt down the combs, envelop- 
ing bees, brood, honey, and all, in a mass 
almost scalding hot. Bees are sometimes 
smothered in this way, in extremely hot 
weather, even when the hives have very 
large openings covered with wire cloth. In 
fact, bees shipped by railroad, in July and 
August, have been known to be smothered, 
when the whole top of the hive was cov- 
ered with wire cloth. 

HOW BEES DO THEIR OWN VENTILATING. 

If one will watch a colony of bees during 
a warm day, he will see rows of bees stand- 
ing around the entrance, and far inside of 
the hive, with their heads pointing one 
way, all making their wings go in a pecul- 
iar manner, much as they do in flying; but 
instead of propelling their bodies along, 
they propel the air behind them, and a 
pretty strong " blow " they get up too, as 
may be felt by holding the hand near them. 
If the air is very hot and close inside the 
hive, so that there is danger of the combs 
melting down, they manage to send cool- 
ing currents clear to the furthest parts of 
the hive. 

At the end of a hot day when the bees 
have been working heavily in the fields, it 
is very interesting to try the following ex- 
periment: Hold the smoker, with a little 
smoke issuing from the nozzle, near one 
side of the entrance and then at the other 
side. It will be noticed that there is a 
strong draft of air on one side of the en- 
trance into the hive, and an equally strong 
blast of air on the other side of the en- 
trance out of the hive. The direction of 
the air can be easily determined by observ- 
ing whether the smoke is sucked in or 
blown out. 

Sometimes the air will be sucked in on 
both sides of the entrance, and blown out 
from the center. At other times the re- 
verse will be the case. 

If one does not happen to have a smoker 
he can light a common match, when he will 
notice that the flame will be sucked in on 
one side and blown away on the other. 
The draft, whether out or in, is so strong 
that it will blow the match out. 



VINEGAR 



779 



The most prosperous coloiu' we ever 
owned was one that was so completely 
enveloped in chaff that during frosts- 
nights in March they sent a stream of 
warm air out of their hive strong enough 
to melt the frost about one side of the 
entrance. Of course a stream of fresh air 
went in at the opposite side as fast as the 
warm air went out. 

In the fall of 1916 there were a few 
hives located near some big lumber piles 
that were burned down. So intense was 
the heat that one of the .hives took fire, 
with the result that it burned thru on one 
side, and charred the boards under the 
metal cover; and yet, remarkable to re- 
late, the bees were aU right after the fire. 
It is presumed that some fii-emen, seeing 
the plight of the bees, threw on a pail of 
water; but how did the bees keep the combs 
from melting down in the mean time? 
There was no other way that they could 
do it than by their scheme of ventilation. 
Fortunately the entrance was large and 
wide open, so that they were able to venti- 
late the hive fully; also the weather out- 
side was cold. Now, combs sometimes melt 
down when the weather is very sultry and 
hot during the summer when the bees are 
out in the hot sun ; but there is no cold air, 
as there was that night in front of the 
hive and away from the direct radiation 
of heat from the burning lumber. The 
photograph that is reproduced on page 
797 shows that one side of the hive was 
burned clear thru ; yet, except for the out- 
side comb, no damage was done either to 
the bees or to the other combs. 

For further particulars on the subject 
of ventilation, see Extraxces^, Comb 
HoxET, SwARMixG^ and Wixterixg. 

VINEGAR.— This is one of the legiti- 
mate products of honey; and when prop- 
erly made from honey it has a quality quite 
superior to any other vinegar, especialh' 
for making pickles. It will not lose its 
strength like most other vinegars ; and one 
can have light or dark vinegar by taking 
light or dark honej- — at least so says R. R. 
Murphy of Fulton, 111., who has made and 
sold large quantities of honey vinegar. 

G. W. Gates of Bartlett, Tenn., says: 
" TVe have used no other vinegar for two 
years; and nearly every one who tastes 



our pickles asks my wife for her recipe for 
making them. When told that we use noth- 
ing but honey vinegar, they are surprised." 

X. E. France of Platte ville, Wis., asked 
the wife of one of the merchants why she 
always bought his vinegar; and her reply 
was, that the stuff from the store always 
ate up her pickles; but that, when she 
used honey vinegar, her pickles kept, and 
had a beautiful fine flavor. 

Notwithstanding the fact that vinegar 
from honey is the finest in the world, the 
very low price of the ordinary product 
from cider makes it impossible to get a 
very high price for honey vinegar. The 
length of tiu.e it takes to make it, and the 
quantity of honey required, would make 
the vinegar too high-priced to compete with 
the other kinds on the market. But every 
beekeeper has some poorer grades of honey, 
some from broken combs, washings from 
honey-barrels, honey-cans, etc., that will be 
practically wasted unless made into vine- 
gar. Mr. France always used the wash- 
ings of his honey-barrels; ahd this sweet- 
ened .water he converted into vinegar. 
When one can utilize honey that would 
practically all go to waste, and convert 
it into cash, he is just that much ahead. 

HOXEY VIXEGAR^ HOW TO MAKE. 

The honey-water and honey-washings 
should be put into a barrel with the top 
head taken out. To determine whether the 
water is sweet enough, a fresh egg should 
be dropped in. If the egg will just float 
so as to leave a spot above the liquid, 
about as big as a ten-cent piece, then it is 
'' all right," according to X. E. France. 

Another beekeeper, G. D. Black of Bran- 
don, la., uses an ordinary hydrometer, 
which he says he bought for 35 cents. 
When this sinks into the liquid so the scale 
registers at 11, it is of the right consistency. 
The top of the barrel is covered with 
cheesecloth, and the whole allowed to stand 
in a warm place where it can work and 
sour. In winter it should be put into the 
cellar. It will take at least from one to 
two years to make good vinegar. But the 
l)rocess can be greatly hurried by putting 
in " motlier " from another vinegar barrel. 

VIRGIN QUEENS.— See Queexs. 



w 



WATER FOR BEES.— Like all other 
live stock, bees need water. The amount 
required depends largely on how much 
brood-rearing is going on, and whether 
nectar is coming in to a considerable extent 
from the fields. Brood requires a great 
deal of water as well as pollen and honey. 
On the other hand, when new honey is 
coming in but little water is needed. 

About the time the bees are breeding 
heavily they will be found around watering 
places, ponds, creeks, and rivers, especially 
during a dearth of nectar. They seem to 
prefer to get water where they can take a 
big drink without any 
danger of being sub- 
merged. Sometimes 
when creeks, ponds, and 
rivers are at some dis- 
tance from the apiary 
bees may be somewhat 
of a nuisance around 
nearby watering troughs 
and outside pumps. 
Hence it is important 
for the beekeeper to 
have a watering font in 
the beeyard itself. A 
tub of water with chips 
or corncobs floating on 
the surface, a Mason 
jar filled with water inverted over a small 
plate, or, better, a crock placed over a 
dinner plate, will furnish bees water on 
the atmospheric principle all day or sev- 
eral days, in fact. A better arrangement 
is a wooden block or board with transverse 
saw-cuts as shown in the illustration. A 
large glass jar filled with water and inverted 
over one of these boards will keep the saw- 
cuts filled with water, where the bees can 
get all they require without even wetting 
their feet. If one of these is furnished in 
the apiary the bees will not be likely to 
bother the neighbors. A closed vessel con- 
taining water is much better than a tub or 
pan of water, as the water cannot become 
stale and bad. Sometimes when one of these 




special fonts is first set out the bees will 
pay no attention to it, especially after they 
have been in the habit of visiting the 
neighbors' pumps and watering troughs. 
They can, as a rule, be started by sweeten- 
ing the water or by adding a little salt, 
for bees are fond of salt also. When bees 
are compelled to go a distance for water 
they w^ear themselves out unnecessarily, 
and, during chilly weather in the spring, 
many never get back. 

The statement was made above that when 
hoes are in the fields, bringing in new 
honey, the}^ require less water than at 
times when no honey is coming in. It is 
probable that the excess of water removed 
during the ripening process, as explained 
under Vextilation, supplies the bees with 
the proper amount of moisture. 

Bees also need some water during mid- 
winter; but usually the moisture produced 
by condensation from the breathing of the 
bees will be sufficient. It was once argued 
that they should be supplied with water 
while in the cellar. If a wet sponge is 
placed on a cluster they will take up the 
water quite rapidly. This would seem to 
prove that they should have an artificial 
supply; but general practice has shown 
that no special provision need be made. 
It would be impracticable to give bees 
water when wintered outdoors; and it 
would hardly be necessary, because if one 
will examine down into a brood-nest 
during winter he will see considerable 
moisture around the inside of the hive 
and on the under side of the cover. 

In taking carloads of bees from south 
to north and from north to south, it will 
be found impracticable to make these long 
trips without a barrel of water in the car. 
If the weather is hot and sultry, bees, on 
account of their excitement, often require 
a large amount of water. This water must 
be supplied at intervals of every few hours 
or many bees will die. In some shipments 
of bees from south to north during hot or 
warm weather, a carload of bees has been 



WAX 



781 



known to take up seven or eight barrels 
of water. The water allays thirst and 
cools the cluster by evaporation. 

While bees seem to gather water at 
times, they also appear to have a delicate 
apparatus of some sort for extracting 
water from nectar, and for discharging it 
or a part of it in flight. When they are 
fed outdoors with sweetened water, as de- 
scribed under Outdoor FeedinG;, they will 
immediately, on taking flight, discharge a 
fine spray of water. If one will station 
himself between the feeders and the sun- 
light he will be able to perceive these bees, 
on rising from the feeder, discharging this 
thin fine spray. 

That it is pure water and not sugar can 
be proven by tasting it. That bees also 
discharge water when gathering thin nec- 
tar from the fields was proved by A. I. 
Root many years ago. When bees are 
gathering a large quantity of nectar from 
a single blossom they will, on rising from 
the plant, discharge the excess in the form 
of a thin spray. Enough of this spray fell 
on some dinner plates to be distinctly per- 
ceptible, but the taste showed nothing but 
water. 

WAX. — This is a term that is applied to 
a large class of substances very much re- 
sembling one another in external charac- 
teristics, but quite unlike chemicalh'. The 
wax of commerce may be divided into four 
general groups: Beeswax, familiar to all; 
mineral wax, or by-products from petro- 
leum; wax from plants, and wax from in- 
sects other than bees. But the first two 
are by far the most important commercial- 
ly in this country. Of the mineral waxes 
the most common are paraffin and ceresin. 
Beeswax, the most valuable, has a specific 
gravity of between .960 and .972, and 
melting-point of between 143 and 145 
degrees F. The mineral waxes vary so 
much in hardness, melting-point, and spe- 
cific gravity, that it would be useless to 
name exact figures. As a rule, however, 
the fusing-point of paraffin is much below 
that of beeswax, while that of ceresin may 
be either above or below, or practically the 
same. In general the specific gravity of 
both commercial paraffin and ceresin is be- 
low that of beeswax; which fact renders 
it an easj' matter to detect adulteration of 
beeswax with either paraffin or ceresin, by 



a method that will be explained further on, 
under the subhead, ^' How to Detect Adul- 
terated Wax." 

There are also known to commerce Jap- 
anese wax and China wax, both of which 
may or may not be the product of insects 
or plants. As they are so much more ex- 
pensive than either paraffin or ceresin, lit- 
tle fear need be entertained of their use 
as adulterants of beeswax. 

BEESWAX. 

For the bees and their keeper, no prod- 
uct has ever been discovered that can take 
the place of that which the bees themselves 
furnish. Real beeswax retains ductility 
and tenacity under greater ranges of tem- 
perature than any mineral, plant, or insect 
wax. Combs made from foundation con- 
taining 25 to 50 per cent of adulteration 
of paraffin or ceresin are very liable to 
melt down in the hive in hot weather. 
Paraffin is ductile enough to make beauti- 
ful foundation, but does not stand the heat 
of the hive. Ceresin, on the other hand, 
while more closely resembling genuine 
beeswax in point of specific gravity and 
fusibility, is too tough and brittle, under 
some conditions, for bees to work. Work 
it? Yes, they ivill, and construct combs; 
and in Germany considerable ceresin 
foundation has been and perhaps is being 
sold; but experience shows that it is poor 
economy, and that it will lead the bee- 
keeper or the poor bees to grief sooner or 
later. Practically, then, genuine beeswax 
is the only product that ought to go into 
foundation; and it is the only article that 
foundation-makers in this country use. 

BEESWAX IX THE ARTS. 

Under the action of the United States 
pure-food law that went in effect June 30, 
1906, beeswax has a much larger use. The 
law will have no effect one way or the 
other on the use of paraffin, ceresin, and 
the like in any compound or mixture that 
does not belong either to the food or drug 
classes. Electrotypers can use a substitute 
for taking impressions, altho the great 
majority prefer pure beeswax, even at a 
higher price. Natural-wood finishers can 
still use paraffin and ceresin; but most of 
them assert that there is nothing to com- 



782 



WAX 



pare for that purpose with pure beeswax. 
The first mentioned gives a greasy, smeary 
finish, while the product from the hive 
yields a highly polished surface — one that 
stands wear as nothing else will; a finish 
cheaper than hard oil — not the price by 
the gallon, but cheaper to apply. 

A very satisfactory floor finish can be 
made by melting a pound of beeswax, and 
while it is cooling, stirring into it some 
turpentine. An exact proportion of the 
two ingredients is not necessary — in fact 
some workmen prefer the paste thick, oth- 
ers want it thin. When cool, if the mix- 
ture is too thick it is a simple matter to 
thin it by working in more turpentine. 

The Roman Catholic Church uses large 
quantities of beeswax in the form of can- 
dles. The Church does not tolerate par- 
affin, ceresin, nor any of the mineral waxes, 
all of which give off an offensive greasy 
odor while burning, whereas candles made 
of beeswax leave a delightful perfume. 
Moreover, the burniiig of mineral wax 
causes a deposit that injures pictures, while 
beeswax mellows and preserves them. 

Certain grades of blacking, harness oils, 
and lubricants require pure beeswax in 
their manufacture. A blacking containing 
beeswax will withstand more dampness 
than that made of any other substance. 

The electrical-supply business is a con- 
sumer of our product. The windings of 
the wire are soaked in paraffin or bees- 
wax — preferably the latter, because it 
seems less affected by extremes of heat and 
by moisture. Pattern-makers also use 
beeswax. The profession of dentistry con- 
sumes large quantities of pure wax every 
year to take impressions in the mouth. 
Last, but not least, the beekeeper is a large 
consumer as well as a producer of wax. 

In all the arts, paraffin, ceresin, and cer- 
tain other mineral waxes can be used; 
none of them have all the desii^able quali- 
ties furnished by the product from the 
hive. 



HOVr THE BEES 



MAKE 



WAX. 



If the bees are watched closely during 
the height of the honey harvest, or if at 
other times a colony of bees is fed heavily 
on sugar syrup for three days during warm 
weather, there will be found toward the 



end of the second or the third day little 
pearly discs of wax somewhat resembling 
fish scales protruding from between the 
rings on the under side of the body of the 
bee. These when examined with a magni- 
fier reveal little wax scales of rare beauty. 
Sometimes these scales come so fast that 
they fall on the bottom-board and may be 
scraped up in considerable quantities, 
seeming for some reason not to have been 
wanted. During the season for the natural 
secretion of wax where a colony has plenty 
of room, wax scales are seldom wasted in 
this wa3^ At swarming time there seem 
to be an unusual number of bees provided 
with wax scales, for when the bees remain 
clustered on a limb for only a few minutes 
bits of wax are attached as if they were 
going to start combs. 

The way the bees remove these wax 
scales from their bodies and construct them 
into comb is not so easily seen. There 
were many wild guesses as to how this was 
done. The so-called " wax-pinchers " * on 
the hind legs were supposed to play an 
important part. The matter was definitely 
cleared up by Sladen and Casteel. In 
circular No. 161 Dr. D. B. Casteel of the 
Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C, 
made the whole process plain. 

Briefly stated, it is this : The wax scales 
are scraped off by one of the large joints, 
or planta?, of one hind leg, the spines of 
the planta piercing or catching into the 
scale; then the leg, by a peculiar 
maneuvering, is moved up to where the 
fore legs may grasp the scale. At this 
point of proceedings the scale is manipu- 
lated or masticated in the mandibles, when 
it is applied to the comb. During the 
process, the bee stands on three legs (the 
two middle legs on either side, and one 
hind leg not in action), while the other 
hind leg and the two fore legs, in connec- 
tion with the mandibles, perform the 
manipulation. Casteel says that the so- 
called " wax-pinchers " in the hind legs 
have nothing to do with the manipulation 
of wax, but are designed for another pur- 
pose, and that each individual bee removes 
its OAvn wax scale. 

It has been popularly supposed that the 
bees remove the scales from each other; 



* The real purpose of these is explained under Poi,- 
LEN\ subhead " Behavior of Bees in Collecting' Pollen." 



WAX 



783 



but Casteel shows that this is not the case. 
The scales are sometimes found scattered 
thruout the hive and on the bottom-board 
as already stated. In some instances they 
show the marks of the spines of the planta 
of the hind legs. In others they were 
probably dropped accidentally by the bees 
in that wonderful sleight-of-hand perform- 
ance by which they transfer the scale from 
one portion of the body to the other. In 
still other cases the scales show no mark- 
ings whatever, and the presumption is that 
they simply fell off the bees when they 
reached a certain stage of development. 

Dr. Casteel also confirms the observa- 
tion of Dreyling, that there are certain 
ages and certain seasons when the bees 
will develop these wax scales more than at 
others. From this it would appear that 
there are times when the bees cannot con- 
struct combs to any great extent, even tho 
they are liberally fed. In a practical way 
it has been found that sometimes even 
when the bees are fed they will not build 
combs; and the probabilities are that they 
simply can not, because the colony is made 
up of bees too young, too old, or both. 
Usually the condition of a honey flow can 
be supplied artificially by feeding. 

WAX-RENDERING. 

SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTORS. 

It is said the sun wax-extractor was 
originated in California about the year 
1S62. At that time it was used for ex- 
tracting honey from the combs. The honey- 
extractor of today being then unknown, 
it is related that the early Californians 
extracted their honey largely by means of 
the sun's heat. They simply placed their 
cards of comb in large trays covered with 
glass, where old Sol, by the mere beaming 
of his countenance, did the work. As the 
combs melted, the honey and wax ran to- 
gether into a receptacle. In the evening 
the wax, by reason of its lighter weight, 
floated on the surface of the honey, and 
hardened. The Californians thus practi- 
cally accomplished two objects at one and 
the same operation — extracting both honey 
and wax — the latter already in marketable 
shape. As to the quality of the honey so 
separated from the combs, it is much bet- 
ter than one would suppose, but inferior 
to the ordinarv extracted. In later vears 



the use of the solar extractor has been re- 
stricted to the melting of wax. 

To a casual observer it seems almost 
incredible that wax can be melted by the 




Doolittle solar wax-extractor. 

aid of the sun. It is well known to the 
beekeeper that little scraps of wax in 
summer weather will melt on a hive-cover 
exposed to the direct rays of the sun. If 
a shallow box is covered with a sheet of 
glass, and a piece of comb is placed there- 
in, it will utilize a much larger percentage 
of heat. StiU further, by collecting more 
rays of the sun, and casting them into the 
box by means of a reflector (a sheet of tin, 
for example), a correspondingly greater 
increase of temperature may be expected. 
The reflector, however, is unnecessary, as 
sufiicient heat is obtained without it. 

THE DOOLITTLE SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOR. 

The general design of this machine is 
after a pattern made and used by the 
well-known beekeeper G. M. Doolittle. The 
only objection to it is that it is rather 
small, but just the right size to take pieces 
of burr-comb and other bits of wax that 
accumulate in the eveiyday working of 
the apiary. These accumulations can be 
thrown into the machine whenever one 
happens to pass by it; and instead of 
having a lot of little scraps scattered here 
and there thru the apiary, to be melted 
up at some future time, they may be con- 
verted at once into a marketable product. 

These small machines are not suitable 
for melting up combs. For that, something 
as large as the Boardman should be used,' 



784 



WAX 



THE BOARDMAN SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTOR. 

This is built very much on the same gen- 
eral plan as the one just described, but is 
larger. The rockers, or runners, afford 
facility for transportation, and also for 
tilting the machine at the proper angle to 
the sun. A common greenhouse sash may 
be used; but a large glass, say 30 x 60, is 
better for the reason that the sash cuts off 
a good deal of the sun's rays, making 
shade-lines along which the wax fails to 




Fig. 1. — Boardman solar wax-extractor. 

melt. The size of glass that one is able to 
buy will, of course, regulate the size of the 
extractor;* the depth of the box or tray 
may be anywhere from 6 to 8 inches, the 
bottom being made of cheap lumber. It 
should be lined with commmon black sheet 
iron. Tin should not be used, because it 
reflects back too much of the sun's light. 
The whole machine should be painted 
black; and the glass, while the machine 
is in use, kept scrupulously clean. 

SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTORS NOT SUITABLE FOR 
OLD COMBS. 

Solar wax-extractors have their use to 
handle new combs, particles of fresh wax, 
pieces of burr-combs, and the like, and can 
be used to clarify and bleach to a certain 



extent wax already caked, but are not 
adapted to the handling of old black combs 
that have several generations of cocoons in 
them. Large sun extractors like the Board- 
man will get the bulk of the wax out of 
such combs, but they do not get all of it. 
If sun heat is used at all for melting, the 
refuse should be further treated. 

RENDERING WAX FROM OLD COMBS. 

For new combs the problem of rendering 
wax is a comparatively simple one, since 
the operation consists simply in melting 
them in hot water and dipping the wax off 
the top. This is true also of cappings 
where the total amount of refuse or im- 
purities is so small that there is practically 
no difficulty in getting all the wax. Here 
a solar wax-extractor is satisfactory, altho 
not to be depended upon for speed nor 
great capacitj' unless very large, which 
would be expensive. 

When old comb is to be rendered, on the 
other hand, the problem becomes much 
more difficult, as the many layers of 
cocoons found in the cells used for brood- 




FiG. 2. 



-A very crude and wasteful method 
rendering. 



Tliree pieces 20 x 30 will answer in an emergency. 



rearing confine the wax and make it hard 
to remove. It can be readily seen that, if 
old comb is simply melted in hot water or 
steam, these cocoons will become saturated 
with wax, making the loss very great. The 
following discussion, therefore, will have 
to do especially with the difficulties en- 
countered in rendering wax from old 
combs. 

There are many different methods prac- 
ticed by beekeepers all over the world to 
obtain the wax from old brood-combs; and 
it is needless to say that, in many of them, 
the loss is considerable. One of the crud- 



WAX 



785 



est methods is to throw the combs into a 
large iron kettle of water and then build a 
fire and boil the contents for several hours, 
skimming the wax off the top of the water 
meanwhile. More comb is added from 
time to time, and the process is continued 
perhaps, all day. Finally a piece of wire 
screen is weighted down on the refuse to 
keep it out of the way and facilitate dip- 
ping the wax. Careful experiments have 
shown that this method wastes from 25 to 
40 per cent of the total amount of wax, 




Fig. 3. — A popular but wasteful and slow method of 
obtaining wax. 

while a great deal of time is required to 
clean and refine what little wax is secured. 
Another plan which has been advocated 
to some extent is that shown in Fig. 2. A 
sack of comb is held under the surface of 
the water, and agitated or punched with a 
stick for a long time until much of the 
wax is released and floats to the surface, 
where it may be dipped off. This method 
results in somewhat cleaner wax ; but there 
is apt to be waste nearly equal to that in 
the plan before mentioned. 

There is another method that is used 
more, perhaps, than the two which have 
just been described. It is a somewhat bet- 
ter plan, for the amount of waste is not so 
great. It is shown in Fig. 3. In order to 
get the best results the weights should be 
so arranged that they can be lifted up a 
few inches in order to give the refuse in 
the sack a chance to become saturated again 
with hot water. The weights should then 
be lowered, and this process kept up for 
several hours, the water meanwhile boiling 
vigorously. The wax should be dipped off 
almost as fast as it rises to the surface. 

In 1904 T. J. Pennick of Williston, 
Term., suggested the use of centrifugal 
force applied to hot slumgum just taken 
out of boiling water. It was his opinion 



that the free wax, when hot, would by this 
means readily separate from the solid mat- 
ter in a verj' short time. Extensive experi- 
ments have developed the fact that there 
would be a great deal of wax which would 
not escape from the refuse, no matter how 
fast it might be whirled in an extractor, 
showing that even great centrifugal force 
could not separate the wax from the refuse. 
Wax nearest the outside might be thrown 
out; but that nearest the center would be 
held back and not escape. 

A. C. Miller of Providence, R. I., some 
time ago devised an agitator and applied 
it to the rendering of wax. He claimed 
it released all the wax and lots of dirt and 
coloring matter. The old combs in such 
an agitator are thoroly stirred and rubbed 
under hot water so that the wax is lib- 
erated, and rises to the surface, where it is 
drawn off thru a spout. As will be seen, 
this is somewhat similar to the plan shown 
in Fig. 2, before mentioned, altho it would 
be of course a great improvement on that 
very crude method. 

From experiments and from reports re- 
ceived from hundreds of beekeepers, it 
would seem as tho the wax-press were by 
all means the most satisfactory wax- 
extractor yet devised. It is doubtful 
whether anything but pressure combined 
with heat can remove all of the wax. In 




Fio. 4. — An unhandy and unsatisfactory plan. 

sayhig this, we realize that there will prob- 
ably never be a wax-extractor of any kind 
that will economically remove the last 
particle of wax; but if the amount of 
waste can be reduced to less than one per 
cent, the loss is an item that can be neg- 
lected. 



786 



WAX 



Before entering the discussion of wax- 
presses it may be well to add a word of 
caution to beekeepers who are sure that 
the particular method they are using 
enables them to obtain all the wax or 
practically all. If the refuse, when they 
are done, has not been put thru a well- 
constructed press there will be no way of 
determining the amount of waste, for it 
might contain as much as 20 per cent of 
wax and still look perfectly clean and 
show no traces of it when examined. On 
a small scale it is possible to get some idea 
of the amount of wax left in refuse by the 
following very simple plan : 

Thoroly heat in boiling water the refuse 
to be tested, then allow it to cool slightly; 
seize a large handful, and squeeze it as 
hard as possible in the fingers. If fine 



quite an advantage. The screw may then 
be lowered, and this hot water forced out 
of the refuse, carrying with it more of the 
wax. This operation must be repeated as 
often as found necessary by experience. 
It is thus seen that there is no disagree- 
able handling of the refuse until all the 
wax is out. Furthermore, the work, if 
necessary, may be confined to the one tank. 
Orel L. Hershiser of Buffalo, N. Y., 
devised the hot-water press shown in Fig. 
5. The capacity of this is large, so that it 
is possible to obtain as much as 75 pounds 
of wax in one day over a common stove. 
One great objection to hot-water presses 
heretofore has been their relatively small 
capacity of wax per day. Mr. Hershiser, 
by making "the press very large, overcomes 
this difficulty. 




Fig. 5. — Hershiser hot-water wax-press. 



Fig. 6. — Use of the lever in pressing wax. 



lines of wax appear in the creases between 
the fingers a good deal of wax is left — 
perhaps from five to ten per cent or more, 
depending upon the amount of wax shown. 
The hand will not be burned in the very 
short time necessary to make this test. 
But, as before stated — the most conclusive 
method of determining the waste is to run 
the refuse thru a well-constructed press. 

HOT-WATER WAX PRESSES. 

In these presses the pressure may be 
continued without the least danger of chill- 
ing the combs. This method has also a 
decided advantage in that the screw can 
be raised after having been turned down, 
and the " cheese " allowed to become sat- 
urated again with boiling water. This is 



The quality of wax from hot-water 
presses is usually not very good, because 
of the long-continued high temperature. 
In the Hershiser press more hot water is 
introduced at short intervals into the lower 
part, causing the melted wax to overflow 
thru the outlet at the top. In this way the 
wax is not left for any great length of time 
on the boiling water, so that the color is 
not darkened. 

Perhaps one objection to hot-water 
presses is the cost of the outfit; but for 
extensive beekeepers they are the most 
practical, as somewhat cleaner work can 
be done, owing to the long-continued inter- 
mittent pressure on the refuse surrounded- 
by hot water. In other words, old combs 
rendered in a hot-water press may be 
pressed as many as fifteen or twenty times, 



WAX 



787 



so that it is possible to reduce the final loss 
to only a fraction of one per cent. 

If one wishes to try the hot-water 
method by using an outfit constructed at 
home he can follow the plan shown in 
Fig. 6. An ordinary kettle may be used, 
altho it would be advisable to have one 
with a flat bottom. As it would be rather 
difficult to construct a crossbeam over the 
kettle rigid enough to stand the pressure 
exerted by a screw, a lever may be used as 
shown, tho some means will have to be 
employed to keep it from falling over 
sidewise, such as a loop around a tree or 
post. In using a lever it is important to 
have it so adjusted that the pressure will 
be uniform and directly downward. Any 
pressure exerted from a point not directly 
over the kettle will result in pressing the 
refuse to one side, so that the " cheese " 
will be very thin on one edge and very 
thick on the other. If this were the case 
there would, of course, be too much wax 
left in the thick portion. To get the best 
results the " cheese " should not be over an 
inch or an inch and a half thick after 
pressing. 

Cleaner work can be done by an inter- 
mittent than by continuous steady pres- 
sure; and so, whether using a lever or 
screw, it is well to relieve the pressure 
about every ten minutes, allowing the 
" cheese " two or three minutes in which 
to become thoroly saturated again with 
boiling water. Pressure should be applied 
slowly at first in order to avoid bursting 
the burlap. 

With the outdoor kettle plan the wax 
will be discolored on account of the long- 
continued heat unless it is dipped off the 
surface of the water almost as fast as it 
rises. About three hours of intermittent 
pressure for one batch of combs in a kettle 
will render out the wax. 



STEAM-PRESSES. 

Methods of rendering wax, embodying 
the principle of applying great pressure 
to combs surrounded by steam, are quite 
old, both in this country and in Germany, 
where they originated. In many ways 
steam-presses have advantages over other 
methods ; but the quality of wax is usualh^ 
not so good, because of the high tempera- 



ture to which the comparatively thin sur- 
faces of melted wax are subjected; altho 
the wax, as it leaves the refuse, falls down 
out of the way so that the work can be 
much more conveniently carried on, since 
there is no great depth of water in the 
way. 

A steam-press of popular design is 
shown in Fig. 7. Steam is generated un- 
der the false bottom G, of the compart- 
ment H, and, passing upward thru an 
opening in the center of the false bottom, 
surrounds the combs beneath the plunger 
in the perforated metal basket. As the 
wax falling from the refuse cannot get 
into the water on account of the false bot- 
tom, it passes out of the tube shown. 




Fig. 7. — German steam wax-press. 

Steam-presses are very convenient as 
uncapping-cans ; for when the perforated 
metal basket is full of cappings the cross- 
arm can be placed in position, the screw 
run down, and practically all honey forced 
out. Then steam may be generated, and 
the wax melted into marketable shape 
without any second handling and with lit- 
tle extra trouble ; or the " cheese " of 
cappings, pressed nearly dry of honey, 
may be stored away to be rendered into 
wax at a more convenient time later. 

These presses are also very useful in 
pressing honey from broken combs, unfin- 
ished se<3tions, etc., and rendering the 



788 



WAX 



pressed comb into wax. For the real busi 
ness of rendering old combs, the presses 
using hot water as the heating agent are 
much superior. 

UXHEATED PRESSES. 

C. A. Hatch of Wisconsin was proba- 
bly the first one to make extensive use of 
an unheated press for wax-rendering. He 
had used for a short time a press designed 
by W. W. Gary of Massachusetts in which 
the combs were pressed while submerged 
in hot water ; but he believed that he could 
improve on this plan by applying pres- 
sure in a different receptacle without the 
use of so much hot water. Later, F. A. 
Gemmell of Ontario, Canada, also used 
such a press, which finally came to be 
known as the Hatch-Gemmell wax-press. 




l-"ifi. 8. — The original Hatch-Genunell wax-press. 

The particular form of press that is 
sold largely is shown in Fig. 9. It will 
be noticed that a round can, constructed 
of tin, is used instead of the square wooden 
box and tray. The principal reason for 
this change is that it is easier to keep the 
" cheese " from bursting out sidewise when 
a round box or can is used, for the square 
box tends to bulge out in the middle, thus 
allowing the burlap to burst. If a round 
can is used, the pressure sidewise is al- 
ways in a direction directly away from the 
center, and the horizontal pressure is thus 
equalized. 



THE BEST METHOD. 

In using this press we formerly advised 
a tube at the bottom of the can, left open 
during the pressing so that the hot water 
and wax would run away immediately. It 
is better, however, to have no opening at 
the bottom of the can, but to confine the 
hot water and wax, thus preventing chill- 
ing as much as possible. 

If no heat is applied to the combs dur- 
ing the pressing it is necessary to do the 
work in warm weather or in some room 
that can be kept hot by the heat of the 
stove used for melting, for when the air is 
cold the wax chills and the work is hin- 
dered. The efficiency of the press is great- 
ly increased, therefore, if a very small jet 
of steam is introduced from a steam-knife 
boiler or teakettle, caiTied by means of a 
rubber tube to a one-quarter-inch copper 
pipe about fourteen inches long, with a 
right-angle bend five or six inches from 
the bottom and with a long curve at the 
upper end. This is applied to the wax- 
press can as shown in Fig. 9. As will be 
noted the pipe goes down between two of 
the vertical cleats on the side of the can 
and is then bent over toward the center 
between two of the horizontal cleats at the 
bottom, under the screen. While the pres- 
sure is being applied the water and wax 
keep up a gentle boiling — an ideal con- 
dition. No matter how long the pressure 
is kept on the slumgum, nor how many 
times the screw is raised to allow the hot 
water to saturate the refuse again, the 
water keeps up this geiitle boiling, so to 
speak, and the wax on top shows no ten- 
dency to cool. We formerly recommended 
running the refuse thru the press a second 
time; but if steam is introduced as ex- 
plained, the second melting and rendering 
is unnecessary unless the work has been 
very carelessly done. If there is any doubt 
as to the thoroness of the work, it is a good 
plan to run the refuse thru a second time 
to make sure that it is clean. The second 
rendering takes about half the time that 
the first did. 

AN IDEAL EQUIPMENT. 

Fig. 10 shows the small outfit which the 
author recommends, including stoves, press, 
cans for melting the combs, boiler for 
steam, etc. A cook stove with a top large 



WAX 



789 



enough to hold two good-sized wash-boilers 
is ideal, but frequently- it is inconvenient 
to provide such a stove in a basement or 
out-building where the wax-rendering is 
done. Two double-burner gasoline stoves, 
one for each wash-boiler, will do as well. 
Oil stoves would answer the purpose for 
melting the combs but are not quite so 
convenient owing to the difficult}^ in turn- 
ing down the oil burners in case the combs 
get to boiling too hard. Wash-boilers 
cannot be cleaned very easily after being 
used for melting combs, hence should be 
kept for this purpose only. Many prefer 



DIRECTIONS FOR RENDEKIXG. 

When ready to begin work light one of 
the stoves and put on a boiler a little over 
half full of water. If the water is very 
hard add a little borax. When the water 
boils throw in the old combs. Thirty-five 
to forty combs (about half a barrel) may 
be put in gradually, provided they are 
carefully pushed down with a paddle and 
stirred as they melt. When all the comb 
that the boiler will hold conveniently has 
been put in, place the cover on and allow 
the mass to cook thorolv. About this time 




Fig. 9. — Steam from a small boiler introduced between the slats in a wax-press can. The water and was 
keep up a continual slow boiling, insuring constant circulation. 



to use a large square tank of galvanized 
ii-on, possibly over a brick furnace out of 
doors. Or a stock-feed cooker may be 
used, costing from $3.00 to $15.00. 

The press should stand on a solid box 
that is firmly secured to the floor, and it 
should be hinged in front so that it may 
be tipped over to run the hot water and 
wax into the can beneath. A large box 
or basket must be provided to hold the 
refuse after it is pressed. An open- 
headed barrel with a plug at the bottom is 
the handiest receptacle for holding the hot 
water and wax. 



light the other stove and put on another 
boiler of water; also set going the burner 
under the steam-boiler on a thii'd stove to 
supply steam to the press-can. 

It facilitates the work if a quantity of 
straw, preferably rye straw, is cut up in 
two-inch lengths and stirred into the 
melted combs. It makes the " cheeses " 
more porous so that less wax is left in the 
slumgum. 

It is a mistake to begin pressing as 
soon as the comb is melted. Continue the 
cooking process with frequent stirrings 



WAX 



791 



until the combs are reduced to a steaming 
mushy mass. There must be no hard 
chunks. 

When the contents of the first boiler are 
ready for pressing and the steam begins 
to issue from the pipe in the bottom of 




Fig. 11. — The pie.-s can pulled forward readv for 
filling. 

the press-can, pull the can for\Yard on the 
platform, holding it in position by mean^ 
of the spider on the lower end of the screw 
resting on the top of the can, as in Fig. 
11. Have ready a few pieces of good 
strong burlap, at least 40 inches square. 
Place one of these in the press-can; put 
the follower on top of it and throw a few 
dipperfuls of hot water from the other 
boiler into the can to heat thoroly all the 
parts. Pour this off and spread the bur- 
lap down into the can as in Fig. 12. Dip 
about two gallons of the melted comb and 
water into the press and fold the burlap 
neatly over it, as carefully as tho tying up 
a package. This is very important; for if 
there are thick roUs of the cloth in any one 
part of the " cheese," other parts of the 
refuse will not receive as much pressure as 
needed. To fold the burlap over, fold the 
back edge over toward the front, being 
careful to get the sides straight, then push 
the front edge over on top of it; lastly, 
fold in the sides neatly. Place the cleated 
circular follower in position (cleats down, 



of course) ; push the can back exactly 
ill the center of the platform and run the 
screw down very slowly — Fig. 13. 

At this time it may be necessary to turn 
down the gasoline burners under the first 
boiler in order that the contents may not 
get too hot; or, if it is on a stove, pull it 
over to the edge. Always use the utmost 
care to prevent the wax from slopping 
over. If it does, there is danger of having 
a serious fire. As soon as the water in the 
second boiler boils, begin filling that with 
combs. 

Always turn the screw down slowly. If 
it is run down rapidty before the liquid in 
the mass inside the burlap has time to 
squeeze out, the burlap and the contents 
inside are likely to squash up around the 
follower, interfering seriously Avith the 
escape of the water and wax. Turn the 
screw only when it turns easily. Of course, 
when it is clear down it may be turned 
tight; but there is really more danger in 
apphnng too much pressure than in not 
applying enough. 




12.— A 

material to use fo 



of stout burlap is the best 
iiolding the melted comb. 



Sufficient water should have been dipped 
in with the comb so that the water and 
wax, when the screw is clear down, will 
just about submerge the iron spider on the 
end of the screw. It ought to take two or 
three minutes to get the screw clear down. 



792 



WAX 



When it is down about as far as it will go, 
release the pressure until the cast-iron fol- 
lower is nearly out of the liquid; pull up 
on the rope handle of the wooden follower 
until it is free from the burlap, thus al- 
lowing the hot water to saturate the refuse 
again. After a minute or so apply the 




Fig. 13. — Applying the pressure. The wax rises to 
the top of the water. As much time nay be given to 
the pressing as desired — no danger of chilling, because 
of the jet of steam. 

pressure slowly once more. This process 
should be repeated two or three times. 

Instead of using a jet of steam as rec- 
ommended, an extra can may be used, one 
to be on the stove being reheated while the 
other is under the press. 

When the screw is finally down as far as 
it will go, place a washtub or a large can 
on the floor in front of the press and tip 
the latter over, pouring all the water and 
wax out. Leave the press tipped over a 
few moments until the wax drains out — 
Fig. 14. 

When no more wax will drain out, tip 
the press back into its regular position and 
pour the hot water and wax into an empty 
can or barrel having a faucet at the bot- 
tom. If a barrel is used which is smaller 
at the top, the hot water must first be 
drawn off after the work is over, and the 
wax run into previously soaped molds to 
harden. It is more convenient to use an 
oval-shaped can or round can that is larger 



at the top, so that the wax may be left 
right in it to harden in one large cake. 
There is no difficulty in lifting the cake 
out even tho it be 8 or 10 inches thick. 

The idea of the faucet at the bottom is 
to permit drawing off the hot water, so that 
it may be used over and over again. There 
is no object in using fresh water each 
time; therefore when the first boiler is 
empty, enough hot water may be drawn 
off from the supply-can to fill it half -full 
again for a fresh lot of combs. When first 
starting out, it is a good plan to fill the 
boilers a little more than half-full so that 
there will always be enough water for sub- 
sequent meltings. 

If the work has been carefully done, 
when the screw is raised after the water 
and wax have been drained off, and the 
follower taken out, the " cheese " will be 
dry, comparatively speaking; and when it 
is dumped out into the box or basket, if a 
handful is taken up and pressed momen- 
tarily between the fingers, no great amount 
of wax will show. If onlv a very fine line 




Fig. 14. — Whtn the piessing process is completed the 
whole outfit is tipped up on its hinges to pour off the 
hot water and wax. 

of wax appears in the ridges between the 
fingers the work has been done thoroly. It 
is convenient, if not absolutely necessary, 
to wear a pair of canvas gloves during the 
whole process ; for when the burlap is shaken 
out the refuse is exceedingly hot. When 
shaking out the burlap, if the refuse does not 
shake out clean, lay the cloth over the box, 
inside down, and quickly rub it between the 



WAX 



793 



hands. This will dislodge the refuse still 
clinging. Xow place the burlap over the 
press again and repeat the process. The 
same burlap should last for a dozen press- 
ings. Each time, however, look it over 
quickly to see if there is any sign of a 
weak spot or the beginning of a tear. If 
there is, discard it and use a new cloth. 

A heavy cloth or old sack should be 
thrown over the unheated can containing 
the supply of hot water and wax poured 
in from the can under the press; for the 
more this heat can be conserved, the shorter 
time it will take to start a new boilerful 
of combs. 

The final waste of wax by this process 
need not be over 3 per cent. There is no 
practical process that we know of that 
secures all the wax. 

REXDERIXG WAX FROM OLD COMBS IX LARGE 
QUAXTITIES. 

The foregoing plan is entii-ely adequate 
and satisfactory for a moderate amount of 
rendering; but when, for example, Amer- 
ican foul brood has obtained a strong foot- 
hold thruout the apiary or several apiaries, 
a larger outfit is required. There are like- 
wise those who make a business of melting 
up old combs for a given locality, and for 
such a more elaborate outfit is required. 

It is not practicable to build a wax- 
press of a large size on the precise model 
just described, for the reason that the 
larger " cheeses " are not as easily handled, 
nor will they receive the same amount of 
pressure. Practice shows that it is much 
more satisfactory to use two screws over 
an oblong " cheese " in an oblong tank or 
boiler. The subjoined illustrations will 
show a type of double-screw press with 
which the author turned out 142 pounds 
of wax from old combs on the first day's 
trial, getting practically all the wax. With 
more practice he could turn out a larger 
output. 

It is not practicable to heat the larger 
press with a small jet of steam from a 
small boiler, such as one could rig up for 
himself. However, where one can have 
access to a larger boiler, steam heating is 
all right; but as the great majority of the 
readers of this work will not be so situated 
they will have to employ other means. It 
has been found entirely practicable to put 



the press upon four short legs so its plat- 
form will be on the same height as a small 
two-burner gasoline or kerosene stove. 
When this stove is placed in line with the 
press, to heat or reheat its contents it is 
an easy matter to slide the boiler from 
under the press to the top of the stove and 
back again. There is no need of having 
heat when pressure is being applied. After 
several successive squeezings the boiler or 
tank can be slid over, emptied, and a fresh 
batch reheated while on the stove. This 
obviates entirelj' the nuisance of applying 
the pressure with the press on the stove, 
and at the same time pro\ades a stable 
foundation for the press while the screws 
are being turned down. 

THE EQUIPMEXT XEEDED. . 

There should be three tin wash-boilers, 
a water-tight barrel with a one-inch auger- 
hole close to the bottom containing a well- 
fitting plug, and two two-burner gasoline- 
stoves or their equivalent. A cookstove 
would answer the purpose just as well, 
altho, being higher, it would not be quite 
so convenient. A large dipper is also 
needed, and this can easily be made by 




Fig. 15. — When the press is drawn out over the 
stove, the screws are entirely out of the way and it is 
therefore an easy matter to refill. A burlap 40 x 70 
inches is used in order that the edges may be long 
enough to fold over and pin. 

nailing a wooden handle to the side of a 
10-lb. pail. The burlap used for holding 
the melted combs should be strong and 
without holes or weak places. The size 
best suited for the purpose is 40 x 70 
inches. Half a dozen pieces should be 
suflicient for 500 or 600 pounds of wax. 
Half a barrel of water is needed. This can 
be used over and over again for several 



794 



WAX 



days if desired. If the barrel is kept cov- 
ered up at night the water will still be 
quite warm in the morning, so it does not 
take so long to heat up as at first. If the 
water is hard, it pays to soften it with 
powdered borax, altho rainwater is best. 

HOW TO PROCEED. 

Fill two wash-boilers two-thirds full of 
water and" put them over the stove to heat. 
When the water in both boilers is boiling, 
start putting combs into one, which I shall 
call No. 1, two or three at a time, poking 
them down in with a stick. Pour the boil- 
ing water in No. 2 into the barrel and 
cover with an old piece of carpet to pre- 




FiG. 16. — After folding over and pinning the sides 
with five large nails, fold over the ends of the burlap 
and pin with tw6 nails. As soon as the follower is laid 
on the press can and its contents are slid under the 
screws. Being hot, the can slides as easily as the it 
were on rolls. 



vent loss of heat ; then fill No. 2 again two- 
thirds full of cold water and put on the 
stove as before. Continue putting the 
combs into No. 1, poking each two or three 
down carefully. If the combs are old and 
tough the boiler will not hold more than 
35 or 40. If the combs happen to be fairly 
new, as many as 50 or even 60 can be put 
in at a time on account of the fact that 
there are fewer cocoons. When all the 
combs are in, cover the boiler by putting 
over it a few thin boards cleated together. 
Do not attempt to start pressing before 
the contents have come to a boil. The mere 
fact that the comb seems to be melted and 
mushy is no indication that it is hot 
enough. Stir occasionally; and when the 
boiling commences, take the cover off to 
prevent the wax and water from boiling 
over. If it starts to boil over, stir it a 



little with a stick; or, in an emergency, 
lift it off the fire altogether. Usually, 
however, this is not necessary. 

Put the cleated follower into the press- 
can; push the can under the press and 
turn the screws down. Draw off a couple 
of pails of hot water from the barrel and 
pour into the can so as to heat thoroly 
every part. Take boiler No. 2 (containing 
water only) off the stove and put the 
stove in a position in line with the press 
and eight or nine inches from it. Draw off 
the water in the press-can; pour it back 
into the barrel, close the gate on the end of 
the can, and, after raising the screws, draw 
the can out over the stove. There will be 
enough water in the bottom to prevent 
burning. Take out the follower; spread 
one of the pieces of burlap evenly over the 
can, tucking it down into the corners, and 
dip about half the melted combs in boiler 
No. 1 into the burlap. Then pick up the 
whole boiler and pour in the rest. If there 
is a great wad of w^res, as there will be if 
the frames were wired originally, pull these 
apart with a stick enough so that they will 
not all be in one place. Fold over the 
sides of the burlap, pulling over enough so 
that the mass is perhaps two inches away 
from the edge of the can, and pin with 
five large nails; then fold over the ends 
and pin with a couple of nails. It is bet- 
ter to double the edges so the nails will not 
tear the threads. Be sure that there is no 
wad of burlap in any one place, and that 
the edges lie smoothly. Put the follower 
over the burlap, screen side down, and 
quickly slide the can under the press. The 
can being hot it slides almost as if it were 
on rollers, especially after a few drops of 
wax have dripped on to the platform, thor- 
oly lubricating every surface. The longer 
the can is used, the easier it slides back and 
forth. 

With the can in position, turn the screws 
down slowly. Especially at the start, do 
not make the fatal mistake of turning the 
screws down to the limit without stopping, 
for it is almost sure to burst the burlap. 
(If you burst the burlap just once you will 
always afterward be careful.) Turn the 
screws down only as fast as they turn easi- 
ly, therefore. As soon as they turn a lit- 
tle hard, wait until some of the wax and 
hot water have had a chance to ooze out. 
It is all right to apply considerable pres- 



WAX 



795 



sure when the screws have been turned 
down nearlj^ to the limit, for then the 
" cheese " contains so little liquid that there 
is practically no danger of bursting the 
burlap. 

As soon as the can has been slid under 
the press, fill the empty boiler (No. 1) two- 
thirds full of hot water again from the 
bottom of the barrel and put it on the 
stove by the press. Put boiler No. 2 (which 
should now be full of partly melted comb) 
on the other stove to finish heating for the 
next pressing. 

In order to make the process continuous, 
start putting comb in boiler No. 1 again, 
now on the stove by the press. Two lots of 
comb are thus in the process of heating at 
the same time, the one to be pressed next 
being the nearest finished, while the other 
is just starting. 

As soon as the screws are down practi- 
cally as far as they will go, release the 
pressure, turning the screws up out of the 
way; lift boiler No. 1 temporarily off the 
stove and pull the press-can out on to it. 
Cover it with short boards cleated together 



and leave it in this position until it comes 
to a boil, then quickly slide back under the 
press and press again. Repeat this process 
until the batch has been pressed three 
times. Between pressings always draw the 
can out over the fire to come to a boil. The 
object of this is to permit the refuse to 
become saturated again with boiling water. 
Heating to the boiling-point between each 
pressing makes possible a saving of about 
two per cent of wax. Whenever the press- 
can is not occupying the stove the boiler 
should be put back over it, so that the heat 
will not be wasted. The contents of this 
boiler, therefore, has the intermittent heat- 
ing while one batch is pressing, then dur- 
ing the pressing of the next batch it is 
transferred to the other stove where it has 
constant heating so that it will be ready by 
the time the press is empty again. 

As soon as the screws have been turned 
down for the third time, practicallj- as far 
as they will go, place a third boiler under 
the gate while the screws are still down and 
open the gate. Catch a dipperful of the 
water as it first comes out of the press and 




Fic. 17. — While it sounds like a tedious process yet as a matter of fact it is possible to press a batch of 40 
combs ever\' 45 minutes. Thirteen batches were pressed in a single day yielding in all 142 pounds of clean 
yellow wax. The small cake on top about % inch thick represents the amount of wax in a boiler after one 
batch is pressed — about 10 pounds. 



796 



WAX 



set it on the floor. When all the wax and 
water have run out, splash the hot water 
in the dipper over the follower while the 
screws are still turned down, thus rinsing 
off the coating of hot wax. Then tip up 
one end of the press so as to drain out the 
last of the water and wax into the boiler. 
Pour this hot water and wax immediately 
into the barrel and cover mth the old car- 
pet. The wax will rise to the top; and, 
when more hot water is wanted a little 
later, another boilerful may be drawn from 
the hole at the bottom. 

As soon as empty, draw the press-can 
out over the stove. Take out the follower 
and the " cheese " and put the latter to 
one side for the present. If there is not 
enough water in the can to prevent burn- 
ing, throw in a couple of quarts with the 
dipper. Spread a fresh burlap over the 
press-can and proceed as before. Later 
on, when there is time, the first " cheese " 
set aside may be unpinned and the refuse 
shaken out. The burlap should be rubbed 
between the hands so as to remove the 
cocoons that have imbedded in the cloth. 
Much depends on having the burlap clean 
when it is used over again. 

A little experience will determine how 
much water to put in the boilers. There 
should be enough so that the surface of the 
liquid will be about an inch from the top 
of the press-can, when the follower is sub- 
merged by the screw. If the press-can is 
too full it makes it difficult to slide back 
and forth without slopping, and if there is 
not enough, it detracts from the efficiency 
of the method. During the pressing, it is 
a good plan to cover the can with four 
boards, notched at one edge, to surround 
the screw. This confines the heat and 
makes it possible to do faster work. 

The process as described in detail sounds 
complicated, but is really very simple. It 
is easy to finish a batch every 45 minutes. 
The average amount of wax secured each 
time is 10 pounds. As mentioned in the 
early part of this article, we pressed 13 
batches in a day and secured 142 pounds 
of wax in all. The refuse, moreover, when 
we were thru with it, contained less than 
two per cent of the original amount of 
wax. 

Before starting work the second morn- 
ing the cake of wax on top of the water in 
the barrel should be broken up and taken 



out. The pieces require only a little scrap- 
ing on the bottom to be ready for market. 
The water, still warm, is quickly heated so 
that the work can be resumed very shortly. 
When diseased combs are rendered, es- 
pecially those containing some honey, 
every precaution should be taken to pre- 
vent the bees from robbing. If the build- 
ings cannot be made bee-tight, the work 
must be done at night, and every tool and 
utensil used thoroly scalded. The refuse 
from the diseased combs should be burned, 
and the water which was used poured 
where the bees cannot possibly get access 
to it. 

THE AMOUNT OP WAX IN COMBS. 

The question is often asked how much 
wax can be rendered from comb holding 
a given amount of honey; but it is quite 
difficult to answer such questions, as it 
makes considerable difference whether full 
sheets of foundation were used, and also 




Honey pressed from a section ; result — over 14 ounces 
honey, V2 ounce of wax, and 1 ounce of wood, 

whether such foundation was thick or thin. 
In general, however, it requires about 4 
lbs. of wax in comb to hold 100 lbs of 
honey, or, in other words, a pound of new 
comb will hold about 25 lbs. of honey. 

A sixteen-ounce section of honey con- 
sists approximately of 14^/2 ounces of 
honey — a little over one-half ounce of wax 
and about one ounce of wood. Above is 
shown the result after separating the 
honey, wax, and wood, in a sixteen-ounce 
section. Of course, these results, as be- 
fore mentioned, are not always the same, 
and the different amounts vary consider- 
ably. 

On one occasion we melted over 600 lbs. 
of candied comb honey. Keeping careful 
account of the weights, we found that the 
percentages of honey, wax, and wood were 
approximately 88, 5, and 7, respectively. 



WAX 



797 



REPINING BEESWAX. 

Wax cakes, as they are bought up, are 
usually of all grades and colors. The dif- 
ference in color is due largely to the 
amount of impurities the wax contains. 
With all of the plans for bleaching or clar- 
ifying there seems to be no practical or 
satisfactory way of bringing a small 
amount of wax to a yellow color. 

Acid for refining wax on a small scale is 
not to be recommended, for, without 
proper receptacles and facilities for heat- 
ing, the wax is more often injured than 
benefited. 

BLEACHING BEESWAX. 

There are methods by which beeswax 
can be bleached by the use of chemicals; 
but for practical purposes it is unwise to 
attempt them. Moreover, it has finally 
been discovered that, for the economic uses 
of the beekeeper, foundation made of 
bleached wax is no better than, if as good 
as, that having the natural yellow color. 
Yellow wax is more ductile, and therefore 



more easily worked by the bees; and even 
when used for section honey-boxes, the 
combs from yellow wax are about as white 
as those from the bleached; so that when 
capped over no one can tell the difference. 
But very often dealers have a call for 
bleached beeswax; and the only practical 
way of getting it is to convert the product 
into thin sheets or small particles, and then 
subject them to the sun's rays for a suit- 
able length of time. When sufficiently 
bleached they may be melted up and caked. 

HOW TO DETECT ADULTERATED WAX. 

Mention has already been made that 
beeswax is liable to adulteration with par- 
affin or ceresin, and sometimes with ordi- 
nary grease or fat. Some unscrupulous 
box-hive beekeepers, after brimstoning 
their old " skeps," and melting up the 
wax,* add just enough tallow to increase 
the weight, because grease is cheap com- 
pared with the ordinary product of the 
hive. But such adulterations are ver\ 
easily detected, both by smell and sight. 

* See Box Hives. 




A hive of bees nearly burned up by the heat froui an immense lumber yard fire close by. See page 779. 
Someone threw a pail of water over the hive and put the fire out. During all this heat, the bees, by vigorously 
fanning with their wings, kept the hive ventilated so that the combs did not melt. Combs made from paraffin 
or any substitute for beeswax would melt even with the heat of the sun. Beeswax has the highest melting 
point for its ductility of any wax known. 



798 



WEIGHT OF BEES 



The cakes have a greasy smell and feeling; 
and when subjected to the float test, pres- 
ently described, will immediately rise to 
the top of the liquid. Parafi&n and ceresin 
adulterations are not so easily recognized; 
but nearly all pure beeswax, when chewed 
for a few minutes, will crumble in fine 
particles, while wax containing a small 
percentage of paraffin or ceresin will chew 
like sealing wax and chewing-gum. 

The simi)iest and most reliable test is 
the float or specific-gravity test. The spe- 
cific gravity of our ordinary commercial 
paraffins and ceresins is below that of 
beeswax. As an ordinary article of pure 
beeswax is lighter than water (wax stand- 
ing 965 and water at 1000), of course it 
will float in water. 

Into a jar partly filled with water pour 
alcohol until a small piece of beeswax of 
known purity settles to the bottom, taking 
care not to pour in too much alcohol, for 
the wax should barely sink to the bottom; 
that is, the alcoholic liquid and the wax 
should be of the same specific gravity. If 
a piece of adulterated beeswax containing, 
say, 50 per cent of paraffin or ceresin is 
now put into the liquid it will float on the 
surface of the liquid. Another piece of 
wax that contains only 10 per cent of adul- 
teration should be tested. It still floats, 
but has a tendency to sink almost under 
the surface.. If another piece containing 
only 5 per cent is tested it may float or 
gradually settle to the bottom of the jar, 
perhaps standing upon a single point. 

For all practical purposes this float is 
entirely reliable; that is, it has so far 
shown every adulterated sample. A large 
shipment of beeswax was sent in. It was 
very beautiful, and the cakes were all of a 
uniform size; but the price was very low. 
It was suspicious, and accordingly it was 
subjected to the float test. Sure enough, 
a small piece of the wax stayed on top of 
the test liquid. It was then put into a 
liquid that would let a 25 per cent ceresin 
adulteration sink. After hovering near the 
surface it gradually sank, and acted like 
the piece of wax that was known to contain 
25 per cent of ceresin. 

We wrote to the shipper that we did not 
want adulterated wax; that we must have 
the pure article; that he would have to 
take the stuff off our hands. He did it 
very promptly, without even trying to de- 



fend himself, any more than to say that he 
thought we were not very particular. He 
knew better, but thought he could unload 
the stuff without our being any the wiser. 

CLEANING WAX FEOM UTENSILS. 

Perhaps the readiest means is to im- 
merse the utensils in boiling water until all 
the wax is thoroly melted off, then drain, 
while hot. They can then be wiped off 
with soft newspaper. Where the article 
cannot be easily immersed, benzine or a 
solution of salsoda will readily dissolve 
the wax so it can be cleaned off with a 
cloth. Gasoline dissolves wax almost as 
readily as water dissolves sugar. 

WAX WORMS,— See Moth Miller. 

WEIGHT OF BEES.— Some very in- 
teresting, experiments were conducted by 
Prof. B. F. Koons, of the Agricultural 
College, Storrs, Ct., to determine the 
weight of bees and the amount of honey 
they can carry. The results of these ex- 
periments were given in Gleanings in Bee 
Culture; and the article is so valuable 
that it is given here: 

Some two years ago, in a leisure hour I 
went to my apiary and captured one outgo- 
ing bee from every hive and subjected them 
to fumes of cyanide of potassium for a few 
moments to render them inactive, and then 
weighed each bee upon our chemical balances 
— a pair of scales so delicately adjusted that 
it is an easy matter to weigh the one-mil- 
lionth part of a pound or the one-thousandth 
part of a bee. From the weight of each 
separate bee it was a very simple problem 
in arithmetic to compute the number of bees 
in a pound. The results showed that mine, 
which perhaps are a fair average in size and 
weight, ran from 4,141 to 5,669 in a pound. 
These results you published in Gleanings, 
and there expressed a wish that I would also 
determine the amount of honey carried by a 
homing bee. In my research for the weight 
of bees I took those just leaving the hive, 
which naturally would represent the normal 
weight, without extra honey or pollen. 

During the present summer (when the bees 
were very active) I have undertaken to carry 
out your request as to the amount of honey 
carried by a bee. My method was this: 
From the chemical laboratory I secured a 
couple of delicate glass flasks with corks, 
marking them A and B. Each was very 
carefully weighed, and the weight recorded. 
I then went to a hive, and, with the aid 
of a pair of delicate pliers, or pincers, I 
captured a number of incoming bees and 
dropped them into flask A. I then secured 



WEIGHT OF BEES 



799 



about an H<iual number of ontgoing bees in 
flask B. These were then taken to the lab- 
oratory immediately, and each flask again 
weighed, after which the bees were carefully 
counted and released. This operation was 
repeated quite a number of times, not on the 
same day, but as opportunity offered, and 
when the bees were bringing in an abundance 
of honey. I captured from 20 to 45 bees for 
each flask at each trip, aiming to have, as 
nearly as might be, the same number in each 
flask on any particular trip. I always weighed 
the flasks before starting out, lest some little 
bit of soil or stain, or even moisture on the 
glass, would render the results less accurate; 
I also always allowed any moisture condensed 
upon the inside of the flasks, while the bees 
were confined, to evaporate before weighing 
for another trip. I then treated my results 
as follows: From the weight of flask and 
bees I deducted the weight of the flask; the 
remainder I divided by the number of bees 
confined on that trip. This gave me the 
average weight of the bees captured at that 
time. The average weight of the bees in flask 
A, or loaded bees, was always greater, as it 
should be, than the average weight of the bees 
in flask B, or unloaded bees. The difference 
between these two weights gave me the aver- 
age amount of honey carried by that lot of 
bees. 

Mine are Italian and hybrid bees, but I 
made no attempt to determine the difference 
in the amount carried by the different swarms 
or breeds. I kept no record of the swarms 
except that I guarded against going to the 
same hive for a second lot of bees. A con- 
siderable difference does appear, but probably 
that arises in part from the abundance or 
scarcity of honey on any particular day when 
the colony was visited. My aim was to secure 
reliable results, as nearly as possible repre- 
senting the average amount of honey carried 
by bees. 

The following is the result of weighing 
several hundred each, of returning and out- 
going bees. The smallest number of bees nec- 
essary to carry one pound of honey, as shown 
by my results, is 10,154; or, in other words, 
one bee can carry the 1-10,154 (one ten thou- 
sand one hundred and fifty-fourth) part of a 
pound of honey; and the largest number, as 
shown by the results, required to carry a 
pound is 45,642; and the average of all the 
sets weighed is 20,167. Perhaps, then, it is 
approximately correct to say that the average 
load of a bee is 1-20,000 (one twenty-thou- 
sandth) of a pound ; or, in other words, if a 
colony has 2-0,000 bees in it, and each one 
makes one trip a day, they will add the pound 
to their stores. Of course, not all the bees in 
a colony leave the hive, the nurses remaining 
at home, hence necessitating more trips of 
those which do " go a-field." 

I also repeated my observations of two 
years ago on the weight of bees, and found 
that my numbers ran from 3,680 to 5,495 in 
a pound, and the average about 4,800, the 
same as in my former test. I likewise secured 
the following on the weight of drones: Of a 



dozen or more weighed, the largest would re- 
quire 1,808 to make a pound and tlie smallest 
2,122, or an average of about 2,000 drones in 
a pound, over against nearly 5,000 workers. 

B. F. Koons. 
Agricultural College, Storrs, Ct., Sept. 3, 
1895. 

In a nutshell, and speaking in round 
numbers, it may be said that it takes 4,800 
bees to make a pound; and that, while 
10,000 bees may carry a pound of nectar., 
twice that number, or 20,000, is probably 
more nearly the average. During bass- 
wood bloom, the first figure should be con- 
sidered as the nearer correct one because 
the bees drop down at the entrance; but 
from almost all other sources of nectar the 
twenty-thousand mark is the one to accept. 

These interesting figures may be looked 
at another way: A bee can carry half its 
w'eight in nectar; and perhaps, under cer- 
tain circumstances, a trifle more ; but, gen- 
erally speaking, one-fourth its weight is 
the amount. We had a colony that brought 
in over 43 lbs. in three days ; and Doolittle 
had one that brought in 66 lbs. in the same 
time from basswood; but usually four or 
five pounds is considered a remarkably big 
day's work. (See Scale Hive.) In the 
last instance in which 20 lbs. were gath- 
ered in one day, if we estimate there were 
8 lbs. of bees, then there would be 38,400 
bees. If 20,000 of these w^ere field bees 
(estimating 10,000 necessary to carry a 
single pound of basswood nectar), those 
bees must have made ten trips. On the 
same basis of calculation, a colony of 
equal strength that brought in 5 lbs. would 
make one-fourth as many trips, or two and 
one-half trips. This would leave one hour 
for each trip in case 20 lbs were gathered; 
or, in the case of 5 lbs., two and one-half 
hours. 

Both Profs. Gillette and Lazenby, the 
former of the Colorado Experiment Sta- 
tion and the latter of the Ohio State Uni- 
versitj^, conducted a series of experiments 
which closely approximate figures of Prof. 
Koons, so it may be assumed they are 
correct. 

WEAK COLONIES, TO STRENGTHEN. 

— See Uniting^ sub-head "Alexander Plan," 
also Nucleus and Building up Colonies 

WHITE CLOVER.— See Clover. 

WHITE HOLLY.— See Gallberry. 



800 



WILLOW 



WILD CHERRY {Prunus serotina) , 
known locally as black cherry. Few trees 
of Florida are more stately and more sym- 
metrical in their growth than the wild 
cherry. It is native all over Florida, on 
high pine lands and in low hummocks. 
The wood is a beautiful red, with a fine 
grain, and is very valuable for cabinet 
purposes. The wood is, however, somewhat 
softer than that of the wild cherry of the 
North iPrunus pennsylvanica) . In ap- 
pearance it closely resembles the wild 
cherry of more northern latitudes. It sel- 
dom fails to jdeld honey, and bountifully 
too. Coming as it does just before the 
orange trees bloom, it gives a final spurt 
to brood-rearing that is valuable indeed. 
As a surplus honey it is more of a pest 
than a benefit, as the honey is dark red, 
and as bitter as wormwood. The flavor 
of a cherry pit is about that of this honey. 
It does not take a great deal of it to spoil 
the flavor and color of the first orange 
honey of the season, and many beemen in 
orange sections must extract their supers 
of all traces of wild-cherry honey or have 
their fancy orange honey touched and 
tinged. In the vicinity of DeLand, Fla., 
it is a real nuisance after the orange honey 
commences to come in. Up to that time it 
is a bonanza and a blessing to the apiarist. 
The writer has in many eases placed a 
half-depth ^uper on the strong colonies 
when they were storing from wild cherry, 
which was removed when the wild cherry 
was over and orange began. Then he 
would extract the supers and put back on 
the hives for the flow of orange honey. 

WILD SUNFLOWER.— See Sunflower. 

WILLOW {Salix).—Th.i?. is a very nat- 
ural or clearly defined genus of shrubs 
and trees found chiefly in the north tem- 
perate and arctic zones. Of the 161 de- 
scribed species, about 78 occur in North 
America, more than 30 of which are in 
eastern America. So variable are the spe- 
cies, and so freely do they hybridize, that 
any entirely satisfactory treatment from a 
systematic standpoint is impossible. The 
Swedish botanist Anderson, whose mono- 
graph, published in the Prodromus of De 
Candolle, was the work of nearly 25 years, 
declared that of Salix nigricans, which has 
120 synonyms, he never saw two specimens 



that were exactly alike. In Great Britain 
the number of species of willow has been 
placed all the way from 12 to 80. 

The very small flowers are naked, or de- 
void of both sepals and petals, and are 
crowded together on an elongated stem or 
axis forming a cluster called an ament or 
catkin. The stamens and pistils in all spe- 
cies are in separate flowers, which are 
borne on different individual plants, some 
producing only staminate flowers, others 
only pistillate ones. In a staminate ament 
of the pussy willow {S. discolor) the writer 
has actually counted 270 flowers, and in a 
pistillate ament 142 flowers. The multi- 
tude of bright-yellow anthers render the 
staminate blossoms very conspicuous. As 
an evidence of their attractiveness, it may 
be mentioned that they are used in Eng- 




Pussv willow in seed. 



land for decorating the churches on Palm 
Sunday, and are offered for sale in New 
England cities by street flower-venders. 
The flowers are formed the preceding sea- 
son, and appear in early spring before or 
with the leaves. 

All of our species furnish both pollen 
and nectar, but it would, of course, be 
useless to look for pollen on pistillate 
shrubs or trees. The nectar is freely se- 
creted in both kinds of flowers on the tips 
of minute flat glands, which in the pistil- 
late flowers may be found at the base of 
the ovary. As our early willows attract 
great numbers of insects, the supply of 
nectar may be temporarily exhausted; but 
it should not be concluded, therefore, that 
it is wholly absent. If a branch of flow- 



WILLOW-HERB 



801 



ers be broken off and carried into the house 
and placed in water, and the nectaries ex- 
amined after 24 hours under a microscope, 
nectar will probabl}' be found in abun- 
dance. 

The earliest willow to blossom in Xew 
England is the glaucous or pussy willow 
{Salix discolor Muhl.). On a calm warm 
day the sweet odor may be detected several 
rods away, and a swarm of insects may be 
seen hovering about the bright-yellow 
sprays of bloom. Besides honeybees there 
are female bumblebees, the only form of 
bumblebee then on the wing, and great 
numbers of wild bees belonging to the 
genus Andrena gathering pollen for brood- 
rearing. Several species of these bees are 
never found on anj' other flowers than the 




Golden willow. 

willows. Then there are many flies and a 
few butterflies and beetles. Ants often 
climb the stems and rob the flowers of the 
nectar, which is quite plentiful. In Eng- 
land some willows are said to be visited by 
moths in the evening. 

The early-blooming willows are visited 
by large numbers of honeybees, both for 
pollen and nectar, and are of great value 
to the beekeeper. One of the commonest 
willows in the Eastern States is the pussy 
willow, which is a large shrub growing on 
river banks. In Massachusetts it blooms 
along the last of .March and early in April. 
In Georgia the black willow {S. nigra 
Marsh) grows along the streams thruout 
the State. It blooms in March, and in a 
few localities yields a surplus of honey of 
26 



medium quality. The black willow is also 
common in Texas, where it is valued both 
for pollen and honey. Other willows 
which are common in the Eastern States 
are S. sericea Marsh (silky willow) ; S. 
rostrata Richards, and S. cordnta Muhl. 
In California, Richter says, the willows 
yield a surplus in several counties. It is 
a dark-amber, bitter honey. 

Among the willows introduced from 
Europe, and cultivated, are the osier wil- 
low {S. viminalis L.) ; the Kilmarnock 
willow {S. caprea L.) ; the white willow 
(^S*. alba L.), of which there is a variety 
with yellow twigs called viellina, and the 
weeping willow [S. babylonica L.). 

A honey flow from the wiUows at Boro- 
dino, X. Y., was described by G. M. Doo- 
little as follows: 

We have three kinds of willows — the golden, 
the white, and the weeping willow, which are 
of much value as honey-producers in the order 
named. When these willows are in bloom, 
and the weather warm, the bees rush out of 
their hives at early dawn, and work on the 
flowers all day long as eagerly as they do on 
clover or basswood. The blossoms often se- 
crete nectar so profusely that it can be seen 
gUstening in the morning by holding the blos- 
soms between you and the sun, while the trees 
resound with that dull busy hum from morn- 
ing tni night, so often heard when bees are 
getting honey. As this is the very first honey 
of the season, I consider it of the greatest 
value to the bees, for brood is now crowded 
forward with great " vim," giving us the 
bees which work on white clover, while the 
honey often very greatly helps the depleted 
stores of the hive. 

From the few trees along a small ereek near 
here, my bees frequently make a gain of from 
six to ten pounds of honey while the willows 
are in bloom, and one season they made a gain 
of fifteen pounds. This spring some of my 
best colonies gained eight pounds from wil- 
low, while on apple bloom they did not get 
more than a li\i.ng from apple orchards white 
with bloom all about. The honey from the 
willow is quite similar to that from the apple 
bloom, and has a nice aromatic flavor. As the 
willows give the first pollen, and also the first 
honey each season, it will be seen what a 
great help they are to all who have them in 
profusion near their bees. The only draw- 
back is the weather often being unfavorable, 
for I do not think that more than one year in 
three gives good weather all thru the time wil- 
lows are in blossom. As it is often too cold, 
rainy, cloudy, or windy for the bees to get to 
the trees at this season of the year, honey and 
pollen from this source are not at all certain. 

WILLOW-HERB (Epilobium angusti- 
folium L.). — Also often called fireweed. 




'fTie wlilow-herb of northern Michigan. — No. 1. the blcssom ; No. 2. the olant : Nos. 3 and 4. its habitat. 



WINTERING 



803 



and sometimes Indian pink and rose bay; 
occurs in the northern part of Europe, 
Asia, and North America; in eastern 
America it extends southward along the 
Appalachian Chain to North Carolina, and 
in the West it follows down the Rocky 
Mountains to California. Its growth is 
confined, however, largely to the lumber- 
ing regions of northern Wisconsin, Min- 
nesota. Michigan, Canada, Washington, 
and New England, upon areas that have 
been burned over ; hence the name, '' fire- 
weed." After forest fii-es it seems to spring 
up spontaneously, monopolizing the soil it- 
self. Sometimes it grows in localities never 
so devastated. 

It is a handsome plant, usually only a 
single stalk growing from two to six feet 
high. The flowers are dark pink, arranged 
in clusters around the stalk. As the season 
advances, the fii'st bloom goes to seed; and 
as the stalk extends upward, more blos- 
soms appear, so the plant keeps in bloom 
from July till frost. Thus appear on each 
stalk buds, blossoms, and seed pods at the 
same time. 

Willow-herb, or fireweed, yields large 
quantities of white honey. Some of it is 
so light-colored as to be actually as clear 
and limpid as water, having a flavor sim- 
ply superb — at least so we thought after 
eating some at one of the Michigan con- 
ventions which we attended at Grand Rap- 
ids. Mr. Hutchinson styled it the whitest 
and sweetest honey he ever tasted, and said 
the flavor, while not very pronounced, is 
suggestive of spice. The quality' of the 
honey, its unfailing supply from year to 
year, following right after clover and bass- 
wood, and blooming from then till frost, 
make it one of the most valuable honey 
plants known. _ Unfortunately, its growth 
is confined almost exclusively to the regions 
where forest fii'es occur. But beekeepers 
situated in its vicinity are enabled to se- 
cure immense crops of fine white honey. 
Another remarkable feature of the plant 
is, it yields every year — at least so contin- 
uously that a failure has scarcely been 
known, even by the oldest inhabitants in 
the vicinity where it grows. 

Mr. Hutchinson estimated that in north- 
ern Michigan, where this plant grows, 
there are thousands of acres without bees 
to gather its delicious nectar. But this 
condition certainlv can not long exist; for 



where one can produce anywhere from 100 
to 125 pounds of comb honey per colony, 
unoccupied fields will soon be covered by 
beekeepers, after the manner of the rush 
of the gold-seekers to the Klondike. 

In Figs. 2, 3 and 4 will be seen the 
straight black shafts of dead pine trees 
that stand out alone as the only survivals 
of their class from the fii'e. 

Probably more than half of northern 
Michigan was once covered with white and 
Norway pine, which has now been nearly 
all cut off for lumber. During the first 
dry season after the cutting, fire burns 
over this stump land, and two or three 
years later the willow-herb comes to matur- 
ity. There was a time when this produced 
large quantities of very fine honey; but as 
the pine is now all cut, or nearly so, the 
prospect is that willow-herb in Michigan 
has had its day. 

WINTERING.— Whoever has gone over 
faithfully the preceding pages is now 
nearly ready to sum up the matter of win- 
tering. Under the head of Abscoxdixg 
SvrAR:^rS;, in the opening of the book, and 
under the subject of Uxitixg^ he has been 
cautioned against dividing, and trying to 
winter weak colonies. See ^'Absconding in 
the Spring," under the head mentioned. 
In regard to keeping bees warm thru the 
winter with Artificial Heat, see that 
head ; also Temperature. Concerning the 
effects of different kinds of food or stores 
on the welfare of bees during winter, see 
Asters^ Dysentery^ Hoxeydew, Spring 
!Maxagemext^ Feedixg axd Feeders, 
Caxdy for Bees,, and Sprixg Dwixdlixg. 
On the subject of fixing the size of the 
entrances, see Extraxces to Hr-es, Vex- 
tilatiox^ and Swarmixg. Some very im- 
IDortant information is given under Ex- 
traxces; and it would be advisable to re- 
read that article before one takes up the 
matter further here. For management in 
the spring, see Sprixg Maxagemext, 
Dysextery, and Sprixg Dwixdlixg. For 
a consideration of the different sizes and 
shapes of frames for wintering see Hives, 
also Frames. For the discussion of 
double-walled or chaff hives, see HnT:s. 
For stimulation in the spring, see Feed- 
ixg, subhead " Feeding to Stimulate." For 
the consideration of windbreaks, see 
'' Windbreaks," under Apiary. For the 



804 



WINTERING 



effect of lioneydew on wintering, see 

HONEYDEW. 

TWO METHODS FOR WINTERING BEES. 

There are two methods in vogue. One is 
called the indoor plan and the other the 
outdoor. Which one the reader shall use 
depends entirely on the locality — that is 
the climate and kind of winter stores. 
Where the winters are extremely cold, with 
continuous freezing weather, without a 
break thru the months of December, Janu- 



almost universal. In such localities the 
ordinary double-walled hives give excellent 
results, altho there is a tendency at this 
writing toward the large winter cases 
already mentioned. In a general way it 
may be said the indoor plan should never 
be used where the fall flow is of inferior 
quality or where the winters turn from 
mild to severely cold, the variations taking 
place every week or two weeks, unless the 
cellars or repositories are wholly under- 
ground, with three or four feet of earth 
on top. 



i 



■^\^^,'^^- 






T 




^.^<V> 







wintering at the apiary of F. J. Miller of London, Ontario, Canada. 



ary, February, and March, the indoor plan 
prevails. The ordinary double-walled hives 
are hardly warm enough in these very cold 
localities unless such hives are covered with 
deep snow that does not thaw and freeze 
during winter. Thruout Canada there is a 
tendency to use large winter cases capable 
of holding four or more hives with at least 
six inches of packing all around; and 
the bees are kept in these cases till some 
time in May. 

In the milder climates, such as may be 
found south of the Great Lakes and north 
of the Ohio River, outdoor wintering is 



The Bureau of Entomology, in Bulletin 
1014 on Wintering Bees in Cellars, gives 
the accompanying map showing regions 
where cellar wintering may be practiced 
with profit. Where the average tempera- 
ture is 25° F., or slightly lower, the bees 
may be wintered profitably in the cellar, 
provided the stores are good; where the 
average winter temperature is as low as 
]5° F., cellar wintering is preferable. 

Thruout the Southern States it has been 
the practice to winter bees in single-walled 
hives on their summer stands. It has gen- 
erally been considered that extra packing 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



S05 



or double-walled hives are a useless ex- 
pense; but experiments conducted by the 
Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C, 
in 1913 and 1914 go to show that some 
packing, even in the Southern States, may, 
in some cases, be used to advantage. Ref- 
erence to this will be made further on. 

Altho cellar wintering requires less ex- 
pensive hives, it involves more skill — espe- 
cially so if the cellar or winter repository 
does not afford all the favorable conditions. 
Just what these are will be referred to 
later. While the outdoor method, on the 
other hand, demands double-walled hives, 



late, with a warm spell followed by a very 
severe cold one, losses are likely to be 
heavy, even among the most experienced 
beekeepers. But these losses can, to a verj' 
great extent, be minimized, even during 
very cold winters, provided one makes a 
studj^ of his locality, regarding the aver- 
age weather conditions that prevail. It 
will be the object of the articles that fol- 
low to set forth as nearly as possible some 
of the difficulties to be encountered, so that 
the reader may intelligently undertake the 
problem. It is well to state, tho, that the 
verv severe winters referred to do not occur 




Map of the United States showing zone 1 where cellar wintering is profitable, and zone 2 where cellar 
wintering is preferable. This map is based on temperature as well as the quality of winter stores. — Map used 
from Bureau of Entomolog}', Farmers' Bulletin 1014. 



winter cases, or something to protect the 
hives on their summer stands, and a 
shielded location protected from the pre- 
vailing winds, it does not require that de- 
gree of skill made necessary when the bees 
are confined in the cellar. For these rea- 
sons the majority of beginners, especially 
where the climate is not severe, are advised 
to winter outdoors. It is important to ob- 
serve, however, that the spot where the 
bees are kept must be sheltered from pre- 
vailing winds. 

With the outdoor plan it is fair to state 
that, after a very severe winter in which 
the mercury stays below the zero-point for 
weeks at a time, and when spring is very 



more than once in 10 or 20 years, when 
for some reason the whole year seems to 
be thrown entirely out of balance; but, at 
all other times, if one follows carefully the 
directions here given, his losses will not 
exceed ten per cent, and he ma^^ keep them 
down as low as two per cent. Indeed, some 
have wintered their bees winter after win^ 
ter with a loss not exceeding five per cent, 
if the one year in ten which proves abnor- 
mally severe is left out of the calculation. 

WINTERINa OUTDOORS.— As al- 
ready explained, this is simpler for most 
beginners, and the principles involved help 
to lay the foundation for the more difficult 



806 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



problem of indoor or cellar wintering. The 
prime requisite for both methods of win- 
tering is a large force of young bees reared 
during the latter part of summer or early 
fall. A colony, no matter how strong, if 
made up of old wornout bees with very 
few young, may die before spring, or reach 
such a weakened condition as to become 
practically worthless for the following sea- 
son. As a rule, in the Northern States 
brood-rearing, unless there is a young lay- 
ing queen, ceases right after the honey 
flow. This is perfectly normal where there 
is no late summer or fall pasturage as in 




Fig. s.— ' 



Fig. 2. — A deep telescoping cover to 
set over the packing-trays for outdoor- 
wintered colonies is preferable. 



the case of buckwheat; but 
during the latter part of August 
and the early part of Septem- 
ber, brood-rearing should begin 
again; and unless there are nat- 
ural sources of nectar the bees 
will require feeding with thin 
syrup given in small quantities 
daily to stimulate. This stimulative feeding 
should be continued long enough to get a 
lot of brood in the hive so there will be a 
strong force of young bees to go into win- 
ter quarters. In many localities colonies 
will be able to gather enough nectar daily 
to supply themselves with young bees with- 
out any special feeding. So far the scheme 
of raising a large force of young bees is an 
important requisite for either method of 
wintering, but especially important where 
bees are mntered outdoors subjected to ex- 
tremes of temperature. 



It is unwise to attempt to winter bees 
outdoors in single-walled hives north of 40 
degrees north latitude. While the colonies 
maj^ come thru after a fashion, the shock of 
the exposure will be so great that they 
probably will not be good for much to 
gather honey. It is also highly important 
that the hives be protected from high 
winds, and that the walls surrounding the 
hive be double and warm. Colonies in 
double-walled hives out in the open, and 
where there is a strong windsweep, may 
not survive, while those in single-walled 
hives screened by buildings, woods, . or 
dense shrubbery, may winter 
well. It would appear that pro- 
tection from the prevailing 
winds is just as important as 
having the walls of the hives 
double. Special double-walled 
hives are manufactured, having 
the space between filled with 
chaff, planer-shavings, leaves, or 




The top packing consists of a tray filled with planer 
shavings. Buckeye hive. 

other suitable material. The hive is so ar- 
ranged that a tray of packing under the 
cover helps to retain the heat of the clus- 
ter, thus causing a smaller consumption of 
stores in order to keep up the necessary 
animal heat; for it should be remembered 
that, the warmer and better protected the 
cluster, the less honey they require to eat. 
It is desirable to have the bees, so far as 
possible, enter a state of quiet. But an 
extremely cold spell will make it necessary 
for this cluster to raise the temperature as 
explained under Temperature op the 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



807 



Cluster IN Wixter. When, therefore, a 
colony is so poorly protected that it has to 
go into a state of activity and overeat, the 
bees will become distended, and dysentery 
or purging is almost sure to follow. This 
condition occurring in midwinter or earh^ 
spring means the death of the colony, as 
there is no cure for it but warm weather. 

WIXTERIXG WITH LITTLE PACKING. 

The question of how to pack, and how 
much packing to give bees, will depend 
very largely upon the climate. South of 




author believes, further, tnaL the use of 
protecting cases or a moderate amount of 
packing would save a great deal of chilled 
brood, save stores, and prevent the bees 
from fl\^ing out during the middle hours of 
the day, only to be chilled and never re- 
turn. Colonies without protection in the 
si mi-tropical States suffer because the tem- 
perature goes up high during the middle 
hours of the day, and drops down to freez- 
ing or below during the night. Such a 
rapid change in 24 hours is very hard on 
bees. If the temperature inside the hive 
could be equalized bj' packing so that the 
sunshine during the middle of 
the day and the cold of the night 
would not penetrate the wallls of 
the hive, a more even tempera- 
ture within the hive would be 
mantained. 

One thing is important : The 
entrance should be contracted to 
the space only large enough for 



Fig. 4. — The super-cover i* made of 
% lumber, tin-bound at tlie ends. This 
is put on the hive, and covered with the 
tray shown in I ig. 3. 

the Ohio River, in the Eastern 
States, thruout California, south- 
em Nevada, Arizona, New Mex- 
ico, and Texas it is not custom- 
ary to give the bees any more 
protection than is afforded by a 
single-walled hive; but the api- 
cultural experts in the Bureau of 
Entomology at Washington, 
D. C, believe that some protection could 
be given to advantage. After having trav- 
eled over a large portion of these States 
the author feels inclined to agree with 
them. Just how much packing to give, and 
in what form, is rather difficult to say. In 
localities where bees can fly out almost 
every day in the j'ear, breeding goes on 
more or less, and very often the accession 
of young bees does not quite make up for 
the loss of old bees that go to the fields, 
become chilled, and never return. The 




Fig. 5. — il-mner of pouring leed iiom a common water- 
ing pot into a Doolittle division-board feeder. After sufficient 
syrup is given, the feeder is removed, the combs are shoved over, 
a division-board inserted, and hive closed for winter. 



the j^assage of two or three bees at a time. 
The purpose of this is primarily to keep 
the cold from entering the hive, and sec- 
ondarily, to prevent robbing. 

In man}' localities where the winter is 
not very cold, it would be an advantage to 
lay folds of newspaper crosswise over the 
hive, then slip over them a telescoping 
case as shown in the accompanj^ing illus- 
tration. Another plan, costing somewhat 
less, involves the use of heavy manila paper 
like flour-sacking, that has been treate-- 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 




Fig. G. — Telescope Cap. 

with grease or linseed oil to make it water- 
proof. This is folded around the hive and 
tied in the manner shown in the accom- 
panying illustration. Neither of these 




Fig. 7. — Paper Wrapped Hive. 

forms of protection would be suitable for 
the colder climates. It should be strictly 
understood that their use is recommended 
onh^ for the Southern States. 

WTNTERIXG IX DOUBLE-WALLED HIVES. 

For the northern climates that are sub- 
ject to zero weather at times, that have 
more or less snow and a large amount of 
frost extending perhaps two feet into the 
ground, nothing short of double-walled 
hives, such as are described under the head 
of HiVE-MAKiNG^ or packing-cascs, should 
be used. There are two forms of these 
double-walled hives, one having bottom 
packing and the other a removable bottom- 
board which is made of single-thickness 
y/s-inch lumber. 



There has been some discussion as to 
whether these winter hives should have 
bottom packing or not. From some ex- 
periments with electric bulbs apicultural 
experts in the Bureau of Entomology came 
to the conclusion that there is a great 
advantage in having the bottom packed, as 
well as the ends, sides, and tops. In a cli- 
mate not generally subject to continued 
zero weather these double-M^alled hives with 
two inches of packing on the sides and ends 
and four inches on top, with a properly 
restricted entrance, give very good results; 
but in such hives a ten-frame colony should 
be squeezed down to eight frames, and an 
eight down to seven. The space should be 
filled on either side with division-boards 
or packing. A very good way is to \vrap 
a comb, preferably one containing honey, 
in a newspaper in such a way that when it 
is inserted in the hive it will close up the 
space between the end-bars and the ends of 
the hive, the bottom-bar, and the bottom, 
and the top-bar and the cover. One of 
these frames should be put on each side. 
The purpose of these wrapped frames is 
to reduce the size of the brood-nest; for 
the smaller the room in which the bees are 
confined the better. Moreover, the wrapped 
frames will increase the thickness of the 
side protection. The top of the hive should 
have a tray containing four or five inches 
of planer shavings or leaves as shown on 
the previous page. During the coldest part 
of the winter the entrance should be con- 
tracted (provided there is bottom pack- 
ing) to a space one inch wide by three- 
eighths inch high. If bottom packing is 
used, the experts of the Bureau of Ento- 
mology recommend a single y^ or %-inch 
hole. There are two forms of these double- 
walled hives, one having bottom packing 
and the other a removable bottom-board 
made of single-thickness %-iiich lumber. 

WINTERING BEES UNDER A SHED. 

Some beekeepers practice putting their 
colonies under a shed or a series of sheds, 
packing straw between the hives, on top of 
them and behind them. It is customary to 
have the front of the shed face south or 
east, leaving the back toward the north or 
west, or toward any direction from which 
the prevailing winds come. 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



809 




Fig. 8. — W. T. Davison's method of packing bees in straw for outdoor ^-interins 



The objection to the plan is the expense 
and the trouble of moving the bees out of 
the shed for summer handling. There is a 
further objection, that it is not practicable 
to pack the front of the hives that are left 
exposed. Takmg it all in all, the arrange- 
ment, including the cost of the shed, is 
about as expensive as the double-walled 
hives, and not nearly as convenient. 

WIXTERIXG BEES IX TENEMENT OR 
QUADRUPLE CASES. 

In climates where the winters are very 
severe, where the temperature goes down to 
zero and stays around that point for weeks 
at a time, much more protection is required 
than those methods already described. 
There should be at least six inches of pack- 
ing around the sides and ends of the hives 
— at least four inches under the hives and 
ten inches on top. While one hive can be 
packed in a winter case, it is more econom- 
ical to make the case hold four or more 
hives. Some use the plan of packing ten 
hives in a case — cases long and large 
enough to take ten colonies in a row, placed 
side by side and in close contact. This ten- 
hive tenement does not conserve the heat 
quite- so well as where the hives are packed 
four in a group, side by side and back to 



back. The four-colony tenement, or what 
is generally called the quadruple case, has 
come into quite general use among the 
beekeepers of Canada and where the cli- 
mate is very severe, and where, too, cellar 
wintering is practiced. 

So far as can be ascertained, Ira Bart- 
lett of Michigan was the fii'st to suggest 
and use in a large way this method of win- 
tering, for he began using the plan over 
25 3'ears ago. The illustrations herewith 
show the original Bartlett winter case made 
up of panels. The only change that has 
been made during later years is to leave off 
all porticos and doorsteps. These extra at- 
tachments, it has been found, are worse 
than useless. Instead of having a sort of 
storm door, it has been found better to 
have the entrances restricted without any 
roof or doorstep. There should be noth- 
ing to catch snow or ice, which, when there 
is a ledge or projection, lodge and thus 
close the entrance. 

R. F. Holtermann, who has been one of 
the strongest advocates of this system of 
outdoor wintering, and who by writing a 
series of articles practically introduced the 
plan into the United States and Canada, 
recommends three %-inch holes for en- 
trances instead of a slot. George S. De- 
muth of the Bureau of Entomologv like- 



810 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



-^4- 



5£" 



nn ■■ —■ ■ ■ 11 






E N 


D 






'"=J 1 1 M ' 


ir ' . . . ., 


1 1 1 1 1 1 




Fig. 9. — Bartlett's winter case for holding four ten-frame colonies ; lower illustration showing interior. 



wise recommends a series of five or six 
%-incli holes, all of which, except one, are 
closed during the coldest part of the win- 
ter. Both the Government experts in api- 
culture and Mr. Holtermann say that a 
hole is far better than a slot for a winter 
entrance. Thru the latter the cold air can 



go in on one side and the hot air out of the 
other. A slot is the thing during late 
spring and summer, but all wrong, say 
these men, during winter. 

The author has met quite a number of 
others, notably B. F. Kindig, State Apiarist 
of Michigan, who have been using these 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



811 




FlQ. 10. — The Holterraaim four-hive packina: case. Notice the three %-incli entrance holes. Notice also 
that there is no projecting ledge or door step to catch snow and ice, thus closing the holes, causing the death of 
the bees. 



one-hole entrances during winter, and al- 
ways, he says, with the most gratifying re- 
sults. 

These restricted entrances should be used 
only where there is an ample amount of 
packing — not less than six inches — and 
where the bottom is packed with not less 
than four inches. The line drawing on the 
next page shows the plan reconmiended by 
the Government experts. Two changes, 
however, are recommended. The first is, that 
provision should be made for more packing 
under the hives. To that end the cross- 
cleats secured to the bottom-board of the 
packing-case should be four inches wide 
instead of two inches. The hives are then 
placed upon the bottom-board as shown in 
Fig. 11, after which the side and end panels 
are put in place and held together with 
common wood screws. Moreover, instead 
of slots for entrance thru the case sides, 
the Government men say that it is safer to 
use a series of five or six %-inch holes. 
Some feel that one hole is not enough dur- 
ing the coldest of the winter. This is a 
question that will have to be decided by 
each individual beekeeper, altho the author 
has seen some most excellent results where 
the one hole was used. Holtermann states 
that he does not think he would dare to 
close down to less than three, and he leaves 
his bees for six months at a time. As 



something will depend upon the locality 
and the man, the individual beekeeper will 
have to settle this for his own locality. 

The plan shown above contemplates 
single-story hives, four inches of packing 
under the hives, hives packed in close con- 
tact, back to back and side by side. A 
bridge connects the inner entrances to the 
outer entrances, after which planer shav- 
ings are poured in around the sides and on 
top. In the illustration above, common 
forest leaves are used instead of shavings. 
There should be a space of at least two 
inches between the leaves and the cover. 

Speaking of covers it is important that 
they should be securely fastened down. 
Winter winds will sometimes lift them off 
and blow the packing out, with the result 
that the colonies will be killed by the ex- 
posure. Covers should be either wired 
down or held down by hooks and eyes. 
There should not be less than four stout 
hooks — one at each corner. 

WIXTERIXG TWO-STORY LANGSTROTH HIVES 
IX QUADRUPLE CASES. 

The Government experts recommend 
wintering in two-story hives instead of 
single stories. There are some reasons for 
this. One reason, and the principal one, is 
to provide stores and breeding room in tho 



812 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 




Fig. 11. — This is the plan recommended by Dr. E. F. Phillips and by a good many other beekeepers for 
wintering bees outdoors in single-walled hives. It contemplates a winter case made up of panels which are 
held together by means of screws or nails at the corners. This case should provide six inches of packing 
around the sides and ends, at least four inches under the bottoms of the hives, and at least ten inches 
on top. Dr. Phillips particularly recommends wintering in two-tsory hives. First, a double-brood nest makes 
a relatively deep wintering space. Second, it provides ample room for breeding in the spring. Third, it 
provides ample stores. Fourth, no attention is needed during spring. Spring management is practically 
eliminated. Attention is drawn to the five-hole entrance. All the holes except one in the center, according 
to Dr. Phillips,* should be closed during cold weather. As spring approaches, one or more holes are opened 
up. T"he only objection to the plan here shown is the expense. 



spring when the queen needs more room 
than the one story will supply. When two 
stories are used it is recommended to put 
the hive containing the brood-nest or bees 
on top and the hive containing the stores 
beneath. Phillips says to have not less 
than 45 pounds of honey or syrup distrib- 
uted in both stories. When the bees are 
put upstairs, the main cluster or breeding 
room is at least ten inches distant from the 
entrance, and away from the cold. 

In the way of packing material, some 
will find planer shavings available, and 
others will use forest leaves. These lat- 
ter should be raked up as they fall, and 
should be thoroly dried. Usually one can 
get all he needs by going to his neighbors 
and asking them to save their leaves instead 
of burning them on the pavement. The 
one trouble with planer shavings is the 
sawdust that litters everything up. In the 



spring, when one desires to look into his 
packed colonies, it is almost impossible to 
get at the brood-nests for examination to 
see what the bees are doing, without let- 
ting a quantity of sawdust or shavings get 
down between the frames. For that rea- 
son the author favors the use of forest 
leaves ; but when leaves are used they must 
be well packed down, as they are not quite 
so dense as planer shavings. 

When the bees are unpacked in the 
spring, the hives are lifted out and the 
cases are carried to the outside of the 
apiary. The hives are then placed where 
the case was, and in the same relative posi- 
tion, but ten or twelve inches apart for con- 
venience in summer working. This posi- 
tion should not be changed ; and when it is 
time to pack, the hives are moved to one 
side, case set in place, and the hives set in 
and packed as before. 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



813 



OBJECTIOXS TO QUADRUPLE PACKING-CASES. 

The chief objection, tho not a serious 
one, is the expense of these big cases. 
Their life ought to be 10 years, and with 
reasonable care 25 jears. On the basis of 
10 years they would cost only 90 cents 
apiece or 22^/^ cents per colony. 

Objection has been raised that it takes 
40 or 50 pounds of stores; but Phillips 
argues that this amount insures a strong 
colony that may get twice that next year. 
But suppose the season is a failure, and 
the bees have eaten 45 pounds of good 
honey. This is one of the hazards of bee- 
keeping; and the only remedy is to winter 
in the cellar provided one is willing to as- 
. sume the first cost. Bees indoors will con- 
sume nearly half as many stores that those 
outside require. See TVixterixg ix Cel- 
LARS;, further on. 

Another objection has been the tendency 
of bees to drift when the two entrances 
are side by side. On the first warm day 
when the bees can flv, one entrance mav 



have twice or three times as many bees fly- 
ing as the one right next to it. Unfortu- 
nately the bees of the latter are inclined to 
join the bees of the former. The net result 
is that the weak become weaker and the 
strong stronger. This has happened more 
than once in the author's apiaries. 

The difficulty can be overcome to a great 
extent by packing the bees very early so 
that they will become accustomed to their 
respective entrances in the fall previous. 
If packed late, when they come out in the 
spring they are liable to become confused. 

THE DEMUTH PLAX OF WIXTERIXG. 

When the first cost of the packing-case 
becomes a consideration, or where there is 
very much trouble from bees drifting, one 
may find the solution of his problem in the 
Demuth method of packing. If one is 
equipped with extra hive bodies or supers, 
a very small additional outlay will cover an 
inner case to hold the bees and combs stood 
on end. The whole is slipped inside of the 
three hive bodies and packed. 




Figs. 12 and 13.— The Demuth pla 
is made so as to hold eight Lansr&troth 



of vMntering bees outdoors in c ■" i n '' m.'S or supers. An inner case 
rames stood on end. This makes a winter brood-nest relatively deep, 
During the coldest of the winter the bees will cluster in the top. where it is warm. 



814 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



The inner case is made up of %-inch 
lumber large enough to receive eight Lang- 
stroth frames on end and leave a space of 
about two inches at each end. There 
should be a clearance of at least one-half 
or three-eighths of an inch so that the 
eight frames on which the bees are to win- 






Fig. 14.— Method of 
around the inner case. 



pouring packing material 



ter can be slid into the case endwise, as 
shown in Fig. 16, and wedged fast. A cleat 
at the bottom thru the center supports the 
frames up about two inches from the end. 
The case is then set down on a regular 
hive bottom, as shown in Fig. 1. The en- 
trance from the inner case is formed by 
means of a bridge that communicates with 
the outer entrance. Regular hive bodies, 
ten-frame size, are then slipped over the 
outside. Two hive bodies and one shallow 
extracting-case or three hive bodies, full 
depth, can be made to form the outer wall 
to receive the packing. "When in place, 
packing material is poured in around the in- 
ner case, as shown in Fig. 12. The sectional 
drawings. Figs. 15 and 16, will perhaps 
show more clearly the relation of the outer 
walls made up of three hive bodies and the 



inner walls. The diagram, Fig. 16, shows 
the relative amount of packing between the 
inner and outer walls. 

As in the other outdoor-wintered colonies 
the author recommends the use of five 
%-inch holes, all of which, except one or 
two, may be closed during the coldest part 
of the winter. But when single holes are 
used it is necessary to have bottom pack- 
ing. 

Mr. Demuth, who devised this system of 
wintering, recommends putting three or 
four inches of packing in the lower hive 
body before the inner case is inserted; 
then for an entrance he runs one %-inch 
tube thru the side of the hive and thru the 
side of the inner case, this tube being 
located about two inches from the bottom- 
of the inner case. He used this scheme 




Fig. 14. — Demuth method of winteo-ing, using two 
hive bodies and one super. 

of a single entrance at the Government 
apiary with the most gratifying results. 

The author has used the Demuth form 
of packing bees, and so far it has given 
as good results as the quadruple case. 
In some respects it is better, particularly 
in the matter of drifting when by itself. 

It is generally conceded that, for win- 
tering only, a tall or deep chamber is bet- 
ter than one that is oblong and shallow. 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



815 



like the Langstroth hive. Heat naturally 
rises, and during the verj' coldest of the 
weather the bees will be found in the top. 
If a cake of hard candy (see Caxdy) is 
put on top, as shown in Fig. 16, there will 
be no danger of starvation. 

Mr. Demuth, while admitting that his 
plan has less of packing space, says less is 
needed, because the bees wiU nearly fill 
the whole top of the inner case instead 
of being off at one end of a shallow cham- 
ber near the entrance, as in the ease of the 
Langsti'oth hive. From the tests that we 
have made we are inclined to think that he 
is right. 

The objection to the Demuth plan is 
that it involves a considerable amount of 
work, but no more than the quadruple case. 
Another and more valid objection is that, 
after the bees begin to build up in the 
spring, there is no room for further ex- 



pansion. The eight frames will soon be 
filled with brood and bees; and when that 
time arrives it has been argued that it is 
a little too early to unpack. If the colony 
crouds the space of the eight combs, no 
harm will be done to unpack and restore 
the frames to normal position with two 
more combs. 

RECAPITULATION OF OUTDOOR WIXTERIXG. 

The system of outdoor wintering one 
should use will depend largely upon the 
climate. In the Southern States wrappings 
of paper may be sufficient, or perhaps one 
can practice the manner of packing de- 
scribed and illustrated in Sprixg Maxage- 

MEXT. 

In the colder climates, where the tem- 
perature seldom goes down to zero, double- 
walled hives with two inches of packing 




„ \ T r / / 



16 



Figs. 15 and 16. — These two figures represent the Demuth method of wintering a single-story colony of bees on 
Langstroth frames. It consists of an inner case large enough to take seven and eight frames — oreferablv eight 
— placed on end instead of the way they hang in summer. The outer case consists of two Langstroth hive-bodies 
and a super, or three hive-bodies. The hive stand may be packed full of dry leaves and set on a platform a 
few inches from the ground. The inner case, containing preferably eight frames, is then set down in the center 
of the two hive-bodies. Dry leaves packed solid, or planer shavings, are then filled in between the inner case 
and the regular summer hive-bodies surrounding it. .\ bridge connects the inner case to the outer for the 
entrance. The entrance consists of five %-inch holes, all but one of which mav or mav not be closed during the 
coldest part of the winter. It is important that there be no ledge to catch "snow and ice under the entrance : 
so the bottom-boards and hive-stand are turned around to leave an entrance at the rear as shown. A cake of 
candy, if there is a shortage of stores, is put on top. The cost of this arrangement is onlv about one-fourth 
of that shown in Fig. 11. and the amount of stores will be onlv a little over half as much. The amount of 
packmg to the case in this way between the walls will be 2% inches on the sides, and 3 inches on the ends. 
While this is less than recommended in the Government case, the form of the winter chamber is such that less 
packing is required. The objection to this general plan is that it must be unpacked earlier than the hivp- 
sho-A-n in Fig. 11. 



816 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



space between the walls give excellent re- 
sults; bnt the colonies should be con- 
tracted down to six or seven frames, and 
the space on either side filled with packing 
or dummies. 

Where the climate is so cold that the 
mercurj- goes down to zero and stays there 
for weeks at a time the quadruple winter 
case is undoubtedly the only thing that can 
be used for outdoor wintering. However^ 
if there is a large amount of snow every 
wdnter, and all winter, a double-walled hive 
can be used. 

Whether Demuth's plan of wintering will 
be equal to the quadruple scheme has not 



will have a disastrous effect on the bees. 
Many of them, lured out by a bright sun- 
shine on certain days, will be caught by a 
chilling blast. They will drop to the 
ground; and, unless there is a change in 
the temperature or the wind within a few 
days, they will never come back. On the 
other hand, a yard screened in by farm 
buildings, by a growth of woods or dense 
shrubbery, will be able to withstand the 
cold much better. While the bees may 
fly out on bright sunny days, experience 
shows that they quickly seek the protected 
inclosure where their hives are, and soon 
enter. 




Fig. 17. — Pete Sowinski's windbreak made of fence boards spaced about two inches apart and nailed horizon- 
tally on to fence posts eight feet above the ground. Open spacing breaks the force of the wind better than a 
solid fence. 



yet been proved. So far with the author 
it has given better results than the quad- 
ruple case, and the expense is only a frac- 
tion of the big packing-cases. 

IMPORTANCE OF WINDBREAKS. 

In various places leading up to this has 
been mentioned the importance of wind- 
breaks to screen the hives from a strong 
windsweep. A bad location for wintering 
bees outdoors is on top of a hill with a 
clear stretch of country for a mile or two 
in the direction of the prevailing winds. 
Altho the bees may be nicely housed in 
double-walled hives, the high winds during 
cold or chilly weather may and probably 



Likewise there are certain spots in an 
apiary where some hives are exposed to a 
long windsweep, while others are in a more 
protected position. Observation covering 
a period of years has shown that the lat- 
ter winter much better than the former. 

Again, it has been shown that colonies 
in single-walled hives may winter com- 
paratively well in a sheltered location, 
while those in double-walled hives out in 
the open air will die. To say the least, the 
matter of protection and the matter of 
prevailing winds are of vital importance 
in outdoor w^intering. 

Windbreaks of woods or dense shrub- 
bery ten or twelve feet high are better than 
high board fences. Farm buildings like 



WrXTERIXG OUTDOORS 



817 




barns aud sheds at least twelve or fifteen 
feet high atford excellent screens. The ob- 
jection to a high board fence is that the 
wind strikes it and glances upward, when 
it is caught by the blast of air from over- 
head. It may then dive downward and 
strike the third or fourth row of hives 
from the fence. Repeated observation has 
shown that this row of colonies may die 
when other rows winter comparatively 



well. In the ca>e oi woods or shrubbery 
the wind cannot glance upward and dive 
downward. The blast filters thru, and by 
the time it penetrates the inner inclosure 
its force is broken. 

The question has been often asked, 
'* "Which is more important — a sheltered 
location or winter packing ? " If the bee- 
keeper can have only one he should select 
the former: but it is better to have both 




FiGs. IS Ayp 19. — Twelve-loot lence -windbreak used by R. F. Holtermann. The boards are nailed ver- 
tically on to horizontal cross pieces nailed or bolted on to the posts. This coustriiction can be made up 
in panels so that th3 fence can be moved in sections if necessarj-. 



818 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



packing and windbreaks to shut off the 
prevailing piercing winds. When bees are 
well packed and are in a sheltered loca- 
tion, with plenty of good stores, the 
chances of loss will be very slight. 

CONSTRUCTION OP WINDBREAKS. 

The objection to having the wind strike 
the side of a fence and glancing down 
among the hives can be overcome by put- 
ting the boards a little way apart. Mr. 
Sowinski of Michigan places boards hori- 
zontally, as shown in the illustration. The 
boards are eight inches wide and placed 
from one-half to two inches apart. 

R. F. Holtermann of Canada nails his 
boards vertically on the cross-pieces reach- 
ing from post to post. He goes further 
than most of the beekeepers by having his 
apiary entirely surrounded. The usual 
plan is to have the windbreaks on the side 
from which the prevailing winds come; 
but experience has shown that during some 
winters and some springs there may be 
heavy and killing winds from the east or 
south. It is therefore advisable, if one has 
a good location and expects to use it for 
the next ten years, to place a high board 
fence clear around the apiary. Whether 
the boards are nailed vertically or horizon- 
tally there should be a space between them 
of about an inch, and the higher the fence 
can be the better. If one can get 20-foot 
lumber he could cut it in two, and thus 
have a fence ten feet high, on the Holter- 
mann plan. If inside the inclosure one 
can put a few fruit trees to provide shade 
during the hottest of the weather, it will 
be aU the better, for the trees will help 
to break up the diving winds that may 
come down into the enclosure. 

Mr. Holtermann has been one of the 
most successful beekeepers on the conti- 
nent, and there is no doubt but that a 
large, part of his success is due to his 
method of wintering and to his form of 
windbreak that entirely surrounds the 
apiary. 

IMPORTANCE OF LETTING BEES 
FORM A WINTER NEST. 

What is meant by " winter nests '"? A 
space of empty brood-cells in one or more 
combs, such space approximating the form 
of a flattened sphere in an ordinary Lang- 



stroth brood-nest. These empty cells sur- 
rounded by sealed stores constitute the 
winter nest where bees cluster when condi- 
tions are ideal. As the stores are consumed, 
the number of empty cells increases either 
backward or forward, but always upward. 
As a general thing, the ball of bees will 
be located near the front of the hive and 
regularly over the entrance. As the stores 
are consumed they move upward and back- 
ward; but the cluster in no case extends 
over the sealed honey when the bees can 
have their own sweet will. 

Very often a well-meaning ABC scholar 
finds three or four combs in the center of 
the hive, having a space of empty cells as 
large as the hand spread out. He thinks 
this is all wrong and will remove the 
combs containing such spaces, and put in 
their place solid combs of honey. What 
has he done? He has compelled the bees 
to cluster upon sealed honey. The cluster 
is broken up into slabs approximately % 
inch thick, each slab of bees separated by 
approximately an inch of solid honey. In- 
stead of having one solid cluster separated 
by only the midrib of the combs, he has 
made a series of clusters, each within itself 
trying to maintain its own body heat but 
at very great disadvantage. 

To illustrate: Two people on a cold 
winter's night require less bed clothing 
than one person would in the same bed. 
Suppose that, instead of having those two 
bed-fellows separated from each other by 
only their night clothing, we have a slab 
of metal or even wood between them. If 
they are compelled to place their warm 
bodies in contact with that cold surface, 
they lose a great deal of their body heat 
because the cold surfaces carry away (that 
is, dissipate) the warmth. 

There is precisely that condition when 
combs of sealed honey are set down into a 
bunch of bees. They are compelled to 
divide up into four or five clusters. The 
result is, that colonies tampered with in 
this manner perish or come out in the 
spring very weak because of their inabil- 
ity to maintain the requisite temperature. 
Where outside bees become stiff with cold 
they can not long endure that condition. 

If a colony is fed gradually during 
October and November, they will form this 
winter nest. If, however, they are on the 
verge of starvation and they are fed • 30 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



819 



lbs. ill a single night toward the last en<] 
of the fall, or when it is quite cold, they 
do not have the opportunity of forming 
this nest. They will eaiTy the syrup down 
while it is hot; then for a few days after 
that, if it is so they can ^y, or, rather, so 
the cluster can move freely about the 
brood-nest, they may or may not rearrange 
the stores. The cluster, when it actually 
forms up for winter, will be practically one 
homogeneous mass of bees separated only 
by thin cell walls and the midribs of the 
combs. 

If anybody doubts that bees try to have 
a winter nest, let him break into several 
clusters of bees (if he wishes to take a 
chance) when the temperature is 5 degrees 
above zero. The author has done this re- 
peatedly. If the arrangement of combs has 
not been disturbed in the fall, one will 
probably find the bees tightly jammed into 
the cells. And, again, he will often dis- 
cover as he goes over his colonies in the 
late winter or early spring, that some of 
them have actually starved to death. In 
all such cases he will see dead bees tightly 
packed in the ceUs of the winter nest, and 
a solid mass of bees between the several 
spaces between the combs. Starvation is 
often due to the fact that cold weather has 
continued so long without a let-up that the 
bees are left high and dry, so to speak, in 
the center of the winter nest. They actual- 
ly starve, notwithstanding sealed honey is 
within two inches of the cluster. The long- 
continued cold has given them no oppor- 
tunity to wann up and shift the cluster 
over in contact with the sealed honey. TVe 
have seen this condition almost every win- 
ter in our yard. 

Still again, we have often found dead 
colonies where some of our newer men in 
the bee-yard had disturbed the combs, put- 
ting a solid comb of honey down thru 
the center of the winter nest. This made 
two bunches of bees; and both, being too 
small, died. 

When it comes to indoor wintering, espe- 
cially where the cellar temperature does 
not go below 40 F., a winter nest is not so 
vitally necessary. But if the temperature 
goes down beloAv 40, then the absence of a 
winter nest may mean the death of a col- 
ony. 

Nature has worked out this problem of 
wintering bees ; and when the beeman tam- 



pers with her plans he tampei-s with his 
pocketbook. While he can do certain 
things contrary- to natiu-e, he can not in- 
terfere with her plan in the arrangement 
of the stores. 

NON-POROUS COVERS OR 
ABSORBING CZ'SHIONS. 

There has been considerable discussion 
in the bee journals over the question of 
vrh ether there should be loose porous ab- 
sorbing cushions or other material placed 
above the cluster of bees so that the mois- 
ture from a cluster can pass up into the 
packing; or whether, on the other hand, 
the top of the hive should have a thin 
board or super cover on top. In the 
milder climates it seems to be pretty well 
proved 'that the wood cover over the bees 
brings the bees thru in better shape. In 
the colder climates, such as northern Mich- 
igan, Canada, northern Wisconsin, Minne- 
sota, and northern New York, a porous 
covering seems to have somewhat the pref- 
erence, altho there are advocates of the 
solid-cover principle in these localities. If 
there is danger of the entrance becoming 
closed by deep snows or ice for weeks at a 
time, upward ventilation thru porous pack- 
ing would probably be safer, for bees must 
have air. 

When the top of the hive is closed tight, 
moisture from the bees may collect on the 
under side of the cover, drip down, and 
pass out at the entrance. The absorbing 
cushions, on the other hand, in our cli- 
mate often become damp and soggy before 
spring. When in that condition they will 
sometimes freeze; and, so far from being 
a protection, they are a positive detriment. 
But where the climate is cold and dry. the 
temperature going down to 10° or 20° 
below zero, the absorbing cushions will b€ 
less damp than in a milder climate subject 
to more or less humidity on account of 
moist or rainy weather. When absorbing 
cushions are used, there must be a space of 
at least one inch over the top of the pack- 
ing. In addition, there should be ventilat- 
ing holes so that the moisture can escape. 
But these holes should be so situated as to 
prevent rain or snow from blowing in. 

"When non-porous covers are used, it 
takes less packing than when the absorb- 
ing plan is employed; but the entraaces 



820 



WINTERING OUTDOORS 



must be kept clear. If one has not de- 
cided which scheme to adopt, let him try 
the two side by side. The author has tried 
sheets of glass the exact size of the tops 
of the hives. These are imbedded in putty, 
making a tight sealing between the glass 
and the hive. The packing material is 
then placed on top. We have wintered 
most successfully anywhere from one to a 
dozen colonies, during successive winters, 
under these sealed glass covers — not be- 
cause there was any merit in the glass, but 
because we could better observe conditions. 
We could never see that this moisture that 
collects and drops at the corners ever did 
any harm. 

WINTER STORES— QUALITY AND 
QUANTITY. 

Having now considered the inclosure, 
and the hives themselves, something should 
be said about the quality and quantity of 
the stores. It is fair to say that bees out- 
doors consume more than twice as much 
as those indoors; but it is argued, on the 
other hand, that while the former consume 
this larger 'proportion of food they keep 
stronger numerically and will be in better 
condition at harvest time than those win- 
tered indoors on half the amount. The 
opinion of the beekeeping world is some- 
what divided on this whole question; but 
certain it is that he who winters out- 
doors should provide twice the amount of 
stores, or at least see that his colonies, 
after the main brood-rearing has ceased, 
have from 25 to 30 lbs. of sealed stores 
and in very cold climates from 30 to 40 
lbs. may be needed. The beginner will 
need to weigh his combs for the first colony 
or two, to be able to estimate approxi- 
mately the stores of other colonies. 

As a general thing an eight-frame colony 
should be crowded on six combs, and a ten 
on an eight. The division-board must be 
shoved up close to the frames, and the 
empty space, if any, filled with leaves, or 
other packing material. It is desirable 
that bees have stores given to them at least 
a month before they go into their winter 
rest, so they may have a winter nest 
around which will be sealed stores within 
easy reach. As to quality, there is nothing 
better than good honey. If there is a 
shortage, thick granulated sugar syi'up 



should be given. It is believed by some 
good beekeepers that honey will go fur- 
ther pound for pound than syrup. Honey 
is a natural food, and, besides, contains 
other food elements such as protein for the 
bees. Many beekeepers pursue the policy 
of extracting all the honey and feeding 
sugar syrup. At the 1919 price of sugar 
and honey one can well afford to do this. 

Altho a colony may have sufficient stores 
by the middle or latter part of August it 
may run considerably short by the first of 
November, especially if a fall flow induces 
brood-rearing. In anj case it is well to aro 
over the colonies just prior to the final 
preparation for winter, and make sure they 
do not run short. This is very important 
as many a colony has been lost thru star- 
vation when their owner supposed they 
had enough to last till spring. See Feed- 
ing AND Feeders. 



BEES FLYING OUT ON CHILLY OR 

COLD DAYS AND APPARENTLY 

DYING ON THE GROUND. 

In a late fall or early spring, in climates 
subject to snows and alternate freezing and 
thawing, bees will very often fly out on a 
bright day, whether it is very warm or not. 
They alight on the ground or som.e object, 
become chilled, and apparently die. Cases 
are on record where bees have flown out. 
alighted on the grouiid, become still and 
cold, and were apparently dead. There 
was one instance in particular of this kind 
in the author's apiary late one fall, where 
thousands of bees had flown out and lay 
on the ground apparently never to return. 
A cold rain set in and then it began to 
freeze^ followed by some snow. This freez- 
ing weather lasted for a couple of days. 
This was followed by warm sunshine, when, 
wonderful to relate, those dead (?) bees 
came to life, took wing, and flew back to 
their hives. Other authentic reports, show- 
ing something similar to this, have been 
sent in. It seems almost unbelievable, but 
the facts are, that bees can fly out, alight 
in the snow, chill thru, and seem to be dead. 
If the snow is not too deep it melts away 
so that the bodies of the bees can become 
warmed up, when thej^ will often revive; 
they always revive, if it is warm enough, 
and they have not been chilled too long. 



WINTER IXG IN" CELLARS 



821 



Beekeepers have written in at many dif- 
ferent times, fearing that their bees hav- 
ing floAvn out in late fall, and, becoming 
chilled on the ground, were utterly lost. 
Fortunately when a warm day comes on 
a little later, these bees, if it has not been 
too cold, will return to their hives. 

Old Dame Xature seems to have made 
some wonderful provisions to preserve bee- 
life. We are therefore constrained to be- 
lieve that bees can stand, under some con- 
ditions, chilling cold for some days with- 
out beinsr killed. 



with little or no loss. After consulting 
some of our best beemen, and especially 
Government experts, we were particularly 
directed to one man, said to understand 
with special thoroness the subject of in- 
door wintering. He has wintered bees for 
the last 12 or 15 years in a cellar of his 
own design, with a loss of less than one 
]ier cent. This man is David Running of 
Filion, Mich., — ex-president of the Michi- 
gan State Beekeepers' Association, and ex- 
president of the National Beekeepers' As- 
sociation. He agrees as to Avintering in 



40 Ft 



2 4 Ft 



Vegetables AND Fruit 






c^\^' 



5^ 



Vegetables i — i i — i 

AND Fruit ^—\ ^ 

Chaff Hi\/e5\ | 



PASSAGE 



n 



E\S 



,□□ 



15 Ft._ /:Tile.. _ ut^oKR . Fl.Q p. ^J>^ 



B^E Cellar 



,fc,t^ 



^ 



PASSAGE 



y 



'hW I\V\E\5 



iDcn 




PASSAGE 



DDDfflQEEEmmn 



^ 



Fig. 1. — This is a diagram of the ground plan of the David Running bee-cellar which has wintered bees 
for the last 12 years with a loss of less than one per cent. The cellar proper is built in a side hill. The 
bottom of the cellar is on a level with the ground in front. The walls are 6 inches thick, of concrete, with 
a concrete ceiling on top. Directly above the cellar is a concrete workship and extracting house. Be- 
tween the ceiling of the cellar and the floor of this building above there is packing material of one foot of dry 
sawdust and one foot of air space : and then another set of joists covered with matched flooring. Between the 
ceiling and cellar roof is 6 feet, and the cellar is capable of holding between 300 and 400 colonies. It will be 
noticed that there are three doors to shut out the outside cold. The hives are piled as shown in the diagram. 
The ventilator, or chimney, has a 9 x 13 flue which extends clear up thru the building above. The outer cellar 
is sometimes used for wintering bees in double-walled hives. 



WINTERING IN CELLARS.— In dis- 
cussing methods for wintering bees out- 
doors, some principles have been given that 
apply to cellar wintering. However, bees 
indoors do not require more than 10 or 
15 lbs. of stores per colony, altho it is an 
advantage to have more, because it is dif- 
ficult to feed bees in the spring. With a 
strong force of young bees and good stores, 
one is well equipped to winter bees in the 
cellar, provided he has reasonable control 
of temperature and means for ventilation. 

The author has been giving the matter 
of cellar wintering special consideration: 
and with that end in view he has traveled 
some hundreds of miles visiting some of 
the best beekeepers of the United States — 
especially those who wintered in cellars 



almost every detail with that veteran 
authority, the late G. M. Doolittle. The 
fact that these two men came to precisely 
the same conclusions 30 yeai*s apart, the 
one without the knowledge of the other, 
makes the information now about to be 
given very important. 

Mr. Running specifies that the whole 
bee-cellar must be well protected from both 
cold and dampness. It is not enough, he 
says, that the whole of the cellar be under- 
ground and the ceiling on a level with the 
gi'ound, unless between the ceiling and 
roof there is three or four feet of saw- 
dust. Many and many a good bee-cellar 
gives poor results because the temperature 
of the inside ceiling varies with the out- 
side temperature. A cellar where frost 



822 



-AVTNTERING TN CELLARS 



--;?^-ipg— -- ■ :^/,•v;;,;0*;:•.• 




.^^I'-te^H^^ 









Fig. 2. — This is a bee-cellar belonging to Leonard Griggs, Flint, Mich. It is a type of an above-ground 
cellar embodying the ideas of David Running. The cellar proper extends into the ground about 3 feet. TTien 
there is a three-foot embankment about 3 feet wide around the upper part of the cellar. The ceiling is covered 
with about 3 feet of sawdust. To keep the side embankments dry and frost-proof the roof extends entirely over 
the cellar, and the embankment, except in front ; and Mr. Griggs thoight it would be a good idea to cover this 
also. He has been uniformly successful in wintering bees in this cellar. 



during severely cold weather can be 
scraped off the ceiling is badly designed 
and can not be expected to give good re- 
sults. 

On account of the difficulty in obtain- 
ing proper drainage it is not essential, the 
same authority says, that the whole cellar 
be submerged 2^2 to 3 feet below the gen- 
eral surface of the gi^ound to get below the 
frost-line. In the great majority of cases 
the cellar will have to be partly above 
ground and partly below. But the import- 
ant thing is to remember that the part 
above the general level must be protected 
by three or four feet of embankment of 
dry earth. The ceiling of the cellar proper 
must be covered with at least three or four 
feet of dry earth or sawdust. Mr. Run- 
ning has a workshop directly above his bee- 
cellar, making only a foot of sawdust above 
the cellar ceiling necessary. In order to 
keep the side embankments dry as well as 
the space over the cellar proper, it is im- 
portant that the roof itself cover not only 
the width of the actual inclosure, but the 
embankment at the sides and ends. A wet 
or frozen embankment means a low tem- 
perature in the cellar and that is often 
fatal. 

Mr. Running told the author that he be- 
lieved he could winter bees in a properly 
constructed winter bee-cellar even in Ten- 
nessee or in any of the Southern States 



with a great saving of stores. " For," he 
said, " it is acknowledged that where bees 
can fly one or more times during every 
week of the winter they will consume any- 
where from two to three times the amount 
that bees in the North will eat." He would 
put them where the inside temperature of 
the cluster would be at the point of the 
least activity, or 57 degrees F. 

Regarding the amount of ventilation, 
our Michigan friend has been successful in 
the use of one ventilator, about 9 by 13 
inches, in the back end of the bee-cellar, 
extending thru the roof, and surmounted 
at the top by a chimney. This shaft should 
extend down to the level of the cellar floor. 
This is for the outlet of foul air. The 
inlet consists of a sewer pipe running un- 
der ground, opening into the front end of 
the cellar. Altho he has not used it, he be- 
lieves it would be an advantage to have the 
inlet of this sub-earth ventilator continue 
in a vertical pipe to within a few inches 
of the ceiling. This would bring about a 
thoro circulation of air from top to bot- 
tom. 

An electric fan can verj^ often be used 
lo good advantage, where electric current 
is available, to force fresh air into a cel- 
lar; or, better, foul air out of the cellar. 

The entrance to the cellar is effected by 
means of double (or better, triple) doors 
thru a narrow passageway leading from the 



WINTERING IN CELLARS* 



823 



level of the ground to the bottom of the 
cellar. If the cellar is halfway below 
ground and halfway above, the entrance 
and exit are made easy bv means of steps. 
If it is located under a sidehill, so that 
the bottom of the cellar is on a level with 
the ground in front, the conditions are 
ideal. 

To recapitulate : " The important thing 
to remember," said Mr. Running, " is to 
make the cellar room so that it will not be 
subject to any outside variations of tem- 
perature; and to prevent these variations 
the sides, ends, and ceiling must have 
enough protection of dry earth or sawdust 
to keep the bee- cellar at the right tempera- 
ture." In localities where there are deep 
snows less insulation would be needed; 
but, as there are some winters with little 
snow, it is well to have a large dry dirt 
embankment. 

The temperature of Mother Earth, ac- 
cording to Mr. Running, is about right for 
cellar wintering. Mother Earth varies all 



4.') seems to be the average. It is e\ident 
in some cases that a high temperature is 
better, and in others a low temperature. If 
the entrances are large, % incli deep by the 
full width of the hive, a higher tempera- 
ture may be maintained than where the en- 
trances are contracted to, say, % inch deep, 
by 6 inches wide. In the latter case the 
internal temperature of the hive itself, the 
colony being of the same strength, would 
be higher than where the entrance is % 
inch deep by the full width of the hive. 
The real consideration after all is the tem- 
perature of the cluster of bees. That tem- 
perature should be approximately 57 de- 
gTees. Large powerful colonies would 
probabW require a lower cellar tempera- 
ture, other things being equal, than weak 
ones. Again, a cellar that has powerful 
colonies with contracted entrances should 
doubtless have a lower temperature; and 
the same colonies with a large entrance or 
bottoms removed entirely might have a 
temperature of 50 or even higher. 




Fig. 4. — Tliis cellar belongis to L. C. Gordon, of Bellaire. Mich. According; to David Runnins:'s idea the 
roof should have- extended over the side embankment. But these embankments are made up of sand that 
dries out very quickly ; and in spite of the fact that it is not covered, it makes a good insulator. Mr. Gordon 
once told the author that in this 12x20-foot bee-cellar the preceding winter he wintered 151 colonies with- 
out the loss of a colony. This cellar has the ventilation recommended by Mr. Running. 



the way from 41 to 50 degrees. He said 
the best results in a cellar would be where 
the variation of the temperature is between 
43 to 47 degrees. 

While 45 degi'ees F. seems to be the 
nearest right point according to most au- 
tliorities, there are some who hold that it 
may be as high as 50, and others as low as 
4.'> or even 40. Taking' the two extremes. 



Taking all of these factoi-s into consid- 
eration, it is eas}' to see how some, without 
knowing why, would favor a comparatively 
high temperature, and others a low one, 
and yet both would be right for their re- 
spective conditions. If we come back to 
the fundamental principle, that the tem- 
perature of the cluster should be, as near- 
ly as i^ossible. 57 degrees thruout the pe- 



824 



WINTERING IN CELLARS 



riocl of confinement, we shall then natural- 
ly regulate the size of the entrance or the 
temperature of the cellar, or both, so the 
temperature of the cluster shall be, as near- 
ly as possible, 57 degrees. 

Unfortunately, not all the colonies of the 
cellar will be of the same strength. If the 
temperature is nearly right, say around 45, 
the internal temperature of individual 




Fig. 6.— Another of Mr. Sowinski's In'o-ccllars. 

clusters can be regulated by the size of the 
entrances. 

To determine the temperature, it will be 
impracticable and entirely unnecessary to 
stick a thermometer into a cluster. For all 
practical purposes,'if a thermometer placed 
on the bottom^hoard, inside of the entrance, 
shows a temperature of about 52, it may be 



surmised that the temperature of the 
cluster will be about 57. Let iis suppose, 
for example, that there are two small colo- 
nies in a certain cellar. The average tem- 
perature of the cellar is somewhere around 
45. If we shove into the entrances of colo- 
nies of different strengths an ordSinarv 
dairy thermometer tested for accuracy, or 
even a common house thermometer (if it 
can be shoved into the entrance), we shall 
be able to determine in these colonies the 
temperature of the bottom-board. If the 
variation is not very great, and the tem- 
perature stands around about 52 a few 
inches back from the entrance, we may take 
it that the cellar temperature is about 
right. But if we find that one colony has 
a bottom temperature of 47 or 48, and an- 
other one a temperature of about 55 to 56, 
it is obvious that the entrance of the first 
named should be contracted to a point 
^vhere the temperature will be about 52. 
The other entrances should be enlarged 
until the mercury in the thermometer drops 
down to the required point. In a word, 
the temperature of the cellar should be at 
a point that will give as nearly as possible 
the proper temperature of the cluster, and 
that is 57. See Temperature. 

If when one puts the bees in the cellar 
he marks on each hive its relative strength, 
he will be able to determine the degree of 
contraction for each entrance; but, before 
lie determines the riiiht contraction, he 




h 




Fig. 5. — This cellar (71/^ x 25) belongs to Peter Sowinski of Bellaire, Mich. ; so also does the cellar (7 x 
30) shown in Fig. 6. Mr. Sowinski wintered 285. colonies in these two cellars without loss. The embankment 
in Fig. 6 appears to be covered. The home cellar, Fig. 5, embodies all the ideas of David Running. We went 
into this cellar at the time of our visit, and, notwithstanding the temperature was 80 degrees in the shade out- 
side, it was down to 45 in the cellar. Mr. Sowinski keeps his vegetables, butter, eggs, and other food stuffs in 
this cellar. The drinking-water, kept in jugs here, seems to be as cold as ice. TTie scheme of ventilation was 
the same as Mr. Running's. 



WIXTERIXG IX CELLARS 



825 



should use theruiometers in a few test colo- 
nies. 

So far neithej- the question of food nor 
that of the age of the bees has been touched 
on. Mr. Running said that, of course, he 
would much prefer good stores; for, when 
good stores are used, there is no spotting 
of the hives when the bees are taken from 
the cellar in the spring, even if they have 
been coniined from four to five months. 
But tho the bees will not winter as well on 
poor stores as on good, still if they arc 
wintered in a properly constructed cellar, 
the amount of stores consumed by the 
bees is so small that no serious conse- 
quences occur. 

He says that manj' times the beekeeper 
can not have young bees, and many times 
he will have to put up with inferior stores. 
But be is strongly of the opinion that if 



experience has shown that where the tem- 
perature inside is variable — from 40 to 60 
— there must be a large amount of ventila- 
tion, especiallj^ at the higher points. We 
have had good results with the temperature 
ranging between 55 and 60 ; but when it is 
as high as this there will be a loud roar 
from restless bees, unioss there is a con- 
stant interchange of aii*. It is a little 
difficult to bring this about in an ordinary 
house cellar, unless one can use an electric 
fan so placed as to bring about a change of 
air. Where there are a few colonies — 10 to 
15 — in a room 10 x 12, the matter of venti- 
lation is not hard to overcome, especially 
if the door leading from the bee-cellar into 
the furnace-room is left slightly ajar. It is 
put down as an axiom that 10 colonies in a 
house cellar will winter better than 50 or 
75 colonies, provided the temperature does 




Fig. 7. — E. G. Brown's upground cellar constructed by setting four fence posts about four feet into ground 
at the four corners of the proposed cellar. The portion of the posts above ground are boarded up on the outside. 
The dirt on the inside is shoveled out, forming an embankment around the board fence. The whole is covered 
with a roof as shown. 



bee-cellars are built right — and that, of 
course, means proper drainage and protec- 
tion — one could winter any kind of bees, 
"\^^len the cellars are not properly pro- 
tected, good stores and young bees are 
almost a necessity. 

WIXTERIXG IX AX ORDIXARY HOUSE CELL.'IR. 

Wintering in an ordinary house cellar is 
possible and practicable; but it should be 
understood that a house cellar is much 
more subject to variations of temperature, 
either on account of the presence of a fur- 
nace in the adjoining room to heat the 
house, or because of the exposure of the 
walls above ground to outside temperature, 
which is always very variable. The author's 



not go below 40. If the cellar is not frost- 
proof — that is, will not prevent vegetables 
from freezing — it will be a very poor place 
for bees. A cellar reeking with dampness 
is also bad, altho bees have wintered well 
in house cellars where there was a large 
amount of dampness; but it was becanse 
there was a temperature not lower than 45. 
The question of whether the hives should 
be carried into the cellar without the 
bottom-boards Avill depend on conditions. 
In cellars of the David Running type the 
bees should be put in with hive-bottoms 
fctd covers sealed down. Mr. Running uses 
an entrance 1^/4 inches deep running the 
width of the hive. 



826 



WINTERING IN CELLARS 



STORES. 

Usually a single brood-nest will have 
enough stores to carry the colony thru win- 
ter in the cellar; but some beekeepers — 
notably Leonard Griggs, who is one of the 
most successful producers in Michigan and 
who follows Mr. Running in the construc- 
tion of his bee-cellar — give to every colony 
they put into the cellar a half -depth super 
of natural stores. This is in addition to 
what the lower story happens to have. See 
Fig. 2. Also see Feeding and FeederS; 
subhead, " Feeding for Winter." 

HOW TO BUILD A BEE-CELLAR. 

So far no specific directions have been 
given on how to build a David Running 
cellar. See Fig. 1 and legend beneath. 
Where the clay is firm and will not cave 
in, sustaining walls are not necessary. But 
in most localities a wall or board siding is 
very essential. Concrete walls are prob- 
ably cheapest in the end. Where the cel- 
lar is temporary or on rented land very 
good bee-cellars have been built by using 
cheap boarding nailed against wooden 
posts. Mr. Brown, of the Western Honey- 
producers, Sioux City, Iowa, makes four 
holes in the ground with a post-auger. 
These holes are deep enough so that an 
ordinary fence-post will stick above the 
ground three' or four feet. The boarding 
is then nailed outside of the posts above 
ground. The man then gets inside of the 
inclosure, digs an oblong pit deep enough 
so that he will have about 6V2 feet between 
what is the top of the ceiling of the cellar- 
to-be and the bottom. The inside dirt is 
thrown outside of the wooden barricade. 
This leaves an embankment of four or five 
feet of earth. He uses no sustaining walls in 
the lower half of the cellar. A ceiling is 
then put on, and then a gable roof is made 
to cover the embankment as well as the cel- 
lar proper. On top of the ceiling and 
under the gable roof is put from three to 
four feet of sawdust. 

From the general investigations that the 
author has been able to make and from the 
results of his own experience, he comes to 
the conclusion that the ordinary bee-cellar 
should be relatively long with the entrance 
in one end. The temperature of Mother 
Earth in most localities where cellars are 
used is between 40 and 50 Fahr. — just 



about the right range to have inside a cel- 
lar. The walls next to Mother Earth be- 
come radiators of heat and cold because 
they draw from an enormous reservoir, so 
to speak. The larger the amount of wall 
surface exposed below ground, the more 
even the temperature in the cellar. A rel- 
atively long narrow cellar submerged three 
or four feet below ground, thru which cold 
can not penetrate, gives the largest possi- 
ble amount of wall and a temperature of 
approximately 45 degrees — just where we 
want it for good wintering in a cellar. 
The author's cellar is 12 feet wide by 60 
feet long, by 6^/^ feet high inside, wholly 
submerged beneath the surface, with con- 
crete walls, sides, ends, and ceiling. This 
cellar is covered with some four feet of 
clay closely packed. The cellar opens up 
into the basement of a main warehouse 
building, from which ventilation is se- 
cured by means of an electric fan. Up 
thru the ceiling and earth, at the back end, 
is an 8-inch sewer-pipe chimney thru which 
the air is forced hj the fan when there is 
not a natural draft. During a very warm 
winter, the first year this cellar was tried 
it gave excellent results in spite of the fact 
that the temperature outside was around 60 
and 65 degrees for many days. 

It was also found that sudden changes of 
temperature have very little effect on the 
cellar. About Jan. 9 the mercury outside 
dropped over 40 degrees in 24 hours; yet 
this did not change the temperature of the 
cellar one degree. Not until spring did the 
temperature go above 50 degrees and then 
only a few times; 44 is the lowest mark 
registered, and this only three times. The 
average daily variation in the bee cellar 
was less than 2 degrees and the greatest 
change in one day was 3 degrees. 

Where the soil is not impervious to 
water there should be a roof over the three 
or four feet of clay top. In our Ohio soil 
the clay is impervious to water and no roof 
is used. 

SUB-EARTH VENTILATORS. 

The sub-ventilator should be from four 
to six inches in diameter, made of glazed 
tile, about 100 feet long, and from four 
to six feet below the surface of the ground. 
The outer end is brought to the surface of 
the ground, and the inner opens near the 
bottom of the cellar. Cold air entering the 



WIXTEKIXCt IX CELLARS 



827 



ventilator is warmed in passing under 
ground to the cellar, and not only sup- 
plies the latter with pure air, but at- the 
same time raises its temperature several 
degrees. 

Sub-earth ventilators are not used to any 
great extent at this writing. The plan of 
using a furnace under the house, placing it 
in a room by itself adjoining the cellar, is 
preferable, provided, however, that outdoor 
air is allowed to go into the furnace room 
from a door or window. 

AREAXGEMEXT OF HIVES IX A BEE-CELLAR. 

The hives may be piled up one on top of 
another in such a way that any one can be 
removed without disturbing more than the 
one or two above it. The reason for this 
will be apparent later. Strong colonies 
should be put in first, and placed on a 
2x4 scantling. On top of these may then 
be placed the weaker ones. This has no 
special advantage except the convenience 
of having the heaw ones' at the bottom and 
the light ones on top. The entrances of the 
hives should be left about the same as they 
were during the late fall — % inch deep 
by 8 inches wide. Some consider it essen- 
tial to remove the bottom of the hives en- 
tirely. Others consider it good practice to 
have a deep space under the frames by 
raising the hive off the bottom in front and 
supporting it there by a couple of blocks. 
But some disastrous results in wintering 
seem to show us, at least, that too much 
bottom ventilation is bad unless the cellar 
is kept at a temperature of about 60 de- 
grees and thoroly ventilated. We have uni- 
formly secured the best results with a rea- 
sonably small entrance, or one about the 
size used during the fall or late spring. 
The larger the colony, of course the larger 
the entrance that will be required. In the 
case of a strong populous colony the en- 
trance should be % inch deep by the full 
width of the hive. The colonies of medium 
strength should have the entrance reduced 
accordingly. 

IXSPECTIXG THE BEES DURIXG MIDWIXTER : 
AXD DEAD BEES OX THE CELLAR BOTTO:kI. 

Experience has proved that, when the 
temperature is maintained at 45 degi'ees, 
very little attention need be paid to the 



bees, especially in the fore part of the win- 
ter. But during the last month or two of 
confinement the bees require watching more 
carefully; for if they get to roaring many 
of them will be lost. It then becomes nec- 
essary to make frequent examination to de- 
tennine the temperature and the quality of 
the air. It will also happen, perhaps, 
that a good many dead bees will be found 
on the cellar bottom. While this is not 
necessarily a cause for alann, it is not as 
it should be. If the cellar and temperature 
are right there will be very few dead bees ; 
but if they accumulate, their dead bodies 
should not be allowed to taint the hive, but 
should be swept up perhaps every two or 
three weeks and removed. 

A disposition to roar should be met by 
more ventilation, and at the same time the 
temperature should be reduced. If all the 
colonies in the cellar should become uneasy 
during midwinter it is evident that some- 
thing must be done at once or the whole 
lot of bees wiU be lost. They ought not to 
become uneasy until late in the spring. If 
they can not be quieted by infusion of 
fresh air, it may be best to give the uneasy 
colonies a flight on the first warm day by 
setting them outdoors and letting them 
stay there for 24 hours or until they can 
clean themselves. Dysentery or diarrhea 
in the bee-cellar is generally the result of 
too much cold air or too high a tempera- 
ture, either of which will induce too lavge 
a consumption of stores; and where bees 
are not able to void their feces, the intes- 
tines become distended, resulting in 
purging. A colony so afl:ected should be 
removed as soon as a warm day comes and 
given a flight, when it may be put back. 

WHEX TO PUT BEES IX THE CELLAR^ AXD 
WHEX TO TAKE THEM OUT. 

This is a question that depends entirely 
on locality. Most bees go into the cellar 
in the Xorthern States anywhere from the 
last of Xovember until the first of January ; 
but usually it is advisable to have all bees 
in before Christmas. As to when the bees 
should be taken out of the cellar, authori- 
ties difl:er. Some set them out in March, 
and then put on winter cases. Others be- 
lieve it is better policy to keep bees in late 
or until the last cold weather is past, and 
then set them out. The author advises tak- 



828 



WINTERING IN CELLARS 



ing the golden mean, waiting until the time 
natural pollen comes, or, in our locality, 
soft maples bloom. But when bees are un- 
easy in the cellar it is advised to set them 
out earlier than would be done otherwise. 

TIME OP DAY TO TAKE BEES OUT. 

The usual plan for taking bees from a 
cellar in the spring is to wait until fairly 
settled warm weather has come, and then 
on some warm bright day all the colonies 
are removed at once. The difficulty with 
this method is that the bees are likely to 
become badly mixed, owing to their eager 
flight without carefully marking the loca- 
tion. This results in a bad state of affairs, 
and should be avoided. Another method 
followed to some extent is to put some of 
the colonies out during an evening when all 
appearances indicate that it will be warm 
and bright the next day. A third of them, 
perhaps, are taken out, and these fly quite 
well the next day. The next evening an- 
other third is removed, and the last third 
the night following. The objection to this 
plan is that the bees removed first get to 
flying well and then start to rob colonies 
taken out later, thus making a fearful 
uproar. 

E. W. Alexander, in Gleanings in Bee 
Culture, page 286, Vol. XXXIV., gave 
a plan open to none of these objections. 

" First, get everything ready for a big 
job, and watch the weather closely, espe- 
cially after a few nice days, for it is quite 
changeable at this time of the year. Then 
when the wind gets around in the east, and 
it commences to become overcast with heavy 
clouds, and has every appearance of bad 
weather ^or the morrow, we commence 
about sundown and carry out all our bees 
— yes, even if it takes not only all night 
but into the next day ; and if it commences 
to rain before we are done, all the better, 
for we don't want any to try to fly until 
they have been out two or three days if we 
can help it. By this time they will have 
become nice and quiet; and when a fair 
day arrives they will commence to fly, only 
a few at a time, and get their location 
marked, so there will be no mixing up or 
robbing, because they all have their first fly 
together. Then when the day is over we 
find bj'^ examining our hives that nearly 
every one has apparently retained all its 



The plan here given avoids " drifting " 
on the part of the bees. (See Drifting.) 
Whjen bees drift from one hive to another 
it means that the strong become stronger 
and the weak weaker. Moreover, there is 
danger of robbing. When bees are set out 
two or three different times, those first s&t 
out having marked their locations, and hav- 
ing quieted down, are quite liable to rob 
those set out afterward, because the last lot 
of bees are more or less demoralized until 
they can mark their locations and recover 
from their excitement. 

SHALL WE PUT THE COLONIES BACK ON THE 
OLD STANDS IN THE SPRING? 

After bees have been shut up in the 
cellar over winter they can be placed back 
on the old stand they formerly occupied 
or they can be put anywhere in the yard, 
or, in fact, anywhere on the premises. 
Bees after long confinement apparently 
lose all knowledge of their former location, 
and will stay anywhere they may be placed. 
If one finds it necessary or desirable to 
move his bees a short distance, it is a good 
time to wait until they are taken out of 
the cellar the following spring, when they 
may be placed anywhere. 

CARRIERS FOR HIVES. 

A wheeled vehicle is not as good for 
moving bees in and out of a cellar as some 
sort of carrier. 

A wheelbarrow, if the paths are smooth, 
does very well. If the cellar steps are not 
too steep, a plank runway can be provided 
so that the load of bees can be delivered 
into the cellar itself. There are several 
good carriers. For hives without projec- 
tions a pair of U-shaped wires bent to form 
a sort of bail with hooks on the ends an- 
swers nicely. The bottom hooks catch on to 
the bottom of the hive. Dr. Miller uses a 
rope can-ier so that the weight of the hive 
is divided between two people. The ]iav- 




Greiner's hive-carrier. 



WINTERING IN CELLARS 



829 



ticular form of liive-carrier preferred by 
many is the one described by G. C. Greiner 
and several others in Gleanings in Bee Cul- 
ture. This is presented in the preceding- 
illustration. 

Two men can easily carry as many as 
five hives in this way. Where the cellar is 
located some little distance from the apiary 
this is the most convenient method yet de- 
vised. 

Instead of constructing a regular hive- 
carrier as shown, it is possible to get along 
quite weU by the use of two poles, but they 
are by no means as good. These should 
be about two inches square and six or eight 
feet long. They are placed on the ground 
in a parallel position, and as many hives 
placed on theni as can be carried; perhaps 
three hives would be all that could be man- 
aged easily with the poles. It is much 
more satisfactory, however, to have the 
poles nailed together with a framework, 
making a regular hive-carrier. 

SOME THIXGS TO REMEMBER IX CELLAR 
WINTERING. 

1. The temperature of the bee-cellar 
should be approximately 45 degrees. 
Whether it should be higher or lower will 
depend on the size of the colonies and the 
entrances of those colonies. 

2. An excess of dampness in the cellar 
does no harm provided the temperature of 
the cellar is such as to make the tempera- 
ture of the cluster approximately 57 de- 
grees F. 

3. A low temperature in the cellar, say 
35 to 40 degTees, or any temperature at 
which the heat of the cluster is much above 
or below 57, with an excess of dampness, 
is a very bad condition. 

4. Bees can be wintered in a cellar with- 
out much ventilation, provided the tem- 
perature of the individual clusters is ap- 
proximately around 57 degrees. With 
average-sized colonies and average-sized en- 
trances, a constant temperature of about 
45 degrees in the cellar will not require 
much ventilation. 

5. Ideal conditions for cellar winter' ng 
are — the right cluster temperature, a slight 
amount of moisture, a moderate amount of 
ventilation, and absolute darkness. 

6. A very bad combination is a constant- 
ly varying temperature that goes down 



nearly to the freezing point, and then rises 
to 55 or 60 degrees. Such frequent changes 
are very hard on the bees, 

7. A high cellar temperature will require 
very much larger entrances, or possibly the 
removal of the bottom-boards entirely, 
leaving the whole bottom of the hive open. 
There are some cellars where the tempera- 
ture can not be held down, and in such 
cases more ventilation is required as well 
as larger entrances. 

8. Occasional disturbances by the bee- 
keeper himself in the cellar do no harm; 
but these disturbances should be as few 
as possible, and with no jar and as little 
noise as possible. No brighter light than a 
hand pocket electric lamp should l)e used. 
With this, one can easily make his way 
thru the cellar, taking a glance at the en- 
trances and also a glance at the thermome- 
ters in the entrances of some of the hives. 
A more durable and lasting light is an 
electric lamp attached to a full-sized dry 
battery. Small pocket lamps are usually 
short-lived. 

9. When good colonies winter well the 
dead bees do not collect on the hive floors 
nor are they scattered over the cellar floor. 
The live bees remove the dead ones, leaving 
them on the cellar floor just below the en- 
trances. If scattered all about, it is plain 
that they have flown from their hives and 
have not wintered well. jSIoreover, if thei'e 
are several inches of dead bees on the cel- 
lar bottom in the spring, the owner of that 
cellar ought to investigate and ascertain 
the trouble. No matter if he does bring 
his colonies thru alive, it could hardly be 
said that he is wintering his bees success- 
fully. An ideal cellar is one that will bring 
the colonies thru the winter in practically 
the same strength as when they went into 
winter quarters. No colony should lose 
more than one-sixth of its bees, and well- 
wintered colonies will have much less loss 
than this — in some cases as low as 100 
bees. 

10. Honeydew, unsealed aster honey, mo- 
lasses, or syrup from brown sugar, makes 
a poor feed for indoor wintering. It is 
much better to have a good honey, well 
ripened, or syrup made of white granulat- 
ed sugar. 

IL Pollen in the combs does little or no 
harm. Indeed, it is an advantage to have 




How li. F. Iloltfeiiuiiiiu caiiito his LHeiVf-trame hives into the cellar. He lifts the hive us shown in Fig. 
2, and then brings it up against his body as in Fig. 5. Positions in 4 and 6 put an unnecessary strain on the 
back, and interfere with walking. 



WINTERIKG IN CELLARS 



8^1 



feOme of it ready for next si)ring after the 
bees are set out. The old theoiy that an 
excess of pollen in the combs was the cause 
of dj^sentery is now an exploded myth. 

12. Shutting bees in the hive with wire 
cloth, or closing the entrance in any way, is 
usually attended with disaster. 

13. Bees can be wintered in a common 
house cellar provided there is not too much 
variation of tempei'ature. The trouble with 
most house or vegetable cellars is that they 
become too warm or too cold. This makes 
it necessary for the beekeeper to enter the 
cellar, often opening and closing the cellar 
windows at night. The disturbance is a 
bad thing, and the variation of temperature 
is still worse. 

14.. A- cellar wholly under ground and 
frost-proof is much safer than the average 
house cellar. 

15. When one has from 100 to 300 or 
more colonies and the winters are so cold 
that there are many days of zero tempera- 
ture, especially if the locality is subject to 
high winds, it would be well to build a 
special bee-repository under ground, large 
enough to accommodate as many colonies 
as one would be likely to own. The mis- 
take should not be made of building it too 
small. It should be constructed on the 
lines indicated by David Running, as speci- 
fied in previous pages. Its shape should 
be long and narrow and wholly under- 
ground. That means that the roof should 
either be below the frost line by three or 
four feet, or that the portion of the re- 
pository above ground should be covered by 
an embankment of three or four feet for 
the sides above ground and three or four 
feet on top. Err on the side of having the 
repository covered too deep rather than 
not deep enough. If the earth covering 
it is not a pure yellow clay that is imper- 
vious to water, it is better to make a special 
roof over it. Sand or gravel should always 
be covered to keep it from freezing. 

16. An electric fan can very often be 
used to good advantage in ventilating a 
bee-cellar. Where a cellar under a dwell- 
ing house becomes too warm, an electric 
fan can be stationed in such a way as to 
force air from outdoors into the room. 
Bees will stand a comparatively high tem- 
perature provided the air is fresh and 
sweet. 



HOW AND WHAT TO FEED BErJS 
DURING MIDWINTER. 

It is advisable to avoid feeding any 
syrup during midwinter, because it has a 
tendency to stir up the bees, causing them 
to consume too largely of their stores; 
and, as they can not take a cleansing flight, 
dysentery is likely to follow. 

When an outdoor colony is running short 
it should be given a comb of sealed stores. 
To avoid disturbing the winter nest this 
should be given directlj^ on top of the 
brood-frames laid upon a couple of sticks. 
On top of the comb should be placed two 
other strips and then the packing-material. 
A comb may be given in the same way in 
the cellar, but it would be more practicable 
to take out an empty frame and put the 
one containing the stores in its place. 

If one does not have any combs of honey 
he may give rock cand\', or any kind of 
candy, pro^dded it has not been scorched or 
burned. If the candy is the same as that 
used in queen-cages, or what is called Good 
candy, it should be put in shallow trays 
like paper or wooden pie-plates, so that, 
in case it becomes soft, it will not run 
down over the combs, thus daubing the 
bees, and ultimately destroying the colony. 
There is always danger that a soft candy 
may do this, and hence the advice to use a 
hard candy. The use of a little honey, 
but not too much, makes a better candy. 
One pound or a pound and a half of honey 
to 20 pounds of sugar will be about the 
right proportion. It is very important 
that the mixture be not heated to a higher 
temperature than 280°; and for this pur- 
pose a candy-thermometer should be used. 
See Candy for Bees. 

It is a nice art to make hard candy, and 
perhaps some would not care to undertake 
it. One or two reports seem to show that 
loaf sugar may be laid on top of the 
frames. In winter there would be enough 
dampness to keep the sugar moist. For 
summer feeding it would have to be damp- 
ened perhaps. 

The feeding of a single colony in a cel- 
lar is apt to stir up by its roar the other 
colonies near it. Moreover, the giving of 
candy to bees in a cellar has a tendency 
to start brood-rearing. If the cellar is 
well ventilated, no harm will be done. If 



832 



DO BEES HIBERNATE? 



the ventilation is poor, with a tempera- 
ture below 40° F., it may result in dys- 
entery. One year the author placed a 
yard of bees in the cellar, the colonies of 
which were weak and short of stores. Each 
was supplied with a slab of hard candy. 
Brood-rearing started up, and, remarkable 
as it may seem, those colonies built up to 
fair size by spring and were as nice bees 
as we ever had. But cellar brood-rearing 
is attended with many dangers, and should 
usually be avoided by beginners, for some- 
times it induces 'dysentery, especially when 
cellar conditions are not ideal. 

DO BEES HIBERNATE? 

The quiescent state or sleep into which 
bees enter w^hen the wintering conditions 
are ideal, has been mentioned. In this 
period the bees seem merely to exist. With 
no activity the consumption of stores is 
very light. 

As shown under Temperature^, partic- 
ularly the temperature of the winter clus- 
ter during winter, bees are the quietest 
when the thermometer is about 57° F. 
If it goes below 57°, the bees, instead of 
clustering, become active, and in the man- 
ner explained under Temperature they 
raise the heat of the cluster sometimes 
almost to the brood-rearing point. When, 
therefore, the temperature is either below 
or above 57° F., the bees are in anything 
but a state of sleep or what some have 
called semi-hibernation. Strictly speaking, 
bees do not hibernate, and perhaps do not 
even enter into the condition called semi- 
hibernation when they are the quietest. 
It all depends on what is meant by that 
term. But there are some interesting facts 
showing that bees can for a short time 
stand low temperatures, and revive like 
ants and flies -that are true hibernators. 
In the discussion which follows, however, 
one must not be misled. Yet it is evident 
that nature has provided means by which 
bees can stand the temperature of freezing, 
or below, for a short time. In order that 
the reader may understand what hiberna- 
tion really^ is, a few facts should be pre- 
sented. 

Hibernation was exploited about 30 
years ago, when it was generally decided, 
and rightly too, that bees do not hibernate 



in the ordinary sense of the term (see 
American Bee Journal for 1885). But 
they do enter a quiescent state when the 
temperature has been lowered; and this 
state is somewhat analogous to the torpor 
experienced by some animals in a state of 
true hibernation, during which no food is 
taken, and respiration is considerably re- 
duced. Dr. Marshall Hall has stated that 
" respiration is inversely as the degree of 
irritability of the muscular fiber." If the 
respiration is reduced without this irrita- 
bility being increased, death results from 
asphyxia. Hibernation is usually induced 
by cold, and the animal under its influence 
attains nearly the temperature of the sur- 
rounding atmosphere, yet can not resist 
aity amount of cold, altho its capacity for 
doing so varies according to the animal. 
Some animals bury themselves in holes, 
like snakes and frogs ; others, like the bear, 
crawl under a pile of leaves and brush 
where they are still further covered with 
snow. Thus buried they will go all winter 
without food or water ; but there is a waste 
of tissue. Fish may be incased in ice and 
still live, it is said. A lively frog may be 
dropped into a pail of water, four or five 
inches deep, and exposed to a freezing 
temperature. Indeed, there may be a thin 
coating of ice formed over the animal. The 
next morning, that frog, though stiff and 
cold, can be warmed up into activity, but 
to freeze solid will kill the creature. 

Flies, as is well known, will secrete them- 
selves in window-frames and other -hiding- 
places, subject to cold atmosphere, for 
weeks at a time, and yet revive on ex- 
posure to warmth. As is well known, also, 
ants have been repeatedly dug out of logs, 
frozen solid — in fact, fairly enveloped in 
frost : yet on exposure to warmth they will 
revive. Some hibernators can endure a 
freezing temperature, while others, like the 
bear, woodchuck, and the like, can not. 
Other very interesting incidents may be 
taken from natural history; but the pur- 
pose of this article is to consider whethei' 
bees go into a quiescent state that ap- 
proaches hibernation, in which there is low 
respiration and a small consumption of 
stores. 

Two or three years ago the author put 
a number of cages of bees with some queens 
(laying the cages down on cakes of ice) in 



DO BEES HIBERNATE? 



833 



a refrigerator. The bees were chilled to 
absolute stiffness. Every day a cage was 
taken out and each time the bees would 
revive, including the queen. This plan was 
continued for several days, and yet the 
bees would " come to " each time. 

The strange part of it was, that the 
queens went on laying normally when put 
back in the hives, instead of laying drone 
eggs as expected. Just what was the tem- 
perature to which these bees were sub- 
jected can not be told, but probably 
below 40° and above 35°, for the doors of 
the refrigerators were frequently opened, 
and the ice was constantly melting. 

During one winter, when a very cold 
snap came on — the temperature going down 
to zero — the author put out some cages of 
bees, exposing them to the cold wind, which 
was then blowing a pretty good gale, when 
the temperature was 5 above zero. It was 
expected that the bees possibly might be 
able to survive the shock for a number of 
hours, and yet revive; but 20 minutes of 
zero freezing was sufficient to kill them 
outright. If the bees had been gradually 
acclimatized to the cold, first being sub- 
jected to 40°, then to 35°, and gradually 
down to the zero point, they would pos- 
sibly have withstood the shock. 

When the weather warmed up a little 
several cages of bees were taken and buried 
in the snow, with a thermometer so that 
the absolute temperature might be known. 
A cage of bees was taken about every two 
or three hours, and it was found that they 
could be revived without difficulty; but 
at the end of 24 hours the bees, when thej^ 
" came to," seemed somewhat the worse for 
the experience. The temperature in the 
snow played around the 32° mark. But 
the experiments conducted during the sum- 
mer would seem to show that bees might 
stand a temperature of 38° for a number of 
days. 

Bees on the outside of the ball or cluster 
in an outdoor-wintered colony, will often 
be chilled stiff while those inside have 
almost a blood temperature. During very 
severe weather, the outside bees may be 
gradually replaced by those within the clus- 
ter; for bees are in constant movement. 
Experiments show that a starved bee will 
not stand as much cold as one that is well 



filled. Beekeepers who have had any ex- 
perience in wintering outdoors know how 
repeatedly they have taken clusters of bees 
that seemed to be frozen stiff, yet when 
warmed up before a good fire would revive 
and appear as lively as ever. 

In view of the experiments thus far re- 
corded it would appear that bees might be 
able to stand a temperature of 40°, or 
slightly below that, for a number of days; 
but if a warm spell does not come within 
a week, or less, those bees in their chilled 
condition may starve to death. But if it 
warms up, the cluster will unfold and the 
bees take food, and so be ready for an- 
other "freeze." The author has repeat- 
edly seen clusters of bees, after a zero spell, 
lasting a couple of weeks, that were stone 
dead; but the honey had been eaten from 
all around them within a radius of an inch 
or more. If a zero spell of weather con- 
tinues more than a week or ten days, some 
of the weaker colonies will be found in the 
spring frozen to death. 

If the bee were a true hibernator it 
would save the beekeepers of the world 
millions of dollars, because then all that 
would be necessary would be to establish 
a sort of cold-storage plant, where the 
climate was open or mild, and put the bees 
away for winter. In cold climates it would 
not be necessary to have cold-storage 
plants. The bees could be placed outdoors 
without protection, and left all winter; yes, 
they could easily be put on dry combs. 
Like the ants and flies they would remain 
in a dormant state; and when warm 
weather came on they would revive and re- 
sume their former activity. But, unfortu- 
nately, bees are not that kind of insect. 
That they will go into a quiescent state, or 
a kind of suspended animation, at a tem- 
perature of 57 degrees Fahr., has been 
clearly proven. During that period they 
consume the minimum of stores. If the 
time ever comes when we shall know 
enough to provide conditions so that a 
cluster will remain thruout the greater part 
of the winter at a temperature of 
about 57 degrees F., it will certainly save a 
large amount of stores. But whether those 
conditions would indicate a state of semi- 
hibernation, or even an approach to it, the 
author is not prepared to say. 



34 



WINTERING IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 



WINTERING IN THE SOUTHERN 

STATES. — Where bees can fly almost 
every day in the year, and for ten months 
are able to gather a little honey or pollen, 
no special protection other than single 
walls has hitherto been considered neces- 
sary. The fact that the wintering problem 
in the South is not serious would seem to 
indicate that no special precaution is 
needed ; but some experience that the 
author has had in wintering bees in Cali- 
foraia. Virginia, and Florida indicates 
that, even where the bees can fly almost 
every day in the j'ear, a moderate amount 
of protection can be given to advantage. 
This should be in the form of light pack- 
ing cases and of windbreaks to shut off the 
prevailing winds. While this may seem 
to be an unnecessary expense, the sav- 
ing in brood and stores will pay for it in 
time. As will be seen under Temperature, 
bees, in order to keep up the proper 
amount of heat, must exercise, and this 
means a consumption of stores. Such ac- 
tivity causes the bees to fly out on a chilly 
day, and many never return. Again, where 
clusters are not large there is considerable 
brood in the Southland which chills and 
dies. This is a heav^^ drain on the colonies. 
While a colony can survive it, the bee- 
keeper could well afford to furnish a little 
protection to save this brood. See Win- 
tering Outdoors and Spring Manage- 
ment. 

As has been pointed out elsewhere under 
Wintering Outdoors and Spring Man- 
agement the rapid changes of temperature 
from morning until night — warm sunshine 
during the middle hours of the day, low 
temperature or freezing at night — are very 
hard on bees in many of the Southern 
States. The hot sun beating on the walls 
of the hives forces the bees out, and in an 
hour or so there may be a cold chilly wind 
that will prevent them from getting back. 
They get some pollen or nectar, which 
starts breeding. As the cool nights come 
on the survivors attempt to hover this 
brood and failing to do so on account of 
so many bees being lost in the fields, some 
of the brood is chilled. 

A little protection in the form of paper 
wrappings or an outside protecting case 
would save heavy losses of bees. In the 
Southern States, and particularly in Cali- 
fornia, winter losses — not of colonies but 



of bees — are as great as in some of the 
Northern States. The author feels very 
certain that a moderate amount of protec- 
tion would mean thousands upon thou- 






J 



Figs. 1 a\d 2. — Method of packing bees with news- 
paper for semi-tropical states. The brood nest is re- 
duced down in a ten frame hive to six or seven 
frames, using those that contain the most stores. 
These are placed centrally in the hive and covered 
with newspaper. The space on either side is then filled 
with folds of newspaper, after which the cover is put 
on. The smaller brood nest with packing on the sides 
is better protected and will consume less stores. 



sands of dollars of saving to the beekeep- 
ers in the warm States, where it is thought 
that there is no wintering problem. 

Dr. E. F. Phillips, in charge of api- 
culture in the Bureau of Entomology, 
Washington, D. C, also believes that some 
winter protection in the South will prevent 
some loss of bees, if not of colonies. 

Altho the advantages would seem to 
favor some packing in the Southland, it 
will probabty be some time before its bee- 
keepers below the Ohio River will realize 
its importance enough to provide the neces- 
sary winter protection. 

One serious difficulty in wintering in the 
South is starvation. Bees require more 
stores per colony than in the North. When 
they can fly almost every day in the win- 
ter, breeding will be kept up more or less, 
with the result that the colony will use 



XYLOCOPA 



835 



twice as much honey during the winter as 
a similar colony in the North, packed. It 
is important, for one to examine his colo- 
nies occasionally to see if they are running 
short; and, if so, he should feed them 
with sugar syrup or honey. 

The fact that so manj' colonies become 
weak in the Southland makes it possible 
for European foul brood to make rapid 
headway. This disease is being scattered 
rapidly all over California and the South- 



ern States. It thrives on weak colonies, 
and the reason colonies are weak is because 
the bees have insufficient stores or because 
they are improperly packed or both. 



WIRING FRAMES. 

DATIOX. 



See Comb Foun- 



WOMEN AS BEEKEEPERS. - 

Beekeeping for Womex. 

WORKER COMBS.— See Combs. 



See 



X Y Z 



XYLOCOPA.— To this genus belong the 
carpenter bees, among which are the larg- 
est bees in the world. They are so called 
because they excavate with their power- 
ful jaws tunnels a foot in length in solid 
wood. The cells are about an inch long, 
and are separated by partitions made of 
small chips cemented together in a spiral. 
The eggs are laid on masses of pollen, 
moistened with honey, the pollen masses be- 



ing about the size of a bean. A common 
species in the eastern United States is X 
virginica. 



YELLOW SWEET 

Sweet Clover. 



CLOVER. 



See 



ZINC, Perforated.— See Drones, Ex- 
tracted HoxEY, and Swarming. 



Beekeepers' Dictionary 



Abdomen. — The posterior of the three parts into which 
a bee is divided. See Anatomy in text. 

Absconding swarm. — A swarm which leaves for new 
quarters. See Abscoxdixg Swakms in text. 

Absorbents. — Materials more or less porous placed over 
the brood-chamber in winter, thru which moisture 
may escape without much heat escaping. 

Adair frame. — 13% inches long, 11^ inches deep. 

After-swarms. — Swarms which leave a given colony- 
after a swarm of the same season has already left it. 

Albino. — A bee in which the coloring matter is defi- 
cient, making it lighter in color. 

Alighting-board. — The projection before the entrance 
to a hive. 

American foul brood. — See Fotjl Brood. 

American frame. — 12 inches long, 12 inches deep. 

Antenna (plural antennae). — Feeler; a horn-like ap- 
pendage attached to the head of a bee ; the organ 
of touch, and possibly also of other senses. See 
AXATOMY in text. 

.Anther. — The upper part of the stamen normally con- 
sisting of two sacs called the pollen-sacs, in which 
the pollen is produced. The anther at first is com- 
posed of four spore-cases or chambers, which at 
maturity are reduced to two by the breaking-down 
of the partition between the two spore-cases on each 
side. 

Aphis. — A plant louse which secretes honeydew. 

Apiarian. — Pertaining to bees or an apiary. 

Apiarist. — A beekeeper. 

Apiary. — A collection of colonies of bees ; also the 
yard or place where bees are kept. See Apiary in 
text. 

Apiculture. — Beekeeping. 

Apidae. — The family to which the honeybee belongfs. 
See Solitary Bees in text. 

Apis. — The genus to which honeybees belong. 

Artificial fecundation. — The impregnation of \irgin 
queens in confinement. 

Artificial fertilization. — (Not correct term.) See Ar- 
tificial FECtrXDATIOX. 



Artificial pasturage.- 
their nectar. 



-Plants purposely cultivated for 



Artificial pollen. — Rye meal, pea flour, or other sub- 
stances fed as substitutes for the pollen of flowers. 

Artificial swarm. — A swarm made by dividing a colony 
of bees. 

lutomaiic hirer. — See Swaemixg. 

Bacillus larvae. — Cause of American foul brood. 

Balling a queen. — A number of bees clustering about 
a queen, sometimes making a ball an inch or more 
in diameter, sometimes releasing the queen un- 
harmed ; oftener continuing to ball her till she is 
dead. 

Bar-frame. — A name sometimes applied to a movable 
frame in Great Britain. 

Bee-bread. — The pollen of flowers gathered by the bees, 
mixed with a little honey, and deposited in the 
comb. See Pollex in text. 

Bee-brush. — A brush used in removing bees off their 
combs. See Pollex in text. 

Bee culture. — The care of bees. 

Bee-dress. — A suit or dress to wear while working with 
bees. 

Bee-escape. — A device to get bees out of supers or 
buildings, so constructed as to allow bees to pass 
thru in one direction, but prevent their return. See 
Comb Honey in text. 

Bee-gloves. — Gloves worn to protect the hands from 
stings and from propolis. 

Bee glue. — See Propolis. 

Bee-gum. — A very poor bee hive with immovable 
frames. Originally gum referred to a section of a 
gum tree used as a hive. 



Beehive. — A box or other contrivance for holding a 

colony of bees. See Hives in text. 
Bee-house. — A house constructed to contain colonies of 

bees. See House Apiary under Apiary in text. 
Bee line. — The shortest distance between two points. 

See Bee-huntixg in text. 
B^e louse. — A commensal parasite common in Europe, 

and practically unknown in America ; Braula coeca. 
Bee metamorphoses. — The bee passes thru three stages 

before becoming a perfect insect — first the egg, then 

the larva, and next the nymph. The following will 

serve to show how this is accomplished : 

Queen, Worker, Drone, 
days. days. days. 

Incubation of the egg 3 3 3 

rime of feeding the larva 5 5 6 

Larva spinning cocoons 12 3 

Resting period 2 3 4 

Passing from larva to nymph. Ill 
Time in the nymph state 3 7 7 

Total period of growth 15 21 24 

Hatching takes place on 4 4 4 

Bee leaves its cell 16 21 24 

Bee flies 21 38 38 

See Development of Bees in text. 

Bee moth.~A moth whose larvge destroy honeycombs, 
eating the wax ; a wax moth. 

Bee paralysis. — A disease of adult bees in which the 
wings have a trembling motion, and the bees have 
a shinv appearance ; of little account in the North, 
but sometimes severe in the South. See Diseases of 
Bees in the text. 

Bee pasturage. — Flowering plants from which bees 
gather nectar. 

Bee-pest. — Foul brood. 

Bee plants. — Flowering plants which produce nectar 
for bees. 

Bee-space. — A space in which bees put the least amount 
of wax or propolis — about ^ of an inch or a trifle 
more. See Frames in the text. 

Beeswax. — The wax of which bees make their combs ; 
excreted in small scales from the abdominal rings. 

Bee- tent. — Tent of wire cloth or netting large enough 
to contain a hive and the operator, in which bees 
may be manipulated without being troubled by rob- 
bers. See Robbing in text. 

Bee- tree. — A hollow tree occupied by a colony of wild 
bees. See Bee-hunting in text. 

Bee-veil. — A net veil for protecting the head from the 
attack of bees. 

Beeway sections. — Sections having insets at the edges 
so as to make passages for the bees when the sections 
are crowded close together. 

Black bee. — The German or brown bee ; the bee first 
introduced into this country. 

Bottom-board. — The floor of a beehive. See •Hives in 
text. 

Box hive. — A plain box used for housing a colony of 
bees. 

Box honey. — Honey stored in small boxes. 

Black brood. — See European Foul Brood. 

Brace-comb. — The terms " brace-comb " and " burr- 
comb " are often used indiscriminately as meaning 
the same thing. More exactly, a brace-comb is a bit 
of comb built between two combs to fasten them 
together, or between a comb and adjacent wood, or 
between two wooden parts, as between two top-bars ; 
while a burr-comb is a bit of wax built upon a comb 
or upon a wooden part in a hive, seeming to have 
no object but to use up wax. See Hives in text. 

Brimstoning. — The operation of killing a colony of 
bees with sulphur fumes. See Box Hives in text. 

British standard frame. — A frame 14 inches long by 
81,^ deep. 

Brood. — Young bees not yet emerged from their cells. 
See Brood in text. 



.838 



BEEKEEPERS' DICTIONARY 



Brood-chamber. — That part of the hive in which the 
brood is reared. 

Brnod-comh. — One of the combs in the brood-chamber. 
See Brood and Combs in text. 

Brood-nest. — That part of the brood-chamber occu- 
pied by eggs and brood. The term is also used to 
apply to that part where the bees are clustered when 
they have no eggs or brood. 

Brood-rearing. — Raising bees from the Gg^. 

Brushed swarm. — An artificial swarm made by brush- 
ing or shaking part or all of the bees of a colony 
into an empty hive, thus anticipating and prevent- 
ing a natural swarm. It is also called " shaken 
swarm " and " shook swarm," altho some object to 
" shook swarm " as being ungrammatical. See Ar- 
tificial Swarming jn the text. 

Bumblebee. — A large hairy social bee of the genus 
Bombus; bumblebee. 

Burr-comb. — See Brace-comb. 

Button or bouton. — The enlarged part at the tip of a 
bee's tongue. 

Candied honey. — Honey that has granulated and be- 
come solid. 

Cap. — 1. The covering: of a cell containing brood or 
honey ; the capping ; the sealing. 2. To cover a 
cell with a capping ; to seal. 3. A hive cover. 

Capped brood. — Brood sealed over by the bees 8 or 
9 days after the egg is laid ; sealed brood. 

Carniolan bees. — Bees obtained from Carniola, Austria. 
They resemble black bees with somewhat distinct 
whitish bands. 

Carton. — A pasteboard box for holding a section of 
honey. See Comb Honey, to Produce, in the text. 

Cast. — A second swarm ; also applied to any swarm 
after the first. 

Cell. — One of the hexagonal compartments of a honey- 
comb. 

Cell- cup. — A queen-cell when it is only about as deep 
as it is wide. Artificial cell-cups are made as well 
as natural. See Queen-rearing in the text. 

Cell-protector. — A receptacle made of wire cloth, 
which protects the sides of a queen-cell from the 
attacks of bees, but leaves the apex of the cell un- 
covered. 

Chaff hive. — A hive having double walls filled between 
with chaff. 

Chorion. — The reticulated membrane or network that 
covers a bee-egg. 

Chrysalis. — See pupa, the more usual name. 

Chyle. — A milky substance prepared in the chyle- 
stomach of the nurse bees, and fed to a young queen 
during its whole larval existence, and to other larvae 
during their first three days of feeding. 

Chyme. — Partially digested food to be further elabo- 
rated into chyle. 

Clamp. — A winter repository for bees, made in sandy 
soil by digging a trench in which the hives are 
placed, and then covered with straw and earth. 

Claustral hive. — Having a covered-in entrance with 
ventilator for winter. See Cloister Hive. 

Cleansing flight. — The flight of the bees from the hive 
after long confinement, as in the spring, when they 
void th|ir feces in the air. 

Cloister hive. — A hive provided with a cloistered en- 
trance, which excludes the light in winter weather 
to prevent the bees from flying. 

Closed-end frames. — Frames with end-bars so w^de 
that no space is left between them. 

Colony. — A community of bees having a queen, some 
thousands of workers, and during part of the year a 
number of drones ; the bees that live together as 
one family in a hive. 

Comb. — Ai) assemblage of hexagonal cells made of wax 
to contain eggs, brood, honey, or pollen ; honey- 
comb. See Combs in text. 

Comb-basket. — That part of a honey-extractor in which 
the combs are held. See Extracting in the text. 

Comb-carrier. — A receptacle in which one or more 
combs may be placed and covered, so as to be 
easily carried, and protected from robbers. 

Comb foundation. — Thin sheets of beeswax stamped 
to imitate comb, forming a base on which the bees 
will construct a complete comb. 



Comb-foundation machine. — A machine for stamping 
the foregoing. 

Comb-guide. — Strips of wood used as a guide in the 
construction of combs. 

Comb honey. — Honey in comb together with the comb 

Cross. — When races of bees are bred together the re- 
sulting progeny is called a cross. 

Cyprian bee. — The native bee of the island of Cyprus. 

Decoy hive. — A hive placed with the object of attract- 
ing passing swarms. 

Dequeen. — To take the queen from a colony of bees; 
to unqueen. 

Dividing. — Separating a colony in a manner to pro- 
duce two or more colonies. 

Division-board. — A thin board of the same size as the 
inside length and width of the hive, used to con- 
tract the size of the brood-chamber or to divide it 
into separate compartments ; often called dummy; 
see Dummy. 

Dovetailed hive. — A hive with Langstroth frames, the 
hive having interlocked corners after the manner 
of dovetailing. See Hives in the text. 

Drone. — Male bee. 

Drone brood. — Brood which matures into drones, bred 
in larger cells than worker bees. 

Drone comb. — Comb having cells which measure 4 to 
the inch. Drones are reared in drone comb ; also 
honey is stored in it ,but not often pollen. Drone 
comb is about one inch thick when used for brood ; 
when used for honey it may be very much thicker. 
Drone comb has about 18^ cells to the square inch 
on each side. 

Drone egg. — The egg from which a drone hatches — 
an unimpregnated egg. 

Drone-trap, see Queen-trap. 

Drumming. — Pounding on the sides of an inverted hive 
to make the bees ascend into another hive placed 
over. In England it is called " driving." See 
Transferring in the text. 

Dummy. — A thin board of the same size as a frame, 
or a little smaller, having a top-bar nailed on top. 
See Division-board. 

Dysentery. — Diarrhea or an affection in which an ac- 
cumulation in the intestines causes the bees to dis- 
charge watery feces in the hive or on the outside 
front of the hive. 

Dzierzon theory. — A set of 13 propositions put forth 
by Rev. John Dzierzon (pronounced Tseer tsone) in 
the middle of the 19th century, propounding the 
then novel idea of parthenogenesis. See Dzierzon 
Theory in text. 

Egyptian bee. — Apis fasciata. A smaller and more 
beautiful bee than the Italian, but exceedingly cross. 
See Races of Bees in text. 

Embryo. — The germ of the bee in the egg. 

Entrance. — The opening at the front of a hive to 
allow the bees to pass out and in. In America the 
entrance is almost universally at the bottom of the 
hive. In Europe it is often higher up. 

Entrance blocks. — Pieces of wood for regulating the 
size of the entrance, 

European foul brood. — See Foul Brood, 

Excluder. — See Queen-excluder ; also Drones in text. 

Extracted honey. — Honey obtained from combs by 
means of a centrifugal extractor. 

Extractor. — See Honey-extractor and Wax-extractor. 

Extra-thin .super foundation. — Comb foundation run- 
ning about 131/^ square feet to the pound. See 
Comb Fou^'dation in text. 

Fdn. — An abbreviation for the words comb foundation. 

Feces. — Excreta of bees. 

Fecundate. — To fertilize ; to impregnate. The queen 
is fecundated upon meeting the drone, and is then 
capable of laying egg^s that will produce workers or 
queens. 

Feeders. — Appliances for feeding bees artificially. 

Femur. — Thigh of the honeybee. See Anatomy in 
text. 

Fence. — A slotted separator resembling an ordinary 
wooden fence. It is used as a guide to compel the 
bees to build combs that are straight. See Comb 
Honey, Appliances for. 

Fertile. — A fertile queen is one that has mated with 
a drone. 



BEEKEEPERS' DICTIONARY 



839 



Fertilize. — A queen's eggs that are to produce workers 
or queens are fertilized on their outward passage by 
receiving one or more of the spermatozoa contained 
in the spermatheca of the queen. Drone eggs are 
unfertilized. 

Field bees. — "When worker bees become about 16 days 
old, thev begin the work of flying abroad to collect 
nectar, pollen, water, and propolis, and are then 
called field bees. 

Fielders. — Field bees. 

Fixed frames. — Frames that do not hang loose in the 
hive, but touch at one or more parts of the end- 
bars ; self-spacing frames. See Frames, Self-spac- 
ixG, in text. 

Formic acid. — A colorless corrosive liquid compound 
(HCO.OH), forming a very small but important part 
of honey. 

Foul brood. — A malignant contag^ious disease of bees 
affecting the brood. See Foul Brood in body of the 
work. 

Foundation. — See Comb Fouxdatiox. 

Foundation splints. — Wooden splints about 1-16 inch 
square, embedded vertically in the foundation of a 
brood-frame to prevent sagging. See Comb Focx- 
datiox in the text. 

Frame. — Four slats of wood to hold a comb, invented 
by the late Rev. L. L. Langstroth of Oxford, 0. 
This frame requires a bee-space % of an inch on all 
sides to be effective. See Frames in text. 

Fumigate. — To submit to the fumes of sulphur, carbon 
bisulphide, or other disinfectant. Combs are fumi- 
gated to kill the eggs or larvae of the bee moth, and 
bees are sometimes killed by fumigation. See Moth 
Miller in the text. 

Galleria mellonella (formerly Galliera cereana). — The 
scientific name of the wax moth. See Moth Mil- 
ler in tex-t. 

Ganglion (plural, ganglia). — A nodular enlargement 
consisting of an aggregation of nerve-cells that re- 
ceives and sends forth nervous impulses and serves 
to stimulate organic and psychical action ; a nerve 
center. See Axatomt in tex-t. 

Go-bachs. — Unfinished sections which are returned to 
the hive to be finished. 

Golden bees, or Goldens. — Colonies in which many of 
the workers show four or five yellow bands. 

Good candy. — See Queex Caxdt. 

Grafting. — Applied by beekeepers to the process of re- 
moving a worker larva from its cell into a queen- 
cup, with the view of having it reared into a queen. 
See Queex-rearixg in text. 

Green honey. — Unripe honey. 

Hatching brood. — Young bees just emawinsr their way 
out of the cells. 

Heddon frame. — 5% inches deep by 18 1-16 in length. 

Tlive. — 1. A home for bees furnished by man ; 2. To 

put a swarm in a hive or to induce it to enter a 

hive. See Hives in text. 
Hive-tool. — A tool used to pry up supers, pry frames 

apart, etc. See Maxipulatiox of Coloxies in the 

text. 

Holy Land bees. — A variety of bees from Palestine. 
Somewhat resemble Italian bees, but are more ir- 
ritable. 

Honey. — The nectar of flowers gathered by the bees, 
and so changed by them that it becomes honey. 
According to the national pure-food law, " Honey 
is laevorotatory, contains not more than 25 per cent 
of water, not more than 2.5 per cent of ash. and not 
more than 8 per cent sucrose (cane sugar.)" 

Honeybee. — The honeybee belongs to the class Insecta. 
order H\-menoptera, superfamily Apoidea or Antho- 
phila and family Apidae. In 1758 Linnsus named 
the honeybee Apis mellifera (honey-bearer), and 
three years later (1761) changed the" name to Apis 
mellifica (honey-maker). A. mellifera has. therefore, 
the right of priority. Dalla Torre recognizes in the 
genus Apis over 180 species, of which A. mellifera, 
dorsata, florea, and A. mellifera are fasciata, caffra, 
adansonii, japonica, ligustica, and unicolor. Races 
or varieties of the domestic bee are also distinguished 
by the names of the geographical localities in which 
they occur and from which they have been exported, 
as Italian, Carniolan, Syrian, tvprjan, Banat, Cau- 
casian, and TunisiaD. 



Honey-board. — A slatted board placed between the 
brood-chamber and the honey-chamber to break the 
continuity of the two ; formerly a board with holes 
in it to support the receptacles' of comb honey. A 
queen-excluder is sometimes called a honey-board. 

Honey-box.— A box for comb honey, closed on all sides, 
and provided with holes to allow the bees access. 
Almost obsolete. 

Honeycomb. — Two series of waxen cells with a septum 
between them, which septum serves as the bottom 
for the cells of both series. In the Bible honeycomb 
means comb honey. See Drcxe Comb and \Vorker 
Comb. 

Honey dew. — A sweet liquid similar to the nectar of 
flowers deposited on the leaves and branches of 
plants. 

Honey-evaporator. — A machine for removing water from 
honey deemed too thin. 

Honey-extractor. — A machine for throwing the honey 
from combs by centrifugal force. 

Honey-gate. — An iron faucet used for drawing honev 
from barrels or other receptacles. 

Honey -harvest. — 1. Surplus honey taken from bees. 2. 
The time when bees are gathering a surplus, or more 
than enough for their daily needs. 

Honey-house. — A building for the purpose of honey 
extraction, storage, etc. 

Honey-knife. — A knife used to shave the capping^ from 
combs of sealed honey preparatory to extracting. 
See ExTRACTixG in the text. 

Honey-sac. — An enlargement of the bee's esophagus 
after it enters the abdomen : the sac in which a bee 
carries nectar or honey ; honey-bag ; honey-stomach. 

House-apiary. — 1. An apiary kept in a specially con- 
structed building; 2. The building itself which con- 
tains the hives, the walls of the building containing 
holes thru which the bees pass out and in. 

Hybrids. — Usually used by beekeepers to designate a 
cross between the common black bee and the Italian. 

Hymeftus. — A mountain district of Greece famous for 
its wild-th\-me honey, and celebrated in classic poetry 
and history. See Sage in the text. 

Imago. — The fully developed bee or other insect. 

Introduce. — To give a colony a strange queen, taking 
precautions so that she will not be killed by the 
bees. 

Introducing. — Giving a strange queen to a colony of 
bees. Unless certain precautions are taken, a colony 
is apt to kill a queen to which they are not accus- 
tomed. Introducing is generally performed by hang- 
ing the queen in a cage in the midst of the strange 
bees several days until she acquires the odor of the 
hive. 

Introducing-cage. — A smaU box of wire and wood. 

Inversion. — The process of turning a hive upside down 
to compel the bees to attach their combs to the 
bottom-bar, also to remove honey from brood-frames 
into the supers. 

Italian bee. — The native bee of Italy, the workers hav- 
ing three yellow bands. In America it has been bred 
to have four or five yellow bands. 

Italianize. — To change a colony of any other race to 
Italians by introducing an Italian queen. 

Jumbo frame. — 17% inches long, 11^4 inches in depth. 
See Hives in the text. 

Langstroth frame. — 17% inches long by 9% inches 
deep. See Hives., also Frames in the text. 

Langstroth hive. — A hive having frames 17% by 9%. 
In one sense, any- movable-frame hive is a Langstroth 
hive, since Langstroth invented the movable-frame 
hive. 

Larva (plural Larvae). — A bee in the worm state; 
unsealed brood. 

L. frame. — Langstroth frame. 

L. hive. — Lan^troth hive. See Hives in the text. 

Laying worker. — A worker which lays eggs, such eggs 
producing only drones. Laying workers do not ap- 
pear except in colonies long queenless. 

Light brood foundation. — Comb foundation running 
about 9 square feet to the pound. 

Ligurian bee. — Italian bee, named for the district in 
which the best Italian bees are found. 

Lining bees. — Watching the dir^Kitlon of the flight of 
bees so as to trace them to their home (usually in 
some hollow tree). See Bee-huxtixg in the text. 



840 



BEEKEEPERS' DICTIONARY 



Loose frames or loose-hanging frames. — As opposed to 
fixed frames, those which have no provision for self- 
spacing, but must be spaced by the eye. See 
Frames, Self-spacing, in the text. 

Mai de mat. — May sickness; a peculiar disease of bees 
occurring mostly in May, and giving much trouble in 
Europe. See Diseases of Bees in the text. 

Mandibles. — The jaws of the bee working like a pair 
of pliers, but sidewise, not up and down, as with 
ourselves. 

May pest. — Same as mal de mai. 

Medium brood foundation. — Comb foundation running 
about 7 square feet to the pound. 

Melipona bees. — A genus of stingless bee inhabiting 
South and Central America, comprising at least 50 
species, some domesticated. 

Mel-extractor. — Honey-extractor. 

Movable frame. — A loose comb frame which can be 
removed completely from the hive for the purpose 
of examination or use. A Langstroth frame. See 
Frames in the text. 

Natural swarm. — A swarm of bees issuing spontaneous- 
ly from the mother hive. 

Nectar. — The sweet exudation secreted by glands in 
different parts of plants, chiefly in the flowers. 

Nectaries. — The parts of a flower wherein is secreted 
the nectar. See Pollen in the text. 

Neuter. — A name sometimes applied to worker bees. 

Non-swarming hive. — A hive so constructed as to con- 
trol the desire to swarm. 

Nucleus (plural Nuclei). — A very small colony of bees. 
The difference between a nucleus and a colony is 
much like the difference between a boy and a man. 
It is not easy to say just when a nucleus becomes 
large enough to be called a colony. Perhaps nothing 
larger than three combs with adhering bees should 
be called a nucleus, altho in the spring many so- 
called colonies have much less than three frames of 
brood. 

Nurse bees. — The worker bees that feed the young, 
and do other work inside the hive. They are gener- 
ally less than 16 days old. 

Observatory hive. — A hive largely of glass to permit 
observing the bees at work. 

Ocelli. — The three simple eyes of the bee. 

Out-apiary. — An apiary kept at some distance (gener- 
ally more than a mile) from the home of the bee- 
keeper. 

Overstocking. — A condition reached when there are too 
many bees for a. given locality. 

Paraffin. — A white translucent substance somewhat re- 
sembling beeswax, derived from mineral oil, and sold 
very largely in the form of candles. It is used by 
beekeepers to render honey-barrels tight. 

Parent stock. — The parent stock of a given colony is 
the colony of that queen's mother. 

Parthenogenesis. — Production of a new individual from 
a virgin female without intervention of a male ; re- 
production by means of unfertilized eggs. In bees 
the unfertilized eggs produce only males. An un- 
fecundated queen, and sometimes a worker, may lay 
eggs that will hatch, producing only drones. See 
Parthenogenesis in the body of the work. 

Perforated zinc. — Zinc sheet metal having oblong holes 
1-6 of an inch in width to allow worker bees alone 
to pass, and excluding queens and drones. See 
Drones in the text. 

Pickled Brood. — See Sacbrood. 

Piping. — A series of sounds made by a queen, louder 
than any sound made by a worker, consisting of a 
loud, shrill tone, succeeded by several others, each 
sound shorter than the one that precedes it. A lay- 
ing queen is seldom heard to pipe ; a virgin perhaps 
always pipes at intervals after emerging from her 
cell, and in response to her piping may be heard the 
quahking of one or several virgins in their cells, if 
such are in the hive, the quahking being uttered in 
a lower key and in a more hurried manner than the 
piping. Piping is also called " teeting." 

Pistil. — ^The pistil is divided into the ovary, style, and 
stigma. The ovary contains the owiles which, after 
fertilization, become the seeds. See Pollen in text. 

Plain sections. — Comb-honey sections with no insets or 
scalloped edges. See Comb Honey, Appliances for, 
in the text. 



Pollen. — Dust-like grains formed in the anthers, within 
which are produced the male elements or sperms. 

Pollen-basket. — A cavity on the hind legs of the bee 
wherein is deposited the pollen gathered from flowers. 

Prime swarm. — The first swarm — the swarm with the 
old queen. 

Propolis. — A kind of glue or resin collected by the 
bees and chiefly used to close up cracks and small 
spaces. 

Pupa. — The third stage. of the bee, during which it is 

inactive and sealed up in its cell ; sometimes called 

" chrysalis." 
Quahking. — The noise made by a young queen in ber 

cell in response to the piping of the queen at large. 

See Piping. 
Queen. — A fully developed female bee ; the mother bee. 
Queen-cage. — A small box of wire and wood in which 

queens are held prisoners. 

Queen candy. — Candy made by kneading powdered su- 
gar into extracted honey until it forms a stiff 
dough ; used in queen-cages ; called Scholtz candy, 
because Rev. M. Scholtz introduced it in Europe. 
Afterward I. R. Good gave it prominence in Amer- 
ica, and so it is often called Good candy. See 
Candy in the text. 

Queen-cell. — A cell in which a queen is reared, having 
an inside diameter of about % of an inch, hanging 
downward an inch or more in length. See Queen- 
rearing in the text. 

Queen-excluder. — A device consisting wholly or in part 
of sheet zinc having oblong perforations about 1-6 
of an incli wide, allowing workers to pass thru but 
excluding queens and drones. 

Queening. — The act of introducing a queen into a 
queenless colony of bees. 

Queenless. — Having no queen. 

Queen-nursery. — A cage or set of cages in which to 
confine queen-cells or queens. 

Queen-rearing. — Raising queens. 

Queen-register. — A card to be attached to a hive with 
pointers that may be moved so as to indicate dates, 
and conditions relating to the queen, such as cell, 
hatched, laying, etc. See Record-keeping in the 
text. 

Qaeenright. — Having a good laying queen. 

Queen's voice. — A sound made by a queen. See Pip- 
ing. 

Queen-trap. — A device provided with perforated zinc, 
to be attached to the entrance of a hive, allowing 
workers to pass, but trapping any queen or drone 
that attempts to issue. Called also drone-trap. 
See Swarming in the text. 

Quilt. — A cover for brood-frames made in the form of 
a thin cushion. 

Quinby frame. — The hanging Quinby frame is 18% 
by 11^/4 ; the closed-end or standing Quinby is 
19 Vs by 11, is without lugs, and supported at the 
bottom. See Hives in the text. 

Quinby hive. — A hive invented by Mr. Quinby based 
on Huber's leaf hive of the latter part of the 18th 
century. See Hives in the text. 

Rabbet. — Usually lins reference to a narrow piece of 
tin folded in a peculiar manner to form a rest for 
the shoulders of the hanging frames. See Hives, in 
text. 

Race. — The kinds of bees into which the species Apis 
mellifica is divided, the race being usually named 
after the place of nativity, as Italian, German, Car- 
niolan. Sometimes the word variety or breed is 
used with the same meaning. 

Rendering wax. — The process of melting combs and 
refining wax from its impurities, usually done by 
means of hot water or steam accompanied by pres- 
sure on the mass of material. See Wax in the text. 

Repository. — A room, usually upon a hillside, partly 
or wholly below ground, in which bees are wintered ; 
a bee-cave ; a bee-cellar. In a general sense the 
word may be used for any place in which bees are 
wintered. 

Reversing. — Turning over or inverting a hive with 
bees to accomplish certain results. 

Ripe honey. — Honey left in the carc», of the bees un- 
til it contains less than 25 per cent of water. 

Robbing. — As applied to bees, the taking of honey by 
stealth or force from the hives of other colonies. 



BEEKEEPERS' DICTIONARY 



841 



Royal cell. — Queen-cell. 

Royal jelly. — A rich food of whitish appearance placed 
by the nurse bees in queen-cells as food for the 
royal larvae. See Queen-rearing in the text. 

Sacbrood. — A disease of brood. Slightly contagious 
but not serious. See Foul Brood at the close of 
the chapter. 

Scholtz candy. — See Queen Candy, 

Sealed brood. — Brood that has been capped or sealed 
over by the bees with a somewhat porous capping ; 
mostly in the pupa stage. See Brood in the text. 

Section. — A small frame or box open on two oppo- 
site sides, that is placed on a hive to receive surplus 
honey ; a section box. Also, the honey contained in 
a section box. See Comb Honey in text. 

Section holder. — A device for holding sections while in 
process of being filled on the hive. 

Self-hiver. — Any device by which the bees of a swarm 
are induced to enter of their own accord a hive 
prepared for them. 

Self-spacing frames. — Frames so made that, pushed 
together, they will be spaced the proper distance 
apart from center to center (usually 1% inches) ; 
fixed frames. 

Separator. — A very thin board or sheet of tin placed 
between sections to make sure that the bees will 
build the combs accurately. 

Septum. — The middle of a honeycomb. 

Shaken swarm or shook swarm. — An artificial swarm 
made by shaking bees from a very populous colony 
into a fresh hive. By this means natural swarming 
is closely imitated. See Brushed Swarm. See /1r- 
TiFiciAL Swarming in the text. 

Shipping case. — A light box, usually with glass on one 
side, of varying size, in which section honey may 
be shipped. The sizes most commonly in use are 
those containing 12 and 24 sections each. 

Skep. — A beehive without movable frames, especially 
one made of straw. 

Skeppist. — An old-fashioned beekeeper, 

Slumgum. — The refuse from a wax-extractor. See 
Wax in the text. 

Smoker. — An implement having a fire-box with bel- 
lows attached, by means of which smoke may be 
blown upon bees ; a bee-smoker. 

Solar wax-extractor. — A glass-covered box melting bees- 
wax by the heat of the sun. 

Sour brood. — Pickled brood, which see. 

Spermatheca. — A small sac attached to the oviduct of 
the queen, in which are stored the spermatozoa re- 
ceived from the drone in the act of copulation. 

Spermatozoon. — One of the germs contained in the 
semen of drones. (Plural, spermatozoa.) 

Spiracles. — Air-tubes thru which the bee breathes. 

Spreading brood. — Putting a comb without brood be- 
tween two combs of brood to induce the queen to 
lay in the former. 

Stamens. — The organs of flowers producing pollen. See 
Pollen in the text. 

Starter. — A small piece of comb or foundation fastened 
in a frame or section to start the bees to building 
at the right place. See Comb Foundation in the 
text. 

Stigma. — That part of the pistil of a flower which 
receives the pollen for the fecundation of the ovules ; 
usually the end of the pistil. 

Strain. — Altho scientists may not all agree as to using 
this word, John Phin, in his excellent Dictionary of 
Practical Apiculture, says it " is one of the most 
useful, expressive, and legitimate words that we 
have, and this is shown by the extraordinary diffi- 
culty of finding a synonym for It." Suppose one has 
a certain race of bees. Among them he finds some 
that are specially noted for some particular quality, 
good or bad, as gentleness or viciousness, and this 
quality descends with more or less certainty to 
their posterity. This quality does not diflferentiate 
them from others of the same race sufficiently to 
constitute them a different race or breed, but it is 
of sufficient importance to warrant their being called 
a strain. Moreover, the characteristics of a strain 
are not so fixed as the characteristics of a race, and 
without great care the particular characteristics will 
disappear, or as we say, " the strain runs out." See 
Races of Bees in the body of the work. 

Super. — A receptacle in which bees stor.e surplus 
honey ; so called because placed over the hive. 



Supersede. — To rear a young queen to take the place 

of the old one while the old one is still in the hive. 
Surplus or surplus honey. — Honej' over and above what 

the bees need for their own use, and which the 

beekeeper takes from them ; honey stored elsewhere 

than in the brood-combs. 
Surplus apartment. — The apartment in which surplus 

honey is stored. 
Swarm. — A large number of bees with a queen leaving 

the mother colony to find new lodgings and found 

a new colony. 
Swarm-catcher. — A net placed at the entrance of a 

hive, a basket at the end of a pole, or any other 

device intended to secure a swarm as it leaves the 

hive or afterward. 
Swarming season. — The period of the year when 

swarms usually issue in numbers. 
Syrian bees. — See Holy Land Bees. 
Tarsus. — The five terminal segments of a bee's leg 

are called the tarsi ; one of these segments is a 

tarsus. 
Tested queen. — A queen whose progeny show she has 

mated with a drone of her own race. 
Thin-super foundation. — Comb foundation running 

about 12 square feet to the pound. 
Thorax. — The middle part of a bee between the head 

and abdomen, and to which the wings and legs are 

attached. 
Tiering up. — Adding supers on the top of a hive. See 

Comb Honey in the text. 
Transferring. — Ordinarily applied to the process of 

changing bees and combs from common boxes to 

movable frame hives- 
Transforviafions. — See Bee Metamorphosis ; also De- 
velopment OF Bees, in the text. 
Transposition process. — Taking a young larva from a 

worker-cell and placing it in a queen-cell cup. 
Travel-stain. — The darkened appearance upon the sur- 
face of comb honey when left long upon the hive. 
Trigona bees. — A genus of stingless bees in South 

America and Asia. Some species bite furiously. 
Uncapping-knife. — See Honey-knife. 
Unripe honey. — Honey which has not been left in the 

care of bees Icng enough to be thickened until it 

contains less than 25 per cent of water. 
Unsealed brood. — Brood not yet sealed over bj' the 

bees. In a general way eggs are often included 

with larvae under the term unsealed brood. See 

Brood in the text. 
Virgin comb.— Comb which has been used for honey 

only once, and never for brood. 
Virgin queen. — An unfecundated queen. 
Wax-extractor.- — An appliance for rendering wax by 

heat, or by heat and pressure. 
Wax-pocket. — The receptacles on the under side of the 

abdomen wherein the bees secrete their wax. See 

Honeycomb in the text. 
Wax-press. — A press in which the wax is squeezed out 

of the heated combs. 
Wean. — To cease giving the highly concentrated food 

that is first fed to larvae, and to give coarser food. 

A worker larva is weaned when three days old. 
Wedding excursion or wedding flight. — The flight of 

the queen when five days old or older, to mate with 

the drone in the air. 
Wild bees. — Bees that are living in hollow trees or 

other abodes not prepared for them by man. Strict- 
ly speaking, they are no wilder than bees in hives. 
Wild queen-cells. — "When queen-cells are being reared, 

those which are started on combs where they are 

not wanted are called wild. 
Windbreaks. — Either specially constructed fences or 

barriers composed of growing trees to reduce the 

force of the wind. See Apiaries, also Wintering 

Outdoors in the text. 
Wintering. — The care of bees during winter. 
Worker. — A female bee whose organs of reproduction 

are undeveloped ; well named " worker," because 

workers do all the work of the colony except laying 

the eggs. 
IForA-er comb. — Comb having cells which measure five 

to the inch, in which workers may be reared, and 

honey or pollen stored. See Honeycomb in the text. 

Worker egg. — A fertilized egg laid by a queen bee, 

which may produce either a Avorker or a queen. 




Such rest is here, and peace, and quiet breath, 
I scarcely know if this be sleep or death. 
There is no sign of anything alive, 
So solemn and so still is every hive. 
No murmur here, no eager flash of wing 
That thru the summer made our hearts to 
sing, 

But every hive is still as some old tomb 
Of desolate dead dreams and withered bloom. 
The earth itself is white and still and cold 
And either dead or very, very old. 



This bare dry twig was once a leafy vine 
Whose sap went mounting like some racy 
wine 

That somehow made a miracle of green. 
Is this, then, all the miracle shall mean, 
This brown, unlovely, lifeless-looking thing? 
If so, why should we ever smile or sing? 
Yet smile we shall, and sing, because we 

know 
A brave new year is coming o'er the snow. 
— By Grace Allen. 




"Gleanings in Bee Culture " Ready for the Postoffice. 
Note. — The view shows only about one-third of the list ready to ma 




Root Company's Office. 




Partial View of the A. I. Root's Company's Manufacturing Plant, loolcing from the south. 




The A. 1. Uoot Company's Fireproof Warehouse, 148 x 48, three stories, with loading-platform and steel bridge 

connecting old Warehouse on the south. 




View from top of our Smokestack of a Part of our Home Apiary in 1906, Showing the Hexagonal Design and 
the "Wall of Evergreens, as Planned by A. I. Root in 1877. 



INDEX 



A B C of Beekeeping 5 

Abnormalities. See Hermaphrodite Bees, also Drones. 

Absconding Swarms 12- 15 

Absorbing Cushions vs. Sealed Covers 819 

Aoacia. See Huajilla. 

Acreage. See Pasturage for Bees. 

Adulteration 15 

Detection of Glucose 411 

Less of 269 

Wax, Detection of 797 

Advertising Honey Observatory Hives, for 444 

After-swarming 17 

Age Bees' 18 

Alarm, Automatic, to Tell When Can is Full 299 

Albino Bees 488, 641 

Alcohol, Testing Beeswax with 798 

Alexander Veil. See Veils. 

Alfalfa 19- 31 

Crop Increased by Bees 340 

Sweet Clover Sown with 742 

Alfilerilla 31 

Algoroba. See Mesquite. 

Alighting Board, Method of Attaching 258 

Almond Pollinated by Bees 350 

Alsike Clover 175- 178 

Lime, not Essential 169 

Poisonous to Horses, a Myth 178 

Pollinated by Bees 341 

Amateur Beekeeping. See Backlot Beekeening, also 

A B C of Beekeeping. 
American Foul Brood. See Foul Brood. 

Analysis, Honey 407- 414 

Nectar 559 

Anatomy of the Bee 31- 41 

Anger of Bees 42 

Antennae _ 33 

Ants 45- 48 

Nest, to Destroy 48 

Shed. Proof Against 48 

Apiaries, Distances Between 574, 576 

Number of Colonies in 573 

Apiary 48- 72 

Arrangement of Hives 1 65 

Byer's, Covered with Snow 56 

F. J. Miller's 804 

Hives in Straight Rows Cause Drifting 240 

Out. See Out- apiary. 

Windbreaks for 58 

Apple Orchard, A. I. Root's 341 

Polliiiated by Bees 354 

Artificial Fertilization 72 

Heat 73 

Pasturage 74, 451 

Swarming 75, 239 

Ash in Honey 409 

Invert Sugar Contains None 16 

Aster 77- 80 

Automobiles for Out-apiaries 573, 578 

Trailer 149, 578 

Auto Truck, Moving Bees on 666 

Stings Impossible 551 

vs. Wagons 1 555 

B 

Baby Nuclei for Mating Queens 561, 619 

See Queen-rearing. 

Backlot Beekeeping 80 

Bacteria of Foul Brood. See Foul Brood. 

Bags. Granulated Honey in 377 

Bait Sections, Extracting Combs for 209, 211 

Balling of Queens. See Queens. 

Banat Bees 640 

Barrels, Uncapping into 282 

for Honey 83 

for Hot Water and Wax 789, 796 

Leaking of 269 

vs. Cans for Shipping 84 

Basswood 85 

Bee Anatomy 31 

Bread. See Pollen. 

Candy, Making , 164 



Cellars. See Cellars. 

Demonstration at Fairs 442, 443, 4^4 

Dress or Clothing 775 

Bee-escape Board as Super Cover 388 

Escape Board, Ventilated Type 279 

Escape, Brood in Super Prevents Use of 277 

Escape. Double . 279 

Escape, Honey-house 281 

Escape Hour.e Apiary 72 

Escape, Invention of 483 

Escape, Method of Treating Foul Brood 321 

Escape, Porter 214 

Escape, Removing Bees from Trees with 98 

Escape, Taking off Comb Honey with 213 

Exhibits. See Exhibits. 

Gloves 361 

Hat for Veil 771 

Hunting 92- loO 

Laws. See Laws. 

Louse 255 

Moth. See Moth Miller. 

Paralysis 235 

Smoker. See Smoke and Smokers. 

Space. Definition of 102 

Statistics 697 

Stings. See Stings. 

Suits, Farmerette 776 

Tent, Folding 654 

Tree Cutting, Laws on 494 

Trees, Largest in the World 93 

Trees, Getting Bees from. See Bee Hunting. 

Veils 771- 777 

Beekeepers, Farmer 301 

Number of 2, 698 

Beekeeping, Back Lot 80 

Best States for 505 

Migratory 529 

on Farms 301 

Profits 606 

Specializing in 692 

Statistics 697 

Women, Adapted to 100 

Bees, Age of 18 

and Fruit 103 

and Poultry 103 

and Truck Gardening 104 

Anger of 42 

Beginning with 113 

Behavior 87 

Building Comb# See Comb Bxiilding. 

Chilled. Renving of 754, 820, 833 

Collecting Pollen. See Pollen. 

Commimication Between 651 

Cross, Feeding for 44 

Dead, on Cellar Bottom 827 

Development of 230 

Distance they Fly. See Flight of Bees. 

Distance they Fly 312 

Examining when Handling Frames 520, 521 

Flying Out and Chilling 820 

Holy Land and Cyprian 487 

in Ancient History 1 

in Back Lots 80 

in Cellar. See Wintering in Cellar. 

Injuring Fruit, not True 107 

Intelligen-;e of 650 

Italians 485- 489 

Jarring from Combs 520 

Killed by Spraying 330 

Large Cells do not Increase Size of 433 

Nuisance 104 

Nurse 88 

on Shares no 

Play Spells of 240, 589 

PolUnating Fruit and Plants 340-359, 599-606 

Resting Period 89 

Secreting Wax. See Wax. 

Shaldng from Combs 519 

Shipped by Parcel Post 117 

Soil Washing 81 

Solitary 682- 688 

Specialty in 691 

Stingless m 

Tangled in Milkweed Pollen „ 531 



850 



INDEX 



Three Kinds of 5, 6 

Truck Gardening with 104 

Weight of 798 

Young, Introducing Queen to 478 

Beeswax. See Wax. 

Beet Sugar, Chemistry of 711 

Beeway and Plain Sections. See Sections. 

Beginning with Bees 113 

Bell-flower. See Campanilla. 

Berry Plants Pollinated by Bees 343 

Bingham Hive and Smoker. See Hives, Smokers. 

Bird-pollinated Flowers 601 

Birds Eating Bees 254 

Bisulphide of Carbon for Moth Millers 547 

Black Bees 639 

Easily Robbed _ 651 

Black Brood. See Foul Brood. 
Black Locust. See Locust. 
Black Tupelo. See Tupelo. 

Blacking, Beeswax for 782 

Bleaching Comb Honey 118 

Wax 797 

Blending Honey for Bottling 12.'< 

Blowtorch for Sterilizing Hives 319 

Blueberries Pollinated by Bees 348 

Boardman. See Feeders, Wax Rendering. 

Boat, Mo\'ing Bees on 552 

Shipping Bees by 670 

Bokhara. See Sweet Clover. 

Books for Records. 'See Record Keeping. 

Borage 118 

Borrowing Instead of Robbing 660 

Bottles and Jars for Honey 272 

Labels for 489 

Bottling Honey 120 

Box Hives, Inspecting of Difficult 470 

Moving Bees in 116, 126 

Transferring from 758 

Breeding from Non-swarming Stock 723 

Breeding Stock 129 

Brood and Brood Rearing 130- 136 

Arrangement in Combs 91 

Chamber, Large Prevents Swarming 726 

Comb, Spacing of ^ 335, 690 

Combs, Value of 220 

Combs Worker and Drone Brood 131 

Dead from Drone-laying Queens 329 

Destroyed by Spraying During Bloom 336 

Diseases. See Foul Brood. 

Drone and Worker In Combs 131 

Frames, Sizes of. Various 384 

Frames, Wiring of 188 

Hatching, Introducing Queen to 478 

Healthy, from Diseased Colonies 320 

Interruption of Causes Swarming 717 

Moving to Ui/per Story 273 

Nest, Contraction of 224 

Poisoned. See Fruit Blossoms. 

Raised to Supers Prevents Swarid^g 725 

Rearing Decreases after Honey Flow 132 

Rearing, Extracted Honey Production 273 

Rearing, Feeding to Stimulate _• 306 

Rearing in Cellar 757 

Rearing, Water Needed for 780 

Removing Prevents Swarming 716 

Spreading of 693 

Starved or Neglected 329 

Brushing Bees from Combs 278 

Buckeye Hive 396, 397, 398 

Buckwheat and Crimson Clover 137, 183 

Building, Plans for Extracting Room 298 

Building up Colonies 154, 207 

Buildings for Beekeepers 145 

Bulk Comb Honey 198 

Bumblebee-pollinated Flowers 602 

Bumble Bees and Flower Pollination 156 

Burlap Sacks for Smoker Fuel 679 

Sacks for Wax Presses 791, 793 

Button Bush 136 

Button Sage 662 

c 

Cabbage Palmetto 585 

Cage, Anti-robber . 653- 655 

Mailing and Introducing 473 

for Demonstrating Bees 442, 443 

Caging Queen Prevents Swarming 716 

Campanilla 163 

Campeche. See Logwood. 

Canada Thistle __ - 164 

Candied Honey. See Granulated' Honey. 

CBlKj^es, Beeswax for >.,,..,,,.,-,„ , ,-,_,.„. 782 



Candy, Bees, Making of 164 

Fed In Cellar 757, 331 

Cane Sugar, Chemistry of 166- 711 

Cans, Bell to Tell Wlien Full . 299 

Screw-top Gates for 271 

Second-hand, Cleaning of 271 

Shipping Cases for 270 

Testing for Leaks 271 

vs. Barrels for Shipping 84 

Wooden Jacketed 270 

Capping Honey, Variation In 90 

Capping Melter. Melting Honey in 295, 376 

Cappings, Disposing of 293 

Car, Bees Robbing Honey from 650 

Loading Bees in 667 

Carbon-bisulphide to Destroy AntS 46 

to Destroy Moth Millers 547 

Card Index. See Record Keeping. 

Carload Shipments of Bees 665- 671 

Carniolan Bees 639 

Hybrids from 466 

Carpenter Bees". See Solitary Bees. 

Carpet Grass 166 

Carriers for Hives 828, 829 

Carton, Safety 675 

Catclaw 167 

Catnip 168 

Cattle, Sweet Clover for ^^ 743- 746 

Caucasian Bees 640 

Hybrids from 466 

Cell Cups, Artificial 613, 614 

Cups, Doolittle Method 613 

Cutting Prevents After Swarming 17 

Early Development of 230 

Grafting 613 

Protector, West 619 

Cellar, Brood Rearing in 757 

Construction of 826 

David Running's 153, 821 

Dysentery in 249 

House 824 

Entrances of Hives in 262 

Gordon's 823 

Griggs' 822 

Sovvlnski's 824 

Ventilation of 777, 823 

Wintering 821- 830 

Wintering vs. Outdoor Plan 804- 806 

Cells, Cutting of Prevents Swarming 716, 720 

Drone and Worker, Size of 429 

Drone, for Storage of Honey 433 

European Foul Brood Cleaned Out of 324 

Grafting 613 

Honeycomb, Shape of 429 

Large, do not Increase Size of Bees 433 

Sizes of 90 

Three Kinds for Queen-rearing 611 

Worker and Drone, Size of 429 

Census, Errors In —697- 698 

Centrifugal Wax-extractor 785 

Ceresln and Mineral Waxes 781 

Ceresln, Detection of in Beeswax 798 

Chaff Hive, Original Root 399 

Chemical Analysis. See Analysis. 

Cherry Pollinated by Bees 350 

Cherry, Wild 800 

Chilling of Flying Bees 820, 833 

Chunk Honey. See Bulk Comb Honey. 

City Apiary 50 

Ordinances Declaring Bees Nuisance 497 

Circulatory System of Bee 38 

Clipped Queen, Hiving Swarm with 729 

Clipping Queen, Method of 629 

Preferable to Queen Trap 730 

Prevents Swarming 13, 715 

Clothing for Apiary .: 775 

Clover 169- 184 

Crop Increased by Bees 340 

Closed-end Frames 332, 389 

Cluster, Winter Temperature of 753 

Cocoon, Bee Moth 533, 546, 548 

Coddling Moth, Spraying for 338 

Colony Records. See Record -keeping. 

Colonies, Eaualizing Strength of 697 

Examining without Handling Frames 520, 521 

Increasing of 467 

Two from One (Alexander Plan) 467 

Weak, Alexander Plan for 770 

Weak Subject to Disease 324 

Colorado Grading Rules 367 

Color Test of Honey 413 

Colon of Honey , ,,^.,_^,^-.^_.,,.p 4Q6 



INDEX 



851 



Comb Bucket, for Carrying Combs __. 280 

Building in Glass Hive 436 

Building Outdoors 436 

Building, Relation to Ripening Honey 90 

Building, Study of 427- 437 

Building, Value of Comb Foundation 222 

Building, Variation in 90 

Building, Worker Cells from Starters 223 

Built in Open Air 436 

BuUt to Bottom Bar 647 

Diseased with American Foul Brood__314, 315, 316. 318 

Diseased with European Foul Brood 323 

Drone and Worker 131, 431 

Foundation Cutter 197 

Foundation Fasteners 193- 198 

Foundation, Invention of 184, 481 

Foundation Mill, Invention of 481 

Foimdatiou Mills 185 

Foundation, Starters Only Produce Worker Comb — 223 
Foundation, Substitutes for Bees Wax Impossible — 781 

Foundation, Wooden Splints to Support 190 

Honey 193- 219 

Honey, Amount Produced 698 

Honey, Artificial, not in Existence 435 

Honey, Bleaching of 118 

Honey, Extracting Combs at Side of Super 208 

Honey, Feeding Back for 309 

Honey Grading. See Grading. 

Honey Granulated 217, 796 

Honey, Granulation of. Due to Feeding Back 310 

Honey, Granulation, Prevention of 219 

Honey, Growth of 432 

Honey, Pollen in 559 

Honey, Production of 206- 219 

Honey Production, Swarm Control Diffictdt 724 

Honey, Scraping Propolis from 215 

Honey Section, Invention of 482 

Honey Sections, Fastening Foundation in 193- 198 

Honey Sent to King Edward 367 

Honey Separators and Fences 204 

Honey Shipping Cases 671- 675 

Honey Supers, When to Put on 200, 208 

Honey, Travel-stained 370 

Honey, Wax in Section of 796 

Natural Without Foundation 430 

Worker and Drone 131, 431 

Combs, Brood, Value of 220 

Carrying to Extractor 280 

Diseased, Destroyed by Moth Miller 535 

European Foul Brood, Need not be Destroyed 324 

Extracting, Freeing from Bees 277 

Manipulation of. See Manipulation of Colonies. 

Old, Rendering Wax from 784- 800 

Shaking Bees from 519 

Spacing of 335, 690 

Uncapped 266 

Worker and Drone Brood 131, 431 

Commission Houses, Selling Honey to 525 

Confections Made with Honey 425 

Cooking Recipes Using Honey 418- 427 

Use of Honey in 417 

Coral Berry. See Buckbush. 

Corks, Inserting in Bottles 124 

Corn, Sweet Clover with 748 

Corrugated Paper Shipping Cases 675 

Cotton 224 

Cotton Belt, Distribution of Honey Plants 461 

CoTer Crop, Spray Falling on KUls Bees 338 

Sweet Clover for 752 

Cover for Hive Seat 513 

Glass, for Observation 820 

Inner 388 

Sealed vs. Absorbing Ctishions 819 

Styles, Various 387, 388 

Cranberries Pollinated by Bees _ 347 

Crimson Clover 181 

Crosses of Bees. See Hybrids. 

Cuba, Publishers' Apiary 50 

Cucumbers Pollinated by Bees 225, 343 

Cultivated Plants Pollinated by Wind 340 

Currants Pollinated by Bees 347 

Cushions, Absorbing vs. Sealed Covers 819 

Cutting Comb Foundation 197 

Cyprians and Holy Land Bees 487 

Cyprians vs. Hybrids 465 

D 

Daisies. See Asters. 

Dandelion 227 

Danzenbaker Hives and Frames. See Hives. 

Dercaree Plan of Swarm Control 725 

Demonstrating Bees at Fairs 442- 446 

Demuih Winter Case 813 



Deaueening Prevents Swarming __ 719 

Development of Bees 230 

Dextrine in Honey 409 

Dextrose in Honey 410 

Disease Inspectors 469 

Disease, Isle of Wight 236 

Diseased Combs Destroyed by Moth Miller 535 

Diseases of Bees 234-239, 313- 329 

Distance Bees Fly 612 

Dividing to Make Increase 467 

Division Board, Newspaper Wrappped Comb for 803 

Double vs. Single Walls. See Hives. 
Dovetailed Hives. See Hives. 

Drifting of Bees, when Hives too Close 53, 239 

VMiy Not Stung Like Bobbers 240 

Drone and Queen, Mating of 241 

Brood 134 

Brood in Cells 131 

Cells for Storage of Honey 433 

CeUs, Size of 429 

Guards, Restrain Undesirable Drone3__73, 246, 466, 730 

Laying Queen 329, 628 

Queen and Worker 612, 640 

Traps Prevent Swarms Leaving 13. 730 

Drones 240- 248 

Age of 19 

Breeding from Best 129 

Effect of on Swarming 724 

Drugs, Useless for American Foul Brood 321. 323 

Dwindling, Spring 693 

Dysentery 248 

Dzierzon, Dr. 255 

Dzierzon's Theory 253, 587 



Eastern Races of Bees 641 

Education and Inspection 502 

Egg Production, What Controls 91 

Worker, Produces Queen 6, 623 

Eggs, Development of 231 

Fertilization of 231, 253 

Large View of 631 

Microscopic View 134 

Photographed in Cells 130 

Queen's Ovaries in 42 

Two Kinds Laid by Queens 631 

Electric Bell to Notify When Can is Full 299 

Enemies of Bees 254- 257 

Disease Most Serious 313 

Entrance Guard Prevents Swarming 73, 246, 466. 730 

Screens 553 

Small Causes Swarming 716 

Small in Winter 807 

Entrances, Hive 257, 263 

in Cellar 831 

Keeping Free from Snow and Ice 777 

Pltirality of 261 

Enzymes in Honey 412 

Escape. See Bee Escape. 

Eucalyptus . 263 

European Foiil Brood. See Foul Brood. 

Excluders. See Queen Excluders. 

Exhibits, Bees in Observatory Hive 444 

Honey and Wax 439- 446 

Expressing Bees Long Distances 556 

Extracted Honey 265- 273 

Analysis of 407- 414 

Big Colonies Necessary 273 

Grading of 368. 369 

Labels 489 

Production of per Year 698 

Strong Flavor when New 268 

Tanks for 269 

When to Remove from Hives 277 

Extracting 273- 300 

Combs, Baits in Comb-honey Supers 209 

Combs, Carrying to Extractor 280 

Combs, Cleaning Out 659 

Frames 276 

Hoa'^.c, Floor Plans for 293 

House Portable 149 

Outfit, Beginners' 282 

Outfit, Large 286 

Plant, Central 150 

too Closely Necessitates Feeding 302 

Extractor, Interior View of In Motion 267 

Invention of 481 

Original 284 

Small 281 

Egyptian Bees 641 

Eye, Compound 300 



852 



INDEX 



F 

Fairs, Demonstrating Bees at 442- 446 

See Honey Exhibits. 

Farmer Beekeepers 301 

Farmerette Bee-suits 776 

Farms, Kentucky, Sweet Clover Restores 739 

Fasting Method of Introducing 479 

Feeder, Division Board 807 

Feeding and Feeders 302- 309 

Back to Finish Comb Honey 309 

by Equalizing Stores 273 

Candy ^ 165 

Honey for Bottling 120 

Outdoors 310 

Midvnnter 831 

Pollen Substitutes 598, 696 

Spring 695 

Stopping Robbing by 44, 659 

Unflnished Sections 659 

Fences for Windbreaks 58. 816- 818 

Fermented Honey 268 

Fertile Workers. See Laying Workers. 

Fertilization, Artificial 72 

of Eggs 231. 253 

of Flowers 340-359, 599-606 

Figwort 313 

Filling Cans, Bell to Tell when Full 299 

Fireweed. See Willow-herb. 

Flight of Bees, Length of 312 

Flight thru Shrubbery, Wears Out Bees 312 

Floor Finish, Beeswax for 782 

Florida, Distribution of Honey Plants in 461 

Flour, Substitute for Pollen. 

Flower, Diagram of 599 

Pollination, Solitary Bees, for 1 682 

Flowers, Pollination of 599- 606 

Fondant, Mailing of 165 

Fcod Value of Honey ~_ 415 

Formaldehyde for Foul Brood 323 

Foul Brood 313. 323 

American and European 313 

American, Treatment of 318 

Bee-escape Method of Treating 321 

Carried, How 317 

European, Alexander Plan 323, 325 

European in South 835 

Inspectors 469 

Italians Immune to 485 

Laws Relating to 499 

Symptoms of Two Diseases Confusing 327 

Foundation, Comb-building Without 430 

Fasteners 193. 198 

Fastener, Invehtiou of 483 

See Comb Foundation. 

Frame, Hoffman, Invention of 482 

Frames 329I 336 

Extracting , 276 

Handling of ..111- 519 

Hoffman and Metal-spaced 276 

Invention of Movable '__' 481 

Odd Sized, Combs Transferred from 760 

Reversible 647 

Self-spacing 331 

Size and Shape of 330 

Sizes of. Various 384 

Spaced 1'^ Inches Prevent Swarming 726 

Spacing of 335, 690 

Unspaced, to Handle 515 

Freezing of Bees 833 

Friction -driven Extractors 286, 287 

Friction-top Pail for Feeding 272, 305 

Fruit, Bees Cannot Puncture i 499 

Bees not Injuriotis to 499 

Blossoms, Polhnation of 336- 359 

Drying, Bees Troublesome 499 

Growing and Bees 102 

Injured by Bees not True 107 

Fuel for Smoker. See Smoker and Smokers, Also 678 



G 

Gallberry 360 

Galvanized Metal, Does not Injure Honey 269 

Gasoline Engine for Extracting 286 

Gates, Screw Cap, for 60 lb. Cans 271 

Glands of Bee f 38 

Glass Covers for Observation 820 

Hive, Natural Comb Building in 436 

Hives, Miller's 567. 568, 569 

Jars and Bottles for Honey 272 

Globe Bee Veil 774 



Gloves for Handling Bees 361. 511, 701 

Golden Italians 487 

Golden Willow 801 

Goldenrod 363 

Glucose 361. 4IO 

Adulterating with 16 

Detection of in Honey 411 

Glue, Bees'. See Propolis. 

Grading. Colorado Rules for 367 

Comb Honey 366 

Root Company Rules for 368 

Rules Illustrated 370 

Grafting Cells ^ 613 

Granulated Comb Honey 217 

Honey 371, 380 

Honey, Cutting up 378 

Honey, Liquefying 373- 376 

Honey, Removing from Barrels 85 

Honey Ships the Best 269 

Sugar. See Sugar. 

Granulation Depends on Composition of Honey 450 

not Test of Purity 371 

Prevented by Heating 372 

Sun's Rays to Prevent 123 

Grapes Injured by Bees not True 107 

Vuies for Shade 55 

Pollinated by Bees 343 

Greasy Waste for Smoker Fuel 679 

Greasy Waste for Smoke Fuel 679 

Grocery Stores, Peddling Honey at 449 

Guajilla 464 

Gum. See Tupelo. 

H 

Handling Bees. See Manipulation of Colonies. 

Hat for Veil 771 

Hauling Bees. See Moving Bees. 

Hay, Alfalfa 25 

Alsike Clover for 178 

Sweet Clover 744- 747 

Head of Bee 34 

Heartsease 381 

Heat, Artificial 73 

Heating Honey Prevents Granulation 372 

Honey to Facilitate Straining 297 

Syrup for Cold Weather Feeding 308 

Hermaphrodite Bees 382 

Hibernation 832 

Hive Bottoms 388 

Carriers 828, 829 

Dead-air Space vs. Packed 399 

Double-walled, Invention of 396, 483 

Dovetailed, Invention of 482 

Entrances. See Entrances. 

Evolution of 400 

Foiuidation 61 

Langstroth, Invention of 481 

Lock-cornered, Invention of 482 

Making 382 

on Scales. See Scales. 
Records. See Record-keeping. 

Scale 664 

Seat and Tool Box 512 

Sectional View of 7. 9 

Stands 61 

Temperature in Winter 753 

Thirteen-frame 393 

Tools 511 

Two-story, Original 399 

Rabbet Spacers for 334 

Hives, Accuracy Needed in Making 383 

Arrangement of in Apiary 65 

Double vs. Single Walled 806 

for Extracted Honey 274 

Jimabo Depth 393 

Large, Prevent Swarming 727 

Non-Swarming 728 

Observatory 565 

Sizes of. Various -.384. 400 

Sterilization by Burning 319 

Two-story 394 

Two-story, Wintering in 811 

Hiving, Automatic 734 

Swarms 729 

Hoarhound 463 

Hoffman Frames Improved 332 

Invention of 482 

Manipulation of 518 

Spacing of 690 

Hogs, Sweet Clover for 744 

Holy Land and Cyprian Bees 487 



INDEX 



853 



Holl, 403 

Honey, Aridity of *^" 

Adulteration of 15. 269 

Alfalfa 20 

Amount Produced 698 

Analysis of '107- 414 

and Wax Separator 296 

Arrangement in Combs 91 

Boards. See Queen Excluders. 

Bottling of 120- 126 

Colors of 406, 414 

Comb and Extranted Both 208, 265 

Comb and Extracted Compared 199, 265 

Comb, Study of 427- 437 

Compared to Honeydew 438 

Composition of. Effects Granulation 450 

Cooking Recipes 418- 427 

Crop, 78,000 lbs. from Buckwheat 139 

Definition of 403 

Diagram Showing Contents 417 

Drone Cells for 433 

Exhibits 439- 446 

Extractor, Invention of 481 

Fermented 268 

Flavors of 265 

Flow, Effect on Brood Rearing 132 

Flow, Stopping. Makes Bees Cross 45 

Food Value of 415 

Friction-top Pails for 272 

from Diseased Combs 320 

Galvanized Metal Does not Injure 269 

Gates for 60-lb. Cans 271 

Grading of. See Grading. 
Granulated. See Granulated Honey. 

Healthfulness of 415 

Houses 145-153, 298 

Inorganic Elements Present in 416 

Labels for 489 

PeddUng 446 

Physical Characteristics 404, 406 

Plants, Distribution In North America 458- 463 

Plants, List of 453- 458 

Pump 145, 289 

Selling 524- 527 

Selling by Means of Exhibits 439 

Selling House to House 446 

Ships Best if Granulated 269 

Specific Gravity of 692 

Statistics 697 

Strainer 282, 283, 290. 296 

Tanks 269 

Thinned Down for Feeding Back 310 

"Value of Total Crop 3 

Vinegar 779 

Wagon. Peddling Honey with 448 

Weight of, in Honey Sac 799 

Yields for Day, Abnormal 799 

Honeydew 437 

Causes Dysentery 249 

Causes Spring Dwindling 249, 695 

Compared to Honey 438 

Honeys, American and Hawaiian 405 

Horsemint 463 

Horses not Poisoned by Alsike 178 

Stuiging of — 703. 707 

Hot-water Wax-presses 786 

House Apiary 68- 72 

Huajilla 463 

Humble Bees. See Bumble Bees. 

Hunting Bees in Bee Trees 92- 100 

Hybrids 465, 486 

More Subject to European Foul Brood 324 

Replacement of 489 

Hydrometer for Specific Gravity of Honey 408 

I 

Iced Cars for Moving Bees 669 

Imbedding, Electrical Plan 192 

Wires in Foundation 191 

Immunity Following Stings 704 

Increase, Forming Nuclei for 561 

Methods of Making 467 

Incubators for Queen Rearing 617 

Indian Bees 641- 642 

Inner Cover 388 

Insect-pollinated Flowers 601 

Inspection, Education Needed 502 

Laws _- 499 

Inspectors, Foul Brood 469 

Introducing 471- 481 

Cage, Also Mailing Cage 473 

Direct Method of 479 



Dual Plan 479. 618 

Push-in-Comb Cage Plan 475 

Queen Cells, not Virgins 618 

Queen to Laying-worker Colony 504 

Virgins 472, 481 

Inventions Relating to Bee Culture 481- 484 

Isle of Wight Disease 236 

Itahanizing. Methods of 488 

Italians 4S5- 489 

Five-banded 487 

Immune to Disease 238. 324, 485 

Protect Lives Better than Blacks 651 

Pure vs. Hybrids 465 

J 
Jars and Bottles for Honey 272 

Jaws of Bee 33 

Jelly. Royal. See Queens and Queen Rearing. 

.Tumbo Hives 393 

K 

Kegs for Honey 83 

Knives 291-293, 483 

Knotweed. See Heartsease. 

L 

Label Must Indicate Contents l6, 125 

Labeling 125. 489 

Land, Sweet Clover Restores 741 

Langstroth, Biography of 490 

Hives 385 

Lantern, Working Bees by 658 

Larvae, Bee Moth 536. 537. 539 

Larvae. Bee, Development of 233 

Feedmg of 87 

Growth of. Daily 135 

Spuinuig Cocoons 88 

Laws, Net Weight for Labels 125, 489 

Adulteration 15 

Against Spraying in Bloom 339 

City, Declaring Bees Nuisance 497 

. Relating to Bees 494- 499 

Relating to Foul Brood 499 

Laying Workers. Cause of 503 

Legislation on Bees. See Laws. 

Legs of Bee • 37 

Pollen on 591, 597 

Legume. See Sweet Clover. 

Levulose in Honey 410 

Linden. See Basswood. 

Liquefying 122, 373- 376 

Granulated Comb Honey -— 218 

Live-bee Demonstrations 442- 446 

Localities Change Tear by Year 450 

Where are Best 504 

Locality Modifies Swarming 716 

Locust 506 

Log Gums 127 

Logwood 507 

Long-idea Hive 394 

for Swarming 727 

Lucerne. See Alfalfa. 

Lye, Cleaning Separators with 609 

M 

Magnolia 508 

Mailing also Introducing Cage 473 

Mammoth Clover 181 

Mandibles of Bee _ 33 

Mangrove (Black) 508 

Manipulation of Colonies 12, 510- 522 

Marigold 523 

Marketuig Honey 524- 527 

Honey, Granulated 376 

Honey House to House 446 

Mating. Age for 628 

Different Races 587 

Drone Guards Trap Undesirable Drones 466 

Hives 619 

Nuclei 619 

Queen and Drone 241 

Queen Feeds Herself Before : 91 

Tent Controls 72 

Meal, Rye. Substitute for Pollen 597. 696 

Melting Honey. See "^.iquefying. 

Mesauite _ 527 

Metal-spaced Hoffman Frames 333 

Mice Damaging Combs 255 

Entrance Screens for 261 

Migratory Beekeeping 529 



854 



INDEX 



Milkweed _ 530 

Pollen Entangles Bees' Feet 531 

Misbranding 16 

Moisture Causing Dysentery 249 

in Honey 409 

Mosquito Hawk, Enemies of Bees 257 

Moth. Coddling, Spraying for 338 

Moth Miller 532- 549 

Motor Truck. See Auto Truck. 

Momitain Sage 661- 664 

Moving Bees 549- 557 

Auto Truck for 554 

for Migratory Beekeeping 529 

in Carlots 665- 671 

Mustard _. __._ _. 557 

N 

Nectar 559 

Bearing Plants, Distribution of 458- 463 

Bees Extract Water from ^ 781 

Depositing Load of 89 

Yielding Plants 453- 458 

Net Weight Law for Labels 489 

Newspaper Protecting Hive 698, 808. 834 

Wrapped Comb for Division Board 808 

Nitrogen Nodules on Sweet Clover 742 

Nuclei for Increase 467 

Increasing by 561 

Robbing of 653 

Shipping Cases 557 

Somerford Method of Increase 563 

Swarming Out 14 

Wagonload of 550 

Nucleus 560- 564 

Nurse Bees, Swarming Caused by too Many of 716 

Nursery Cages, Queen 617 

o 

Oats, Sweet Clover with ■... 747 

Observatory Hive 565 

Advertising Honey with 444 

Odor, Factor in Introducing 472 

Laying Queens' — - 633 

Opening Hives. See Manipulation of Colonies. 

Orange 570 

Pollinated by Bees ___ 357 

Orchard, Spraying in Bloom Kills Bees 336 

Out Apiaries 572 

Flight of Bees to 312 

Rent for 577 

Out Door Comb Building 436 

Feeding ^ 310, 659 

Overstocking 582 

Oyster Pails, Granulated Honey in 378 

P 
Packing Cases. See Winter Cases. 

Packing Material for Double-walled Hive 400 

Wintering with Small Amount of 807 

Pail, Friction-top for Feeding 272, 305 

Granulated Honey in 378 

Palmetto 584 

Paraffin, Detection in Beeswax Easy 797 

Mineral Waxes 781 

Paralysis 235 

Parcel Post Package for Bees . 117 

Parthenogenesis 231, 251, 253, 586 

Partridge Peas 587 

Pasturage, Artificial 74 

Possibilities of 451 

Sweet Clover 743 

Patents on Beekeeping 484, 588 

Peach Pollinated by Bees 352 

Pear Pollinated by Bees 352 

Peas, Partridge 587 

Peavine Clover 181 

Peddling Honey 446 

Pennyroyal 588 

Pepper Tree 588 

Perforated Zinc. See Drones. 
Pickled Brood. See Sacbrood. 

Pistils and Stamens 600 

Plain Sections. See Sections. 

Plants, Nectar-bearing, Distribution of 458- 463 

Pollinated by Bees 342- 359 

Pollinated by Wind 340 

Yielding Nectar 453- 458 

Yielding Pollen 452 

Play Spells of Yoimg Bees 589 

Plum Trees Pollinated by Bees 348 

Poison from Stings 708 



Poisoned Brood. See Fruit Blossoms. 

Poisoning Ants 46 

Poisonous Honey 589 

Poisonous Sprays on Bloom Kills Brood 336 

Polarization of Honey 410 

Pollen, Arrangement in Combs 91 

Artificial, Feeding 597, 696 

Baskets on Bees' Legs 591, 592 

Bees Collecting 593 

Determines Source of Honey 404 

in Comb Honey 559 

Masses on Bees' Legs 595, 597 

Microscopic Study 590 

Milkweed, Entangles Bees' Feet 531 

Plants 452 

Substitutes 597, 598, 696 

Unloading of ; 88 

Pollination, Alfalfa 29 

Alsike Clover 175 

Bumble Bees' 156 

by Wind 340 

of Flowers 599- 606 

of Fruit Blossoms 336- 359 

Solitary Bees for 682 

White Clover 171 

Poplar. See Tulip Tree. 

Portable Extracting House 149 

Poultry Keeping and Bees 103 

Power Extractors 286 

Presses, Wax, Unheated 788 

Priority Rights and Overstocking 582 

Profit, Backlotter'3 82 

in Bees 606 

Pfopolis 608 

Gathering and Using 89 

Meaning of Word 5 

Protein in Honey 411 

Prune Trees Pollinated by Bees 349 

Pump for Honey 145, 289 

Punic Bees 641 

Pussy Willow 800 

o. 

Queen and Drone, Mating of 241 

and Drone Trap 13, 247, 466, 730 

Behavior of 91 

Caging Prevents Swarming 716 

Cell Protector ■ 619 

Cells 623, 624, 626 

Cells, Cause Swarming 716. 720 

Cells, Cutting Prevents After-swarming 17 

Cells Tom Down 625 

Clipped, Hiving Swarm 729 

Drone and Worker 612, 640 

Excluder, Invention of 483 

Excluders Preventing Pollen in Supers 599 

Excluder, Wood and Wire 275 

Feeds Herself before Mating 91 

Flies Away, What to Do 480 

Introducing to Laying-worker Colony 504 

Mating Box 619 

Nursery Cages 617 

Rearing 611- 622 

Rearing, Large Scale 613 

Record Keeping 646 

Trap Prevents Swarming 247. 730 

Worker, Drone 612, 640 

Queenless Colonies, Cry of Distress from 633 

Colonies Easily Robbed 651 

Queenlessness, Caution 634 

Indicated by No Brood 132 

to Detect' 479 

Queens j 622- 634 

Age of 19 

Breeding from Best 129 

Brood from Drone-laying 235, 329 

Cells Introduced, not Virgins 618 

Chilling of 833 

Clipping Prevents Swarming 629- 715 

Drone-laying _235, 329 

Drones and Workers Differentiated 5, 6 

Finding. See Manuipulation of Colonies. 

Introducing 471- 481 

Laying of After Introducing 479 

Plurality in Swarms 17 

Room for in Extracted Honey Production 273 

Supersedure of 713 

Two Kinds of Eggs from ' 253 

Value of 129 

Young, Prevent Swarming 719 

Quinby, Moses 634- 638 

Quince Pollinated by Bees 356 



INDEX 



855 



R 

Rabbet Spacers 334 

Races of Bees 639 

Mating of Different ^ 587 

Railroad, LiabiUty of in Shipping Bees 498 

Shipping Bees by 665- 671 

Raspberry 643 

Pollinated by Bees 346 

Rats 644 

Bearing Queens. See Queen Bearing. 

Recipes Using Honey 418- 427 

Record Keeping 644 

Red Clover 178 

See Clover. 
Red Gum. See Eucalyptus. 

Refining Beeswax 797 

Refrigerator Car for Moving Bees 669 

Remedies for Bee Stings 703 

Rendering Wax. See Wax Rendering. 

Reproductive System of Bee 40 

Requeening Prevents Swarming 721 

Respiratory System of Bee 38 

Reversible Frames 647 

Rheumatism, Stings for 70S 

Ripening Honey, how Bees do it 90 

Importance of 268 

Roadside Signs for Selling Honey 525 

Robber Cages 653- 655 

Traps 655 

Robbers, Action of 90 

Detecting of 649, 651 

Robbing 648- 660 

Carelessness Causes 43 

Feeding During 309 

Feeding Outdoors for 311 

Stopped by Feeding 44 

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant 660 

Rocky Mountains, Distribution of Honey Plants 462 

Ropiness of Dead Brood. See Foul Brood. 
Royal Jelly. See Queens and Queen Rearing. 

Rubber Stamp for Xet Weight Marking 4S9 

Rye Meal, Pollen Substitute 597. 598, 696 

s 

Sacbrood 328 

Safety Shipping Case 673 

Sage 661- 664 

Sainfoin - 664 

Scale, Hive 664 

at Out Apiary 582 

Scales Used in Filling 60-lb. Cans 299 

Scent, Relation to Introducing 471 

Scouts Preceding Swarm. See Absconding Swarms, also 
Swarms. 

Screens for Entrances 553 

for Robber Traps : 657 

Screw-driver for Hive Tool 512 

Scrub Palmetto 583 

Sealed Covers 819 

Section, Amount of Wax in 796 

Honey-box, Evolution of 186- 199 

Honey-box, Invention of 482 

Sections and Separators Explained 9, 10 

Bees Refuse to Enter 212 

Fastening Foundation in 193- 198 

Growth of Comb in 432 

Output of aU the Factories 698 

Pollen in 599 

Scraping Propolis from 215 

Tall vs. Square 201 

Travel-stained 370 

Unfinished, Cleaning out 659 

Unfinished. Dr. MiUer's Plan 216 

Self-spacing Frames 331 

Selling Honey, Commission Houses 525 

Exhibits for 439 

House to House 446 

Local Market 524 

Roadside Signs for 525 

Sex, Determination of 587 

Shade Arizona Apiary needs 51 

Boards 54, 55 

Prevents Swarming 722 

Too much Detrimental 54 

Shaking Swarms on Starters -. 722 

Shares, Bees on 110 

Shed, Wintering Under SOS 

Apiaries, Arizona 51 

Sheep Keep Grass Down 67 

Shelter, Fences for ^^-..=.^,^,, ,-816, §18 



Shipping Bees, Laws on __498, 665. 671 

Bees Parcel Post for 117 

Bees in Carlots 1 665. 671 

Cases, Comb Honey 205, 671- 675 

Cases for Cans 270 

Cases, Nuclei 557 

Comb Honey, Objections to 198 

Honey, Barrels for 84 

Long Distance by Express 556 

Nuclei 557 

Showcase for Honey 526 

Shrubbery. Affects Temper of Bees 45 

Effect on Flight of Bees 312 

for Shade 53 

Simplicity Feeder 303 

Single vs. Double Walls. See Hives. 

Sixty-pound Cans. Shipping Cases for 270 

Skep. Straw 675 

Skunks Eating Bees 256 

Smartweed. See Heartesase. 

Smoke and Smokers 6. 676- 682 

Hybrids Require More 465 

Method of Introducing 477 

Smoker, Invention of 481 

Quinby 636 

Use of 516 

Smoking Bees from Combs 278 

Snow. Bees Chilling on 820 

Soil. Effect on Nectar-bearing Plants 450 

Sweet Clover Improves 741 

Solar Wax Extractors 783 

Solitary Bees 682- 688 

Sorrel Tree 689 

Sourwood 689 

South, Wintering in 834 

Spacing Brood Frames 335, 690 

Spanish Needles ^ 691 

Specialty in Bees 691 

Specific Gravity of Honey 692 

Spiders Eating Bees 256 

Spraying Bloom, Destroys Brood 336 

Laws Against 339 

Water for Stopping Swarms 733 

Spreading Brood 693 

Spring Dwindling 693 

Management 695 

Stamens and Pistils 600 

Staples, Fastening Bottom to Body 553 

States Best for Beekeeping 505 

Value of Honey in Different 699, 700 

Statistics, Bee and Honey 697- 701 

Steamboat, Shipping Bees by 670 

Steam Keeps Wax from Chilling 789 

Knives 293. 483 

Wax-presses 787 

Sting Magnified 710 

Construction of 35, ■ 38 

Stinging Horses, Prevention of 105 

Stingless Bees 111 

Stings 701- 711 

Gloves to Prevent 361 

Queens' «. 634 

Regular, to Secure Immunity 705 

to Avoid in Handling 43. 81. 510 

Stores, Observatory Hives in 444 

Peddling Honey at 449 

Winter 825 

Stoves for Wax Rendering 789 

Strained Honey, Grading of 368 

Strained Honey vs. Extracted 265 

Strainer, Alexander 296 

Pettit 282, 283. 290 

Straining, Gravity Method 296 

Heating Honey Facilitates 297 

Straw Skep 675 

Strawberries Pollinated by Bees 345 

Sugar, Chemistry of 711 

Granulated, Best for Syrup 302 

Invert, for Adulterating 16, 484 

Reducing, in Honey 409 

Sulphur, Bleaching Honey with 118 

Stunac 711 

Sunflower 713 

Super Cover 388 

Supers. Comb Honey 203 

•Deep. Extracted Honey 274 

Examining without LifUng off 521. 522 

Extracting, \Vhen to Take off 277 

Shaking Bees from 523 

Shallow, for Extracted Honey 274, 278 

Swarming Prevented by more Room in 724 

Tiering up ^... — ,^.--,..^...,-- ?12 . 



856 



INDEX 



When to Put on 208, 274 

Supersedure 713 

Cells, Breeding from 723 

Swarm Baskets H 

Catchers 731 

Cells for Queen-rearing 611 

Control, Doolittle Plan 76 

Control In Extracting Honey Production 276 

Swarming 713- 736 

After 17 

Artificial 75, 239 

Because Conditions Abnormal 14 

Fever, Placing in Cellar to Break up 13 

Starting of Impulse 92 

Ventilation Prevents 208. 777 

Swarms Absconding 12 

Brushed 75 

Forced 75 

Laws Eegarding 494 

Leaving without Clustering 13 

Plurality of Queens in 17 

Shaken, Comb Honey Production 76, 208 

Uniting of 769 

Sweet Clover 736- 753 

Swelling after Stinging 702 

Syrup, Granulated Sugar Best for 302 

Pouring into Doolittle Feeder 807 

T 

Tanks, Extracted, Honey 269 

Temperature 753- 757 

in Cellars. See Wintering in Cellars. 

How Low Bees can Stand 833 

Tenement Cases. See Winter Cases. 

Tent Controls Mating 72 

Folding 654 

Thermometers, Electric 754, 755 

Thieves, to Guard Against 257 

Thistle. See Canada Thistle. 
Thorowort. See Boneset. 

Titi 757 

Tomatoes Pollinated by Bees 343 

Tongue of Bee 33, 35 

Tool Box and Hive Seat 512 

Tool House for Smoker and Fuel 679 

Tools Needed in Handling Bees 10, 11, 511 

Trailer, Automobile 578 

Transferring 758- 763 

Trap, Robber 655 

Trapping Bees. See Bee Hunting. 

Travel-stained Sections 370 

Tree, Hiving Swarm in 733 

Trees, Cutting, Laws on 494 

Removing Bees from 92- 100 

Spraying in Bloom Kills Bees 336 

Tropics, Distribution of Honey Plants 463 

Truck Gardening, Bees and 104 

Truck. See Auto Truck. 

Tube and Escape Method of Treating Foul Brood 322 

Tulip Tree 763 

Tunisian Bees 641 

Tupelo 765 

u 

Uncapped Combs 266, 290 

Uncapping-box 283, 294 

Uncapping Knife, Bingham 291 

Boiler for Wax Press 789 

Steam 292, 483 

Unfinished Sections. Feeding 659 

Uniting 768- 771 

Alexander Plan 770 

Prevents Spring Dwindling 695 

Swarms 736 

V 

Veils 701, 771- 776 

Ventilated Bee-escape Board 279 

Ventilation 722, 777 

in Cellars 823, 824 

Ventilators, Sub-earth 826 

Vinegar, Honey 779 

Virgin Queens 626 

Drone Guards to Secure Pure Mating 466 

Dual Plan of Introducing 618 

Flight of 627 

Introducing of 472, 481 

Reproduce Parthenogenically 231, 251, 586 

Voices, Bees' 651 



w 

Wagon, Extracting Room on 149 

Hauling Bees on 549, 550 

Peddling Honey with 448 

vs. Auto Truck 555 

Wash Boilers for Wax Rendering 789. 794 

Washing Bottles 124 

Wasps, Enemies of Bees 257 

Waste, Greasy, for Smoker Fuel 679 

Water, Bees Extract from Nectar 781 

Bees in Carloads Need 669 

for Bees 780 

in Honey 409 

Flowers, Pollinated by 601 

Wax 781- 783 

Amount in Section of Honey 796 

Amount Produced 699 

and Honey Separator 296 

Exhibit of 440 

Extractors, Solar 783 

from Foul Broody Combs 320 

Moth. See Moth Miller. 

Rendering from Old Combs 320, 784- 800 

Scales 428 

Secretion of 90, 428 

Solvents for 798 

Worms. See Moth Miller. 

Waxing Barrels 84 

Weak Colonies, Alexander Plan of Uniting 770 

Weed, Sweet Clover Not Noxious 736 

Weeds, Pollinated by Wind 603 

Weighing Daily Honey Crop 664 

Weight of Bees 798 

White Clover . 170 

White Holly. See Gallberry. 

White Sage 662 

White Sweet Clover. See Sweet Clover. 
White Tupelo. See Tupelo. 
Whitewood. See Tulip Tree. 

Wild Cherry SOO 

Wild Sunflower. See Sunflower. 

Willow - 800 

Willow Herb ' 801 

Windbreaks for Apiary 58, 816- 818 

Wind, Affects Flight of Bees 312 

Pollinated Flowers 340, 601 

Winter, Brood Rearing in 133 

Cases 809- 815 

Cases, Drifting of Bees in 240 

Entrance Block for 259 

Feeding Candy 165 

Feeding Syrup Hot 308 

Nests, Advantages 819 

Stores, Feeding for 307 

Stores in Cellars 825 

Stores, Quality and Quantity 820 

Temperature of Cluster 753 

Wintering - 803- 835 

Artificial Heat for 73 

Cellar 821. 830 

House Apiary for 72 

in Southern States 834 

Out Apiaries 581 

Wires, Cutting Granulated Honey with 379 

Imbedding in Foimdation ~ 192 

Wiring Brood Frames 188 

Horizontal and Vertical Compared 189 

Women, Beekeeping for 100 

Wooden Splints to Suppport Comb Foundations 190 

Worker Cells, Size of 429 

Comb from Starters Only 223 

Egg Produces Queen 623 

Drone Eggs from - 244 

Queen and Drone 612, 640 



Yellow Sweet Clover. See Sweet Clover. 



Zinc, Perforated. See Drones. 

X 



Xylocopa 



835 



